Here is my takeaway #31 from one of the most useful practical books in making my project work meaningful, “Change Management that Sticks: A Practical People-centered approach, for high buy-in and meaningful results”:
1) “This book is written on the basis that the need to get the change adopted is the number one imperative to claim any kind of genuine success. This book is all about how to make the change stick! And thereby ensure that business organizations are more effective, profitable, and successful as they move forward.”
Note: This comes from the Introduction (page xv).
The book explains that it is not an inevitability that “people won’t generally adopt a new change”, even though few of the thousands of business change projects are ever highly adopted each year.
Through my career I have come to realize how interconnected all of our success is. There has always been a divide, a chasm, between upper-management and frontline employees, but there doesn’t have to be. I have found that project management is the solution to span the gap to bring about maturity in processes from top to bottom and side to side across all levels of an organization, but that it cannot be done without effective change management. We all need to advance our careers together! Let’s discuss change and how we can get on the same page to make it work for us more than we have to work for it!
_______________
STORY TIME:
In forming my business solution for pitfalls in organizational development I have come across, I had an “aha” moment. When I have experienced any form of lasting organizational project success it has come from individuals, teams, and organizations all getting onboard and adopting change together. Great Project Management alone was not enough.
Change is constant, but we should be able to build from one foundation to another. I have learned a lot with each new change challenge in my career. I even studied a thick book, “The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook: Essential Guidance to the change management body of knowledge”, to get a better grasp on a field that was only formalized about 10 years ago. I have experienced several organizational change projects, learned a few different disciplines, and seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of personal and business growth and maturation. Good Change Project Management can and does bridge divides in work levels, approaches, and years of experience, and unifies teams to improve together and advance better project ends toward lasting outcomes. I have seen it!
At this point I have developed an awesome 3-in-1 system to incorporate change management, project management, and knowledge management to continuously improve business measures toward achieving their annual goals. I have come to realize that this evolutionary approach gets to the heart of change, the mind of change, and the spirit of change. You can improve individual professional development, team management, and business initiatives with lasting effects if all three are in alignment.
_______________
I choose to share highlights from the “Change Management that Sticks” book because it best translates change management for the most common among us who are just being introduced to its application and benefits. You might be called upon as “unofficial” change managers similar to “unofficial” project managers and these tips will give you the ability to answer the call. You might even be expected to combine roles and be an “unofficial” change project manager in your organization like I have been in most instances.