6
Leading and Managing the Change
I have to admit that as a learning and organization development professional, I knew next to nothing about how annual budgets were approved in my organization. Yet there I was, sitting in a project kickoff meeting, listening to a presentation about the company’s plan to completely overhaul its budget approval process. The company’s CFO had just wrapped up explaining why the current process wasn’t working and how he needed all of us to design a new approach and implement it across the organization. I scanned the room and saw that most of the meeting participants had far more expertise in finance and accounting than I did. What could I add to this effort, I wondered?
But then Sunita, the company’s director of financial systems, chimed in and described the various roles and responsibilities the meeting attendees would play to help guide the project. The company’s CFO was our project sponsor, and Sunita would serve as project leader. The four division finance managers in attendance would provide input about how the current budget approval process worked and would help guide the design of a new process. Two representatives from the company’s IT team would coordinate all the technology changes that needed to be made. And the company’s head of change management and I would create and implement plans that addressed communications, training, and building employee support for the initiative.
We were the “Reimaging Budgets Team!” How utterly unexciting, I laughed to myself. But it was what it was. I just hoped I could help.
In the months that followed, I learned more about the company’s budget creation and approval process than I ever really wanted to know. And yet at the same time I also discovered that I absolutely could and would contribute a lot to the success of the change effort. Despite my lack of expertise in finance and accounting, I knew a lot about change management, and it turns out that, like most change initiatives, those skills were sorely needed on this project. I may not have had the same background as most of the other members of the Reimaging Budgets Team, but I still brought very valuable skills to the project. Each of us had a role to play to help make the project a success.
In this chapter, we will explore what those roles are. Specifically, we’ll look at the responsibilities of the core project team and the change management team, and the steps you can take to staff these two teams to support change initiatives in your organization. You’ll see that core project team members focus on creating and executing project plans, monitoring project implementation, and making adjustments as needed. They keep their eyes on the outcome that the organization is shooting for—the reason the organization embarked on the change initiative in the first place—and they make sure the organization keeps making progress toward that goal. To do its work, the core project team uses tools that address the hard side of change. You’ll also see that the change management team ensures stakeholders understand the change and have the motivation and competence to adopt it. While also remaining dedicated to the ultimate outcome, it focuses on ensuring that the people affected by the change are willing to change their behavior to help the organization reach that goal. To do its work, the change management team uses tools that address the soft side of change.
We’re covering the core project team and the change management team together because their work is so intertwined. The core project team can’t perform its project management responsibilities effectively without considering the soft, people side of change, the expertise of the change management team. And the change management team can’t perform its stakeholder engagement, communication, and training responsibilities effectively without considering the hard, project management side of change, the expertise of the core project team. Collaboration is key.
What Is a Core Project Team?
If you’ve seen your organization work on a major change initiative in the past, you probably saw it establish a core project team that focused on planning the change and ensuring that these plans were well executed. In the JCo acquisition case, the core project team, once it was assembled, was charged with making decisions like determining if, when, and how JCo employees would adopt Wilab’s financial, HR, and procurement processes and systems. It also had responsibility for ensuring that these decisions were implemented successfully.
When an organization establishes a core project team to lead a change initiative, the team typically has responsibility for:
• Clarifying and defining the objective of the change and identifying expected business benefits and outcomes
• Developing and executing project plans for the change, including key decisions to be made and milestones to be achieved
• Engaging with the organization’s leadership for needed decisions, resources, and communication
• Collaborating with the change management team to identify and engage with project stakeholders
• Monitoring project implementation and making adjustments as needed
• Partnering with the change management team to ensure that plans address both the hard side of the change, or achieving desired business results, and the soft side, or addressing the people side of the change
To do their work, core project team members use tools covered in this book that address the hard side of change, such as the project charter, project plan, red team, RACI matrix, and action review. They also collaborate with change management team members as those team members take the lead using tools that address the soft side of change.
On most core project teams, you’ll probably see people fulfilling these roles:
• Project leader
• Project sponsor
• Project team members
Project Leader
The project leader oversees the project as it moves through its various phases. At the outset of the initiative, they work closely with the project sponsor to clarify the overall objectives and deliverables of the project. Ideally the sponsor and project leader work together to create the project charter (see chapter 3). The project leader also typically takes the lead in drafting the project plan, incorporating input from the sponsor, change management leader, team members, and key stakeholders (see chapter 4).
When the change initiative moves into the execution stage, the project leader manages day-to-day activities for the initiative, ensuring that deliverables are achieved on time and within budget. They manage the core project team, as team members perform activities that fall within the scope of the project, and they typically manage the financial resources allocated to the initiative. The project leader meets frequently with the project sponsor, key stakeholders, and other organizational leaders to keep them informed about the change initiative, often chairing periodic status-update meetings. They collaborate with the change management leader to ensure that there’s an effective plan for engaging, communicating with, and training stakeholders.
And the project leader resolves issues that arise over the course of the project. To do that, they may facilitate action review meetings (see chapter 16) to help identify course corrections that are needed.
Usually, the project sponsor appoints the project leader. In selecting who will guide the project team, the sponsor considers individuals who have strong credibility across the organization and proven project management skills. Depending on the change and the structure of the organization, the sponsor may select a project leader from one of the functional areas that’s most significantly affected by the change. That’s what happened in the Reimaging Budgets initiative I described at the beginning of this chapter. Sunita, the company’s director of financial systems, was assigned responsibility for leading the project team, in part because the department she managed played such a significant role in how the company created and approved annual budgets.
Project Sponsor
The project sponsor sets the overall vision for the initiative and ensures that the initiative aligns with the overall strategic objectives of the organization. They work closely with the project leader to define specific objectives and deliverables for the project. Ideally they take the lead, in collaboration with the project leader, in drafting the project charter (see chapter 3). Based on responsibilities and authorities outlined in the RACI matrix (see chapter 10), project team members usually need the project sponsor’s approval on major decisions, especially those relating to the financial, human, and time and material resources allocated to the project.
The project sponsor plays a key role in communicating about the change, sharing what’s happening and why with employees at all levels across the organization. Together with the project leader, the project sponsor keeps members of the organization’s executive team up-to-date about the status of the change initiative. And they typically serve as the key champion for the project as they communicate with the rest of the organization about the goals and purpose of the change. See chapter 12 for more information about the key role the project sponsor plays in leading communications.
In their leadership capacity, the project sponsor may step in from time to time to help resolve an issue related to the project, especially when a member of the organization’s leadership team isn’t adequately demonstrating their support for the change. See chapter 14 for more about the role the sponsor may play to help address resistance.
Typically, the project sponsor is a member of the organization’s senior leadership team who has a significant stake or interest in the outcome of the project. For example, in the Reimaging Budgets project I worked on, the company’s CFO assumed the role of project sponsor. In the JCO acquisition case you read about in chapter 5, it’s possible that Sheila, Wilab’s head of business development, would serve as project sponsor. For very large-scale change initiatives, your organization may assign the project sponsor role to a steering committee comprising multiple senior leaders who have a stake in the project outcome.
Project Team Members
The project team is made up of the organizational members who have been assigned, on either a full- or part-time basis, to work on the project’s various activities and deliverables. They’re responsible for executing the tasks that are defined in the project plan.
Typically, the team includes representatives from different functional areas affected by the change. They usually bring a diverse set of skills, expertise, and insight to the project, and have the functional knowledge and soft skills required to complete the project-related tasks they have been assigned. For example, in the Reimagining Budgets project, the core project team included division finance managers, who understood the company’s current budget approval process and had the creativity needed to imagine a new process. The team also included IT staff, who had the skills needed to plan and implement the technology changes that would occur.
To ensure that activities related to stakeholder engagement, communication, and training support the project’s goals and deliverables, the change management leader assigned to the project should be in the core project team. That certainly was the case on the Reimagining Budgets project.
Usually, the project sponsor, project leader, and change management leader collaborate to decide who will serve on the core project team. For example, in the JCo acquisition case, Sheila, project sponsor for the initiative, asked for input from Luis, who likely would play the role of change management leader, regarding whom they should include on the project team. In practice, you may end up drawing team members entirely from your organization’s in-house staff, or you may include vendors and outside contractors on the team, depending on how much time is needed to complete the project, the availability of resources with needed skills and talents within your organization, and your project’s budget.
We will take a look at responsibilities for the change management team soon. For now, let’s focus on steps you can take to help staff a core project team for a change initiative in your organization.
Identifying Competencies of the Core Project Team
When your organization launches a change initiative, you may find that senior leaders have already identified a project sponsor or project leader, and have begun recruiting members for the core project team. You can help them recruit team members by considering the different tasks to be completed during the project, and listing out the skills, knowledge, and kinds of experience team members will need to complete these tasks.
Start by creating a list that initially just identifies the functional and technical skills that are required for your project, such as:
• In-depth knowledge of current processes, technology, and situations that will be affected by the change
• Experience and expertise working in the functional areas or organizational units that are the target of the change
• Knowledge of the needs and interests of members of the targeted functional areas or organizational units
• Expertise in implementing or using the processes or technology represented by the future state that will exist after the change
• Functional and technical knowledge required to perform the tasks to be accomplished by the core project team
For example, in the JCo acquisition case, here are examples of the functional knowledge, skills, and experiences that Luis, the change management leader for the project, might list out:
• Understanding of JCo financial, sales, procurement, HR, and clerical systems and processes
• Understanding of Wilab financial, sales, procurement, HR, and clerical systems and processes
• Process mapping and process redesign skills
• Experience migrating users from one IT platform to another
• Experience managing acquisition integration
• Expertise managing a layoff
• Project management skills
For your own change initiative, take a look at the project charter (see chapter 3) and project plan (see chapter 4) if they exist at this point. They may be in very early draft form. Based on what you see in these documents, have you identified the functional and technical knowledge and experiences the team will need to complete work on the project?
But don’t stop there. When change initiatives fail, it’s often because the core project team didn’t focus enough on understanding the people side of the change rather than because they lacked functional or technical expertise. You need people on the team who can establish relationships with stakeholders, speak with credibility, think creatively, and demonstrate enough personal discipline to stay focused on the work through good times and bad. When you’re identifying the competencies you need on the core project team, be sure to include interpersonal, leadership, analytical, and self-management skills too. For example, in the JCo acquisition case, Luis might add some of the following to the list of competencies JCo should seek in its team members:
• Verbal and written communication
• Problem solving and decision making
• Business savvy and cultural awareness
• Organizational influence
• Customer focus orientation
• Flexibility, creativity, and a bias toward innovation
• The ability to inspire and motivate
• Personal discipline and organizational skills
• Empathy and listening skills
• Courage and advocacy
To do their work effectively, core project team members need skills for managing the hard side of change, including functional and technical competencies, and skills for managing the soft side of change, including leadership and interpersonal competencies. You can help your organization staff its core project team by reminding it to focus on both.
Recruiting Core Project Team Members
After you’ve identified the knowledge, skills, and experiences that core project team members need, start thinking about who within your organization has these skills and who has the availability to work on the project. Clearly no one person will have all of the competencies you’ve listed. That’s why you need a team!
The project sponsor and project leader for your initiative may have already begun preparing a short list of prospective candidates. They may have spoken with peers and human resources executives to solicit possibilities. And if your organization’s HR system provides the ability to search for employees by competency, they may have used the HR system to generate a list of potential team members.
You can help here by recommending employees to include on the core project team, and by offering to review the list of prospective team members drawn up by project sponsors and organizational leaders. As you evaluate each person who might potentially serve on the core project team, refer back to the list of functional, technical, leadership, and interpersonal skills and experiences required for this change initiative. Which competencies and backgrounds does each candidate bring to the project? Where are there gaps in knowledge and experience that you still need to fill by recruiting additional core project team members?
You may find it useful to organize your analysis into a team competency matrix, in which you list out the knowledge, skills, and experiences that team members need, the names of employees under consideration, and an assessment of each candidate’s current level of competence. Table 6-1 shows a partially completed example that Luis, in the JCo acquisition case, might have created in preparation for his conversation with Sheila.
Notice that Luis highlighted the competency “Wilab procurement systems/process” because he hadn’t yet thought of any prospective candidates for the team who had experience in that area. Assuming they need someone with that competency on the project, Luis and Sheila need to work at recruiting candidates with that missing background. Notice also that Luis listed D. Currick as a possible candidate to include on the team, given his knowledge of JCo sales and procurement systems. But Luis highlighted that D. Currick currently lacks some of the interpersonal and organizational skills that team members need. Luis and Sheila might decide not to advance D. Currick as a candidate, and to include a different candidate who can bring both the requisite technical and interpersonal skills to the team. Finally, note that this is a partial example that lists only eight potential candidates that Luis might propose to Sheila. In practice, the company would likely consider many additional prospective candidates before making decisions about whom to recruit for the team.
Table 6-1. Partial JCo Acquisition Team Competency Matrix
As you identify potential members for your core project team, consider their current workload, the amount of time you anticipate that team members will need to commit to the project, and the project schedule and timeline. Remember, employees are already busy with their regular jobs! Be sure to select team members who can allocate the time they’ll need to attend team meetings and work on project-related tasks. Perhaps a team member will need to devote an hour per week during the initial planning stages of the project, but that time commitment is expected to balloon to 20 to 25 hours per week when implementation gets into full swing. Prepare a plan for how team members’ regular work duties will be performed during times when they are more fully involved in the project. Some organizations hire temporary employees to cover the day-to-day work of team members, so team members can focus full time on implementing the change. As an alternative, you might recommend adjusting the project timeline, so the project proceeds at a slower pace, allowing team members more time to perform their regular jobs.
Beware of over-committing your team members. They may begin resisting the change they are supposed to be leading, simply because they feel so overworked by the hours required to perform their regular jobs plus their project-related tasks.
Addressing the Soft Side With the Core Project Team
Seek out core project team members who will bring diverse perspectives—in terms of age, gender, race, ethnicity, tenure with the organization, and so on to the project. For example, you may find that early career team members bring much-needed technical skills to the project team and have a real sense of ease in using social media, which is needed for engaging stakeholders. And employees with long tenure in the organization may bring a rich knowledge of why current processes are set up the way they are. They might provide information that’s critically important to consider before process changes are introduced.
After you prepare a draft list of prospective team members, take a step back. Do team members reflect the diversity found across the rest of your organization?
And just like Luis proposed in the JCo acquisition case, consider how working on a change initiative can be a phenomenal leadership development opportunity. Over the course of a project, team members may be called upon to understand the needs and requirements of employees in job functions other than their own, research and evaluate alternative paths to achieving business objectives, propose and defend decisions, navigate conflict, negotiate agreements, deliver presentations, communicate at multiple levels within the organization, and manage complex tasks in a tight timeframe. Project team members may be afforded invaluable exposure to company executives during a change project. And executives may have a unique opportunity to observe and evaluate project team members as they perform challenging tasks and assess their potential for future leadership roles within the company.
When staffing the core project team, consider employees who already have the functional, technical, leadership, and interpersonal skills required to get the project work done. But also consider assigning a few employees who need to develop these skills. Make it clear to prospective team members that you anticipate the project will provide numerous opportunities for them to stretch beyond their current skill level, and that the organization expects them to take full advantage of these opportunities. This means they’ll take on challenges and tasks they may not yet feel ready to perform. This also means they’ll need to seek feedback on how well they performed these tasks and accept coaching and critical feedback when it is offered. Consider amending team members’ development plans to explicitly state the skills you want them to focus on building through their participation on the core project team. And make sure organizational leaders are on board too. They need to recognize their role in providing coaching and developmental feedback to team members as they take on these challenges.
What Is a Change Management Team?
While the core project team focuses on project management activities needed to help the organization achieve the business objectives of the change, the change management team focuses on “the people side.” In the JCo acquisition case, if Luis served as change management leader for the initiative, he’d probably oversee activities like:
• Partnering with the project leader to ensure they identified everyone at Wilab and JCo who would be affected by the acquisition and understand how the acquisition integration would affect each stakeholder group. Together they’d conduct a stakeholder analysis (see chapter 9) to do that.
• Providing opportunities for employees affected by the acquisition integration to share their ideas and concerns. He’d use lots of approaches to support two-way communication, including establishing a transition-monitoring team (see chapter 7).
• Creating and executing plans to ensure employees at Wilab and JCo understood what was happening and why, and how and when their own jobs would be affected. He’d create a communications plan (see chapter 12) to help guide and organize those efforts.
• Ensuring employees at Wilab and JCo developed the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they needed to succeed in their jobs during the acquisition integration and after it was complete. Assuming that JCo employees needed to begin using Wilab’s finance, sales, procurement, and HR systems, Luis would make sure employees received the training they needed to successfully make the transition. He’d ensure that the overall project plan for the initiative included a detailed training plan (see chapter 13).
• Working with Wilab and JCo leaders to identify employees who were most likely to resist the changes that were coming and develop plans to help address that resistance. He’d coach leaders to help them understand why employees might be reluctant to support the change and what role they could play, as leaders, to help employees feel more comfortable with what was happening. Luis would create a resistance management plan (see chapter 14) to guide those efforts.
For most change initiatives, the change management team has responsibility for:
• Understanding the needs and concerns of stakeholders by ensuring that stakeholders have been identified, establishing appropriate mechanisms for engaging with each stakeholder group, and understanding the impact that the change will have on each stakeholder
• Developing and deploying communication strategies and tactics to help stakeholders understand the overall vision and purpose of the change and how the change will affect them
• Creating plans to ensure that stakeholders have the knowledge and skills they need to adopt and execute the change
• Identifying and creating mechanisms for building organizational support for the change and for addressing potential resistance
• Coaching and guiding organizational leaders, project sponsors, the core project team, and others supporting the project to help establish, protect, and maintain an environment of honest dialogue and trust as the change is implemented within the organization
• Collaborating with the core project team to ensure that change management efforts integrate with the overall project plan
To do their work, change management team members use tools covered in this book that address the soft side of change, such as the stakeholder analysis, transition-monitoring team, communications plan, training plan, and resistance management plan. They also collaborate with core project team members as those team members take the lead in using tools that address the hard side of change.
Competencies of the Change Management Team
When you’re working on a change initiative, be sure a person or team has been assigned to focus on change management responsibilities. This person or team will need functional and technical skills like:
• An understanding of the change vision and the ability to communicate it
• Knowledge of change management principles, tools, processes, and best practices
• Knowledge of different mechanisms to support two-way and one-way communication
• Knowledge of learning and development tools and approaches
• Coaching, negotiation, and conflict management skills
• Team participation and facilitation skills
Change management team members also need the same leadership and interpersonal skills required of core project team members, including communication, problem solving and decision making, cultural awareness and business savvy, organizational influence, the ability to inspire and motivate, organizational skills, and courage and advocacy.
Staffing the Change Management Team
So who typically performs change management responsibilities during a change initiative? Well, it depends.
For very complex change initiatives that are long in duration or that affect many employees across the organization, you might need a full team of people assigned to perform different change management responsibilities. For example, the Reimagining Budgets project that I described at the beginning of this chapter ultimately would affect the work of almost 1,000 managers across many different divisions, locations, and departments in the company. I was just one member of a change management team assigned to the project. Over the course of the project, our team grew to include:
• A member of the company’s internal communications staff, who was charged with preparing and executing the communications plan for the initiative.
• A technical trainer who worked in the company’s finance department. He analyzed the training needs of employees who needed to learn about the new budget approval process and created online training to address those needs.
• The change management leader, a professional change management expert from our company’s HR function. She would take the lead on engaging with the various stakeholders affected by the project and ensuring their needs were addressed. She would also oversee the work of the other change management team members and would partner closely with Sunita, the project leader, to ensure that change management efforts were aligned with the overall project.
• And me! I had years of experience working in learning and organizational development and led the company’s training and development function. My role on the Reimaging Budgets team was to work with the change management leader on stakeholder analysis and engagement and to provide input on the communication and training plans.
For change initiatives that are less complex or shorter in duration, or that affect fewer people, change management responsibilities may be assigned to a single individual who serves as change management leader for the project. For a change that’s really short and simple, the project leader might assume those duties.
Whatever the complexity, scope, and duration of your change initiative, make sure someone is assigned to the project who can ensure that change management is appropriately addressed. Like with the core project team, your organization may draw change management team members entirely from your organization’s in-house staff, or may include vendors and outside contractors on the team, depending on the complexity of the project, the availability of resources with needed skills, and the budget. If you’re drafting team members from in-house staff, consider employees in your organization’s internal communications, HR, talent development or organizational development functions, because they often have the background and skills needed to perform change management activities. But beware of the tendency some organizations have to simply relegate change management to “the HR team” or “the T&D department.” The person or team leading change management efforts for a project needs to be fully integrated with the core project team. This means that the change management leader or team should be present and should act as a full participant during core project team meetings. The change management leader’s role during these meetings is to ensure that stakeholder concerns and needs are represented as project decisions are made, and that communications and training are fully incorporated into project plans. Likewise, change management team members need to be fully aware of the business issues and other concerns that contribute to project decisions, so they can appropriately represent the project as they work with stakeholders to build their support.
That’s what happened on the Reimaging Budgets project I worked on. Our change management team functioned as a subteam within the core project team. We participated in most project team meetings so we could stay current on the details of the project and so we could update the rest of the project team on the needs and concerns of stakeholders as they evolved over the course of the initiative. And that’s how I learned more than I ever really wanted to know about the company’s budget approval process! For a very large and complex change initiative, it may be more efficient for the change management leader to serve as the only change management representative on the core project team. The change management leader can participate in all core project team meetings, and then coordinate separately with other members of the change management team.
Do you have the functional, technical, interpersonal, and leadership skills that change management team members need? If this is you, volunteer to take on the change management role for change initiatives occurring in your organization. You’ll be amazed at how much you can help and how much you will learn.
Collaboration Between the Core Project Team and the Change Management Team
Let’s take a step back and look again at the key responsibilities of the core project team and the change management team and the tools they can use to perform these responsibilities (Table 6-2).
Table 6-2. Responsibilities and Tools for the Core Project Team and Change Management Team
But remember, the core project team can’t perform their responsibilities effectively without collaborating with the change management team. To develop well-informed project plans for changing things, the core project team needs to know who all the stakeholders are and what they currently do and care about. The change management team can help the core project team identify and engage with stakeholders before project plans are developed in final form. And to execute project plans, the core project team can rely on the change management team to help employees understand (or support) what’s happening and what’s expected of them, and ensure that employees have the knowledge and skills needed to adopt the change.
Likewise, the change management team needs the core project team. To understand who is affected by the change and how, the change management team needs the core project team to outline what’s changing and when. And to help stakeholders support the change, the change management team needs to know the logic behind key decisions made and alternatives considered, which the core project team can provide.
Bottom line, the core project team and change management team need to work together to maintain focus on the soft side of change while engaging in their project management responsibilities—and on the hard side of change while engaging in their stakeholder engagement, communication, and training responsibilities. We’ll see how that’s done, as we look at each of the hard- and soft-side tools and practices in more depth in the chapters that follow.
About to Begin?
Think about a project you’re already working on with a team. Try to map out the different roles people are playing. Who is your project sponsor—the person who has authorized the project or has asked the team to do the work? Who is your project leader, who’s providing day-to-day oversight for the work your team is performing? Who else is on the team and what functional, technical, and interpersonal skills do they bring to the team? Assuming that your project will have an impact on others outside the team, who is handling change management responsibilities, like engaging with those who will be affected by your work, ensuring they understand how your project will affect them, and helping them develop the knowledge and skills needed for your project to be a success?
Then think about a change initiative your organization is about to begin, maybe one that you’ve already been asked to play a role in. Speak with the project leader and see if you can help them as they staff the core project team and change management team. In your discussion with your project leader, refer back to the “Questions to Ask When Assigning Responsibilities and Recruiting Members to the Core Project Team” and “Questions to Ask When Putting Together the Change Management Team.” Review these questions with your project leader and see if you can help them find the answers. Your project leader may appreciate your help ensuring that the project involves the right people in the right way.
Of course, like Luis in the JCo acquisition case, you probably will find that you need to involve lots of other people, beyond the core project team and change management team, to ensure that your change initiative succeeds. In the next chapter, we’ll look at the transition-monitoring team that Luis recommended forming. Who are they? What do they do? And how can they help make your change initiative a success?
Learn more. Check out:
Aziz, E.E., and W. Curlee. 2017. How Successful Organizations Implement Change: Integrating Organizational Change Management and Project Management to Deliver Strategic Value. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Crawford, L., and A.H. Nahmias. 2010. “Competencies for Managing Change.” International Journal of Project Management 28:405–12.
Purohit, S. 2018. “6 Essential Roles in Project Management.” Elearning Industry, September 22. elearningindustry.com/roles-in-project-management-6-essential.