My change management “come from”

In this post, I will share an overview of my “come from” regarding change management; What is my home base, from what foundation do I approach change management work?

We all have a home base. It may be a methodology, a preferred way to “do” change, or certain core beliefs about people. Our home base affects what we do, how we do it, and how we show up in the world as change practitioners. This doesn’t mean we’re narrow minded or inflexible in our approach. Since the moment we enter a situation, we change it, though, it does mean we owe it to ourselves and the people we work with to be aware of what our home base is.

Our home base affects what we do, how we do it, and how we show up in the world as change practitioners.

I can summarize my change management “come from” in three core beliefs:

• Change management is much more than telling and training

• We create our future with our current actions

• It’s the business’s change, not the change team’s

Change management is more than telling and training

Have you ever noticed that change practitioners are often brought in fairly late in an initiative? Change management is tasked with dealing with the “people side of change”. This usually means “reducing resistance” and “increasing adoption” via communications and training right around the time of implementation. I’ve heard this called the “getting people to do stuff” approach. I call it telling and training.

Whatever you call it, I think there’s a better (more humanistic and more effective) way.

We create our future with our current actions

For me, this is about clarity and intentionality.

I believe it’s our job as change practitioners to help the business people we work with clearly define what success looks like for an initiative, knowing there will be adjustments/tweaks along the way. It’s most helpful if this is done as early in the process as possible, preferably before the initiative even kicks off.

Once the business people we work with (with our help) have clearly defined what success looks like, it’s our job to intentionally and mindfully align our actions to support the business in their pursuit of bringing their vision of success to life.

This leads me to my third foundational belief…

It’s the business’s change, not the change practitioner’s

So often the change practitioner and/or team ends up being seen as the “face” of a change. People feel as if change is being done “to them” from the outside. I believe the business people we work with own the changes they are initiating. They are the most effective “face” of the change. Change practitioners are more effective when we operate as servant leaders and support/coach the business and lead from the shadows.

It’s our job to help people unleash their power, to equip them to deal with change better than before we met.

Looking ahead

In my next few posts in this Change Management “Come From” series, I will take a deeper dive into the beliefs I shared in this post; starting with What is the People Side of Change Anyway?

Thank you for reading. Until next time, keep up the good work!

Mike