What is change management? Definition, phases, example
Change management is the structured way of guiding people through a change, so that a new way of working reaches daily work and stays there. Prosci, whose method I rely on, defines it as the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change1 to achieve a desired outcome. Change management is therefore measured by whether the people affected actually work differently afterwards. New software, a new process or a new organisation has only been introduced once that is the case.
What exactly is change management?
Every change in a company has two sides. The technical side is the solution itself: the new system, the new process, the new structure. The people side is whether those who are meant to work with it accept the solution. Change management takes care of the second side.
There are two perspectives that belong together:
- The individual. Every person goes through a change on their own: they need to understand why something changes, want to take part, know how it works, be able to do it in daily work and stick with it. Prosci’s ADKAR model2 describes exactly these five stages.
- The organisation. A company needs a plan that covers every group affected: who hears what and when, who sponsors the change, how training and communication fit together and how success is measured.
Typical occasions are new software such as a CRM or ERP system, new processes in sales or service, a reorganisation, a move to a new site or a merger.
How does change management differ from project management?
The terms get mixed up, especially in IT projects. They answer different questions:
| Discipline | Key question | Result when it works |
|---|---|---|
| Project management | Is the solution delivered on time, on budget and in the agreed quality? | The solution is delivered |
| Change management | Do people accept the solution and work with it? | The solution is used |
| IT change management (ITIL) | Is a change to a system requested, reviewed and approved in a controlled way? | The systems stay stable |
Project management and change management run in parallel and need each other. A project can finish on time and on budget and still fail, because after go-live everyone keeps working with their old lists. IT change management is a separate topic from IT operations: it controls who may change servers or applications. Anyone searching for “IT change management” usually ends up there.
Prosci’s research shows how much organisational change management matters. The institute has surveyed projects about their experience with change since 1998. In the 12th edition of its study Best Practices in Change Management3, projects with excellent change management met their objectives seven times as often as projects with poor change management.
88 %
Projects with excellent change management that meet their objectives
13 %
Projects with poor change management that meet their objectives
2,668
Participants in the study
Prosci divides change management into three phases
At the level of the organisation, Prosci divides the work into three phases, the Prosci 3-Phase Process4. They run alongside the project plan, not after it:
- 01
Prepare approach
Define what changes for which group, who in management sponsors the change, which risks exist and how success is measured.
- 02
Manage change
Carry out a plan per group: communication, sponsor appearances, training, coaching. Check regularly where it is stuck and adjust.
- 03
Sustain outcomes
Measure whether the new way of working is used, close gaps, make successes visible and anchor ownership inside the company for good.
The most common mistake happens in the first phase: change management starts too late. When communication begins two weeks before go-live, it can only inform. Who is affected and what changes for each group belongs at the beginning, because it also shapes the solution itself. The tool for this is the stakeholder analysis, from which the communication plan follows.
At the level of the individual, the ADKAR model helps with the diagnosis. When a rollout stalls, one of the five stages is usually missing, and each needs a different measure. Another training session only helps when knowledge or ability is missing. When nobody has understood what the change is good for, the manager has to explain it. How ADKAR differs from other well known models is described in change management models compared.
Sponsor, managers, change team and key users share the work
Change management is teamwork with clearly assigned roles:
- The sponsor. A person from management who visibly backs the change, makes decisions and releases resources. In the Prosci study, participants name active and visible sponsorship as the biggest contributor to success.
- Direct managers. They translate the change into the daily work of their team, answer the question “what does this mean for me?” and are the first to notice resistance.
- The change manager. Plans the approach, advises sponsor and managers, prepares communication and training and measures progress. They do not carry the responsibility for the outcome alone; that stays inside the company.
- Multipliers. In software rollouts usually key users: colleagues from the business who are involved early and answer the first questions in daily work.
In Germany there is one more role that international guides often leave out: the works council. Under section 87 (1) no. 6 of the Works Constitution Act5 (German text) it has a right of co-determination when technical equipment is introduced that is designed to monitor the behaviour or performance of employees. Because almost any software logs who did what and when, this comes up with nearly every new system. Involving the works council early wins an important supporter; doing it late costs months.
What does change management look like when software is introduced?
Take the introduction of a CRM system such as Salesforce in a company with field sales, inside sales and service. Technically the system is ready after a few months. Whether it is used is decided elsewhere:
- Write down groups and changes. For each group, in writing: what changes in daily work? Field sales record visit reports in the app instead of a spreadsheet, inside sales create quotes in the system instead of in Word.
- Make the sponsor visible. The head of sales explains in their own meeting why forecasts will come from the system and asks about it in the monthly report.
- Check the ADKAR stage per group. Inside sales want to take part but do not know the new steps yet: training on real cases helps. Field sales see no benefit: a conversation with their manager helps, another training changes nothing.
- Measure usage. What counts is whether records are created and maintained; the number of training sessions says little about that. Reports in the system show it more reliably than a survey.
Two projects from my work show the range: a global Salesforce Sales Cloud rollout with more than 500 users in the US, Asia and Europe, and an IT transformation at an insurer with more than 20,000 people affected in 19 countries. The phases are the same; the plan per group and country gets more demanding with size. How I set this up with Fabian Kramer for Salesforce programmes is described in Salesforce change management: why rollouts fail.
Outside help pays off once several groups or countries are affected
Not every change needs an external change manager. If a single process changes for a team of ten, a manager who uses ADKAR as a checklist and answers the five questions honestly is enough.
Outside support pays off when several groups or countries are affected, when nobody inside has the time and experience to plan it, or when the sponsor is still unclear. Then an outside view helps to clarify roles, coach the managers and hand the work over to internal owners at the end. For Salesforce programmes there is Salesforce change management consulting.
Prosci and ADKAR are registered trademarks of Prosci, Inc.
Sources5
- 1the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change (opens in a new tab)prosci.com
- 2ADKAR model (opens in a new tab)prosci.com
- 3Best Practices in Change Management (opens in a new tab)prosci.com
- 4Prosci 3-Phase Process (opens in a new tab)prosci.com
- 5section 87 (1) no. 6 of the Works Constitution Act (opens in a new tab)gesetze-im-internet.de
Frequently asked questions
What is change management in simple terms?
Change management prepares people for a change, guides them through it and makes sure nobody slips back into the old way of working. It is measured by whether people work differently after the introduction.
What is the difference between change management and organisational change management?
In practice there is none. Organisational change management (OCM) is the longer name, used to tell it apart from IT change management, which controls changes to systems.
What are the phases of change management?
Prosci names three: prepare approach, manage change and sustain outcomes. For the individual person, the ADKAR model describes five stages: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement.
Who is responsible for change management in a company?
A sponsor in management carries the change, and direct managers put it into practice in their teams. A change manager plans, advises and measures, but the responsibility for the outcome stays inside the company.
When does a project need change management?
Whenever the way people work changes: new software, new processes, a reorganisation or a merger. How much effort it takes depends on how many groups are affected and how much their daily work changes.