Project Management (PM)
It’s described as applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to deliver change and bring a team from point A to point B; this could be the introduction of a new software application, a change in process or a change in an organisational structure.
Project Managers are highly talented people who have the critical skills to deliver change within an organisation. There are many methods and project management tools, from waterfall project management to agile delivery, but essentially, they all cover 5 stages of change:
* Initiation *Planning *Executing * Monitoring & Controlling *Closure
Project Teams focus on delivering these stages and fulfilling the strategic objective of the project. Whilst one skill of project management is categorised as engaging people, this is usually done through key stakeholders who are selected individuals from various departments within a business, the project relies on these individuals to engage employees and prepare them for the change adoption. These stakeholders are not always aware, equipped, or able to address the impact the project may have on the employees in the workplace who sit outside this stakeholder group and will be affected by the change.
Managers tend to move through project mode fast and think people will behave differently when they hear a change is required, but in reality, this rarely happens. If we fail to bring our people through their individual transitions, this can create uncertainty which can often lead to anxiety, confusion, and resistance from the people on the ground impacted by the change and this is where projects can become stunted.
Without investment in the Change Management process, no matter how great the initiative or how cutting edge the technology is, if the change is not adopted and embedded there are real tangible consequences, and these consequences can lead to financial loss and insufficient outcomes, ultimately becoming a false economy for organisations.
change management process
Change Management (CM)
Change management is younger than project management, but a discipline and an industry in itself. It is a collective term of recognised approaches to prepare, support, and help individuals and organisations transition from a current way of working to the future way of doing things. It is often referred to as the human or people side of change and is based in the social psychology of changing mindsets.
Whereas project management focuses on the processes and activities needed to complete a project, change management focuses on the people affected by those projects (or other changes within an organisation).
Change management has its own set of models such as ADKAR, KOTTER & Lewin's to name a few, but the fundamental essence of all is to focus on the individual transitions that need to happen for the organisational transition to be successful, essentially putting people at the heart of change.
Change management plans also work in stages to create awareness, build engagement, increase adoption, create a common language for change and maps the needs of the different groups of people affected. Plans include set activities and tangible actions to guide people through the transition stage into the future stage where new ways of working and/or new behaviours are fully adopted.
One of the key stages of the change management plan that goes beyond project delivery is to ensure this new future is fully embedded and is the new norm, preventing individuals from relapsing back to the old state. And this is where the true value of a project is delivered.