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Change and project management should be integrated

By Marilyn de Villiers
Johannesburg, 18 Oct 2017

While the adage "the only constant is change" might have become something of a clich'e, most businesses recognise that without transformation, the risk of becoming irrelevant is considerably heightened.

The disciplines of change management and project management should be totally integrated.

MJ Fick

Change management is therefore becoming increasingly important within any organisation that is serious about growth. However, not all implementations of change initiatives are successful.

A survey of more than 2 000 executives in 900 companies across industries by global consulting firm McKinsey found that fewer than half of respondents reported that most or all of their change efforts in the past five years had met their initial goals and sustained results over time.

However, the survey identified several factors that were key to the success or failure of change projects - one of which was to have the right supporting organisation with the deployment of the right resources and capabilities.

This included an effective and empowered project-management office (PMO), which should be directly responsible for leading the change effort and monitoring its progress.

MJ Fick, PMO director at local business improvement consultancy P'etanque International, agrees. She maintains that the disciplines of change management and project management should be totally integrated.

"The days when project managers only had to focus on the technical side of a project, particularly a complex one such as an ERP implementation, are long gone. Today, project managers have to concern themselves with the business side of the project as well," she said.

"They have to understand why the project is being implemented, what the anticipated outcomes are; and they have to ensure that the people who are going to have to use the new system really understand what it does and why. Merely providing users with cursory training isn't sufficient. Change management is essential," she said.

XHead = The ideal PMO leader

McKinsey's report, "Secrets of successful change implementation", which was based on the survey, went even further. Not only was the PMO essential to maintaining the ownership and commitment necessary for the success of a major transformation, the PMO itself should be led by a relatively senior person.

This person, McKinsey maintained, should be a high performer with leadership potential; and should report directly to a C-level executive and carry that executive's authority.

"Although the ideal PMO leader will be chosen from within the company... it's more effective to bring in a skilled leader from outside than to appoint an insider who lacks the leadership skills to rally the troops," McKinsey added.

Other factors that contributed to the success of change initiatives included ensuring organisation-wide ownership of and commitment to change as well as regular and effective prioritisation.

As for specific implementation practices, respondents said successful transformations required the development of standard operating procedures and regular assessment of employees against their individual goals.

But many also said that their companies faltered when it came to conducting effective meetings, having processes in place to identify problems, and giving employees effective feedback.

The survey reinforced the view that "implementation is a discipline that develops with practice: good implementers were 1.4 times more likely than poor implementers to have change leaders who had personally led multiple change efforts. For organisations undergoing transformation for the first time, a strong starting stance is a focus on ownership and commitment, prioritisation of initiatives, and capabilities and resources," the McKinsey report concluded.

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