Tenets of Change Management
Introduction
Change management is essential to help with the transition from the current state to the future state; without effective change management, it is highly unlikely you'll successfully reached the future state:
(main source: Bryan Carey, 2024)
There are 5 important tenets of change management that need to be considered in any change
(source: Prosci, 2016)
More details on the 5 tenets:
| Tenet |
Meaning |
Questions |
| 1 | We change for a reason, ie need for change (the why, not just how and what)*a | Why are we changing? Why are we changing now? What is changing? What is not changing? What is the risk of not changing?*b NB Common shared answers from different stakeholders, especially from senior management are required to these questions |
| 2 | Organisational change requires individual change, ie the organisation changes because individuals within the organisation change | Who has to do their job differently (and how)? What is in it for me (WIIFM), ie what do I gain or lose from the change? What are the risks for me, if I do or don't participate? |
| 3 | Organisation outcomes are the collective result of individuals participating in change*c | How much of the outcomes depend on adoption and usage?*d |
| 4 | Change management is an enabling framework for managing the people side of change, ie need a structured change management approach, especially to move individuals in numbers | What will it do to support adoption and usage? |
| 5 | We apply change management to realise the benefits and desired outcomes of change, ie improves the performance of the organisation with better outcomes | How will we drive adoption and usage to improve results? |
(main source: Bryan Carey, 2024)
Notes
a) Understanding part of why includes investigating the drivers of change (Are drivers internal and/or external and what are the current conditions and future aspirations?):
(source: Bryan Carey, 2024)
b) the diagram below explains it in a different way:
(source: Bryan Carey, 2024)
c) organisational outcomes are the collective results of individual change
(source: Bryan Carey, 2024)
d) Adoption and Usage (definitions)
There is no universally-accepted definition of adoption and usage; however,
Adoption = employees are effectively doing their jobs the new way by
- adhering to new processes (does this require changing skill sets, etc?)
- exhibiting new behaviours (what does it mean to exhibit the new behaviours required in the culture of change, etc?)
- using new systems/tools (how good are they at it?)
Usage = employees are effective in their 'adoption:
- proficiently
- completely
- minimal errors (are you minimising the repeat, redo, rework, retrain, re-engage, etc?)
NB The definitions can vary depending on the type of change, ie depending on the number of people impacted, the type of work impacted like how different the work is from what people are doing now, and whether the change is disruptive or incremental.
"...the intent of change management is to drive and capture portions of project benefits dependent on adoption and usage..."
Bryan Carey, 2024