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In the past, Change Management was often seen as a ‘nice-to-have’ addition to project management. Over time though, it has come to be recognised as a strategic, equal and vital partner to Project Management in enabling a project’s success. Not only are both roles required to enable a project to achieve the business case, but they have strong interdependencies throughout the project lifecycle, and they can support each other in achieving their mutual goals.
While Project Management focuses on managing the design, development and deployment of a solution to enable an organisation to achieve specific goals, Change Management focuses on preparing the organisation’s people and structures, to adopt the changes that the project will bring. In short, Project Management focuses on the delivery of the solution, and Change Management focuses on preparing the business for change – both aspects are required for the project to succeed.
There is a need for Project Management and Change Management to work hand in hand throughout the project.
During the project planning stage, Project Managers often tend to focus only on solution delivery when confirming the project’s scope, deliverables, resources, timing, schedule and budget. This only accounts for once aspect of successful delivery, however. It is important that similar planning is conducted to identify Change Management requirements for preparing the business for change, to ensure a complete view of requirements per project. This may require upfront planning between the Project and Change Manager.
During project execution and monitoring, Change Management activities run in parallel to Project Management activities and should be managed accordingly. For example, on systems implementation projects, where the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process is commonly followed, and Project Management tracks delivery accordingly, Change Management would run alongside this process.
Using the system implementation example, once system analysis and design has reached a sufficient level of completion, Change Managers can identify what is changing for business; who is impacted; how they are impacted, and how best to prepare the organisation for change. This forms the basis for planning Change Management interventions, and these plans can then be incorporated back into the more detailed project plans to ensure timely delivery.
Similarly, based on system design outputs, organisation design activities (within the scope of Change Management) are conducted by working closely with the system design and build teams, to realign organisation structures (including jobs, roles and teams) and system access rights etc.
While Project Managers manage progress, risks, issues and dependencies around building and testing the system, Change Managers focus on building awareness, understanding and acceptance of the new system within the organisation, through ongoing communications, stakeholder engagement and the development of training material. They need to remain close to Project Managers, to identify the impact of project issues and dependencies on the organisation, and manage stakeholder expectations accordingly. Only once sufficient system build and testing has taken place can detailed training material be finalised and implemented, to upskill staff on the new way of working.
In the end, the organisation’s decision to implement the final solution in their business will be based on both technical readiness (which falls within the Project Management realm) and business readiness (within the scope of Change Management). If the system has been tested and is perceived to be ready, and if the business is sufficiently prepared to transition to the new way of working, then the client may decide to proceed.
Following implementation, the strong link between Project and Change Management becomes even more apparent. Where teething issues are identified by Project Managers, Change Management should be engaged as soon as possible to communicate the way forward to staff and thereby provide ongoing support.
Change Management may also measure and communicate evidence of business benefit realisation (initially documented in the Project Manager’s Business Case), to assess the project’s success and to reinforce new ways of working. At this stage, the fruits of dual Project Management and Change Management efforts are realised.
Since solution delivery and business preparation for change are both required within the given timelines to enable success, project plans should incorporate both aspects and should manage progress, risks, issues and dependencies across the two streams. Similarly, project updates to key stakeholders should cover both disciplines, to give a complete view of the project’s status.
In addition to planning and managing the project across both streams, it is important that Project Managers and Change Managers present a united front during their engagements with key business stakeholders. Project Managers are often seen as the face of the project with Business leadership, and they therefore have an opportunity to help build awareness, understanding, acceptance and commitment to the change by incorporating relevant messages during their interactions. Similarly, Change Managers may be asked for project status updates during their engagements, and their messages need to be up-to-date and accurate.
While Project Managers are usually accountable for providing strategic direction and alignment between the sub-streams in the project, Change Management assists in creating this alignment through ongoing internal project communications and engagements.
Both Project Managers and Change Managers have a role to play in keeping key stakeholders involved and engaged throughout the project journey, and through their overlapping roles in engaging and communicating with stakeholders, they can support each other to achieve their mutual goals.
In summary, Project Management and Change Management are both required to deliver an effective solution, and to implement it successfully in Business. Moreover, the activities are interdependent and need to align throughout the project lifecycle to achieve their common goal. In addition to this however, there are also opportunities for Project Managers and Change Managers to support one another in creating stronger project leadership alignment and direction, both with key business stakeholders, and within the project. It is a partnership designed for success.
