“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.”
— James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, Flight of the Buffalo (1994)
As a project manager our entire job is change. We Initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control, and close changes, but instead we call them projects. By the very nature of people, they are resistant to change! The question then becomes, how can we overcome irrational fears and people clutching to the past?
John Kotter lays out the plan for change in his book Leading Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
Identify the current state of the project. What are the risks and opportunities?
2. Forming a powerful guiding coalition
Find a good executive sponsor, get stakeholder buy-in, and work on Project team building
3. Creating a vision
Where is the team going? What are they working towards? Create a solid scope of work and a plan of how to complete the project.
4. Communicating vision
Open and frequent communication makes happy stakeholders. Ensure the communication is at the proper frequency and media for your target audience.
5. Empowering others to act on the vision
A primary function of a project manager is to remove obstacles so people can do their jobs. Using a project as leverage can be a good opportunity to fix a flawed workflow process in the organization. Encourage your team members to think about how things should be and work towards that end result, do not just focus on how things are done today. The phrase “because that’s how we’ve always done it” is a sign that person saying those words has no idea the why behind that process.
6. Planning for and creating short-term wins
Start off with visible results. The project needs momentum to succeed, just like anything else. Planning for visible performance improvements or wins, will keep your project team motivated, keep yourself motivated, and show your executive sponsor this project will be a success. Just remember who brought you there, there is plenty of spotlight for everyone.
7. Consolidating improvements and producing still more change
Do not let the project successes live in just one project, share them across the board. Use your increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit the vision of the organization. Make sure and complete your lessons learned for each project and use them! It’s easy to take notes, but make sure you actually implement the good parts on your next project.
8.Institutionalizing new approaches
Soon you will be noticed for your project success. Your CIO, COO, CEO…some C will come asking to talkt o you. There are no real secrets; you have just followed the steps of the change expert, John P. Kotter. You understand the connections between the new behaviors and corporate success.
