25 Change Management Best Practices

These best practices have been created as a result of my extensive experience in change management, lessons learned after several change management projects, learning from other practitioners/clients, and ongoing research in the practice of change management: http://bit.ly/9tzDl9

A Blueprint for Successful Change Management

A CEO recently asked me to come up with "no more than 10 things... and only on one page" that will help his change initiative be successful. He liked what I came up with and called his Change Steering Committee together to review the document. We made a couple of slight changes as a team and decided to call the document "A Blueprint for Successful Change Management".

Here's the "blueprint": http://bit.ly/dkGN4a

Cheers and warm regards,

Jim

5-Steps for Creating a Vision And Strategic Agenda

Here is a link to a SlideShare document that outlines a Visioning and Strategic Agenda process that I have used with several clients over the years: http://bit.ly/baGZR4

This process has produced outstanding results - feel free to download it and use it!

Warm regards,
Jim

20 Shortcuts on Organizational Change Management

Read this innovative eBook by Luc Gallopin, moderator of the Organizational Change Practitioner's Group on LinkedIn. Luc is a fellow "in the trenches" change agent. Highly recommended! http://bit.ly/aHE0vk

Enjoy!

Jim

What's Missing in Organizational Change Theory and/or Practice?

This question was recently posted on the Organizational Change Practitioners discussion board on LinkedIn. Here is my reply:

"To me, the missing piece is 'completing the change' by effectively 'completing the transition' from the old state to the new state. In my opinion, most of the focus is on 'making the change happen', and once that's done little attention is placed on the transition (pain, feelings of loss, emotional support, fear, etc,) to ensure long term success of the change. This is frequently the case with IT-enabled change!

Not completing the transition usually results in significant/long-term dips in post change productivity, poor morale and can undermine the entire change effort. In many cases the cultural changes never happen as a result of this short-sightedness.

So, more attention needs to be placed on change transition vs. change management... William Bridges authored Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change almost 20 years ago. It's a great book, but often ignored. This finishing touch to the change process needs to become a key, recognized component of the practice of change management."

Cheers and warm regards,

Jim

Here are Two Excellent Change Management YouTube Videos

I highly recommend the following YouTube change management videos - great messages!

• Cisco - Change Management Training Video - this is an excellent video for showing change impacts and how individuals successfully adjust. Perfect for Change Champions and Sponsors to view early in the planning process. Great for targets of a change to view to see a successful outcome. http://bit.ly/PpUeA
• Luc Galoppin - What is Organizational Change Management? This is an excellent overview of the major components of a change management project. The perfect elevator speech! http://bit.ly/bUMtSq

Enjoy!

Why Use the Term "Change Management"?

I have balked at using the expression "change management" for many years. It just didn't seem right. How can you really manage change? You lead it. You facilitate it. You embrace it. You pray for it. You avoid it. You dutifully accept it. You really can't manage it… right? So, after considerable thought, I decided to post the following provocative question on my favorite LinkedIn change management discussion boards:

"What is the best term is to replace "change management"? Many practitioners agree that this is a poor choice of words to describe the process. What is your vote? Why?"

Brave post, eh?

There were over 300 responses to this question. Here is a sampling of some of the proposed replacement terms:

• Change Preparedness
• Leading Change
• Change Enablement
• Building Capability and Capacity
• People and Organizational Transitions
• Business Transition Management
• Business Change Management
• Business Operations Enablement
• It's really just Leadership, isn't it?
• Organizational Change Management
• Managing Transitions
• Organizational Development
• Visioneering
• Organizational Transformation
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Organizational Behavioral Change
• Business Readiness
• Transformation Management
• Managing Change
• Nexting
• Facilitating "organizational lifestyle" change
• Business Transformation Enablement Program
• Resistance Management
• How about "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down", or maybe Transition Management?
• Metamorphosis Management
• Making Things Happen
• Change Facilitation
• Human Transition Acceptance Management
• Change Acceptance
• Sustainable Change Implementation
• Next Level
• Transformation Process Management
• And the list goes on… many more…

There were also many postings by those who supported keeping "change management" as the cornerstone phrase:

• "It's the most commonly and universally accepted term."
• "Why change it - what purpose will it serve?"
• "Changing it will only cause more confusion!"
• "If it isn't broken, don't fix it!"

After evaluating the diverse (and often confusing) alternatives, I have decided to change my long-standing dislike for the term "change management". That's right… I'm changing! I am now using change management to describe my change consulting offerings.

As one of the respondents stated: "Change Management, like Rock 'n' Roll, is here to stay!"

Why fight it? Just do it well!

Cheers and warm regards,
Jim Markowsky

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