I really think that sponsors of change projects, project managers of change projects, those involved in change project teams, business unit managers, and consultants like me all have a big problem on our hands.
Even though you may plan the project well, sign off on the risk and issues registers, conduct steering group meetings that are efficient and get through everything on the agenda, deliver the deliverables on time and within budget, and give progress reports to senior and line managers, these are all inputs, not outcomes.
Of most importance to you as a sponsor of a change project are the outcomes. Line managers are most concerned about the impact of the project on their operations and what they will have to do to make it work (i.e. outcomes for their business unit). Project managers and their teams, by contrast, become more concerned about deliverables, which are inputs. Project management structure and planning drives them in this direction - to have all the papers ready for a steering group meeting, for example.
Immediately you can see the dilemma of inputs versus outcomes. Deliverables (this concept was invented as a way of measuring progress towards the goal, i.e. to measure progress of inputs, especially useful for long term projects) include things like project plans, reports on progress, strategy documents, databases, people recruited, leases secured, and equipment purchased. The problem is that success in these things is then taken to equate to the success of the project overall.
Project sponsors, through their close alliances with project managers and their teams, also run the risk of being seduced into prioritizing deliverables at the expense of outcomes. By contrast, line managers seldom are seduced this way, perhaps because they often don't develop the same close associations with these project teams.
From a project sponsor's point of view however, outcomes can only be measured after the change project is implemented. At the same time, project sponsors play a pivotal part in whether the outcomes of the project are achieved or not. They are the ones with relationships with their senior level peers, who secure and commit resources and who provide real world guidance to their project and program managers.
Your project management effectiveness is one component of the solution. And you surely do need good project management, make no mistake. You also need the right mix of technical skills on the team. But good project management and good technical skills are only part of the mix. In order to achieve the outcomes you desire, you also need to make sure that the right range of views have been incorporated into the decision making, that the shadow conversations have been taken into account.
So one thing that you can do as sponsor of a change project is to keep in touch (perhaps informally, and definitely with an open mind) with the line managers. Project managers would also do well to adopt the same approach.
The grave danger I am warning you of, is that initiatives live or die in the shadow conversations - over the coffee machines, in the smoking rooms, in the cafeteria, in the corridors, at staff drinks, around the water cooler. And project sponsors, project managers, project teams, and human resources people, typically do not spend their time in those places. Blinding flash of the obvious - if informal communications are so critical to the success of change initiatives, why are all the communications efforts concentrated solely on the formal communications channels?
No wonder the standard statistic is that 75% of change projects are reputed to fail.
| Stephen Billing works with organizations to create dramatic change for business improvement. Areas of expertise include organization design, restructuring, changing company culture, introducing new technology or new ways of working, developing leaders and sales and sales management capability and human resources. With over 20 years of experience, he holds a Doctor of Management from University of Hertfordshire - his research investigated the role of consultants in organizational change. He has spoken at conferences in New Zealand, Denmark and Holland, and has published articles and book chapters. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephen_Billing |
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