Learn more - Change management
Even the best opportunities are worthless until they have been implemented and stabilized as new ways-of-working that will continue to live on after change project ends.
This journey has multiple pitfalls that can prevent bringing home the benefits. However, with good preparations and support these pitfalls can be avoided or overcome.
Momentum is king
Complex changes live and die with the momentum they have. Either changes have lots of momentum or none of it. And once the momentum is lost it is all but impossible to kick-start it again.
Change management needs to focus on creating and sustaining change momentum and seek to anticipate and resolve possible threats to momentum with proactive paranoia.
Change experience
Executing complex changes is a competence that can be built and refined in advance before a do-or-die change urgency. Doing smaller and more frequent changes helps build this competence, learn what the typical problems are and reduce the psychological barrier to commit to changing things instead of just repeating yesterday.
Preparations
Once a complex and tightly scheduled change program is kicked off, it's dangerous to have any avoidable open questions that could mess up the schedules or require re-doing earlier steps.
Leaving open questions, e.g. on responsibilities, targets and cadences, and assuming that they can be fixed 'on-the-go' is a very typical root cause that robs the change from it's momentum, which leads to the death of the change initiative.
Supporting the change
Even with the best preparations, no complex change program is a 'fire-and-forget' action where all parts will self-steer after kick-off:
Change momentum needs to be nurtured with leadership, communication and celebrating achieved successes.
Game plan needs to be adjusted to coordinate workarounds for surprises and force majeures.
The need for fast extra support needs to be identified and provided when & where needed.
Supporting a complex change cannot be managed with the spare time left over after other work is done. Instead, it needs a dedicated Program Management Office to stay on the pulse, protect the change momentum and ultimately, secure reaching the goal.