Change Management? You're Kidding me!

In the process of doing some research on change management, I've been collecting and reviewing job ads for Change Managers. This has been interesting. Only a couple of weeks into it and I already have over fifty ads, mostly for change managers, but a few for change analysts, and "Organisation Change and Communications Managers". Only one, so far, (well done KPMG), has in any way included in the list of desired or required attributes of this miracle person, leadership. Am I missing something? Why is leadership not a required attribute of a change manager? Pretty much all the ads are versions of each other (lazy recruiters?), and ask for, "effective communicators, ability to work at all levels, good facilitators, and of course the grab bag of change management tools included in one of the change methodologies available at the consultancy near you". Well, experience tells me there are a few reasons for this oversight, and these might include:

1. Organisations don't know what they want from a change manager. Frequently, executives talk the change thing, budget for a change management resource, and then fail to use the resource effectively and reap the benefits. Why? Too often, an experienced change manager will be subordinated to a project manager, be limited on what they can actually do, where they can go, and who they can talk to, and be given "communication" tasks that could be done by a second year graduate.

2. The change manager is often not a manager. He/she is too often lacking in experience, either work or life, to really be able to identify and tease out the change challenges confronting projects and organisations. An effective change manager doesn't have to be 70 or 80, but it's a tough gig at 25. This is one of the reasons they are often subordinated to the project manager.

3. The reliance on methodologies and formal qualifications. I have met many Prosci qualified change managers who have a qualification (for $5,000) that tells their employer that they know all about change. Yes, they can crank out a change plan, a stakeholder management matrix, a communication plan, an impact analysis and even a change readiness approach, but knowing how to do these and not being able to sit with stakeholders and listen and problem solve is like being able to name the parts of a car and not be able to drive. Many change resources spend way too much time in front of a computer; these artifacts are not unimportant and can be very handy, but they alone do not constitute change management. Change happens on the front line, not at the keyboard.

4. Change managers are not effectively supported by senior management. Change management as it is traditionally applied is outdated. We know, for example, that 70 percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support. We also know that when people are truly invested in change it is 30 percent more likely to stick. (Ewenstein, B, Smith. W, Sologar, A, 2015)

We need to have change managers who can lead, who are recognised by executives, sponsors and staff for their leadership ability and for the way they get things done. The change manager needs to be at all meetings with the project manager, she needs to be listened to for her opinion and plans, and can apply her significant life and business experience to solving the change puzzle confronting the organisation. In their excellent Harvard Business Review article, "Change Management and Leadership Development Have to Mesh", (Quinn, R.W. and Quinn, R.E, 2016) the authors wrote, "Change management and leadership development programs have a woeful record at most organisations. In large part that's because they come up against a common challenge-deviating from a dominant culture (the true test of leadership) is very difficult."

Leadership and change management are too often regarded as mutually exclusive. Until change managers are trained to lead, selected for this attribute and then actually empowered to apply their leadership skills, the benefits gained from investing in change resources will continue to be less than desired. This is a golden opportunity to raise the bar; who's going to be game enough to try?

References:

Quinn, R W and Quinn, R E, 2016, Change Management and Leadership Development Have to Mesh, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

Ewenstein, B, Smith W, Sologar, A 2015 Changing Change Management McKinsey Quarterly