Reflection on “In Times of Change by Gale, June 2012”

The article “In Times of Change” keeps the discussion open about change management. It talked about the role of strong leadership in change management where fast is becoming the new norm of the current business world, and that leaves no choices for organizations but to adjust and change, and this is why companies have to be on the lookout for change drivers in order to rapidly recalibrate the project portfolio as a response.

Many project managers tend to focus on processes, but not the culture, and that is wrong because part of change management is managing human resistance, and a key thing to do so is being open to new ideas and also empowering people to make the right decisions; after all it is all about communication. Change is about processes, people and technology, but the main focus should be on the people, and to win the people (end users) trust, leaders should discuss what is relevant to them.

Leaders need to assess what their teams can handle and when they will accept it, otherwise, they can implement an excellent change, but it will be ignored. Change does not just happen; it has to be well-planned and communicated for people to embrace the change.

One of the techniques mentioned in the article is to complete a one-page brief by project leaders that outlines the value of the project to the organization, as well as projected outcomes and how these outcomes align with the strategic business goals; that helps the top management to accurately evaluate all kinds of projects. According to the article, there can be some ingredients that help companies in having a successful change; alignment between change and strategic business goals, a business case that defines the benefits expected from the change, strong leadership backing, a targeted communications plan, and defined success metrics.

Some of the lessons learned from this article are that usually change management is closed way before the changes have become embedded and measured, and as a result the benefits are lost.

Additionally, having organizational flexibility, can be the only way to survive sometimes, because companies will not be able to fully predict what and when the next big change will be. And finally, to effectively manage any change process, companies need to ensure that when the change occurs on a particular project, the end result should align with the financial performance and the other business measures as it is originally planned.

Personally, I believe that the role of the change practitioner comes from the purpose of the change process; so for example if the change is concerned in the transferring and applying of behavioral and technical science knowledge to the client system in order to improve the organizational adaptably toward changes of all kinds, then the change practitioner is the person (or team) that will make his/her/their best to make sure that happens. The change practitioner can be one of three; a change professional, people from related fields with change management skills (such as HR specialist), or an internal manager with the necessary skills; such skills can be training skills, experience in group dynamics, decision making, communication skills, problem solving, planning, organizing, and many others. However, there are more advanced (core) skills, such as broad knowledge in organization development theories and models, analysis and diagnosis skills, evaluation the organization change, system dynamics, and many others.