With spring upon us, it’s a time of change in nature. The snow (eventually!) melts, buds can be seen on trees, birds return to our backyards. Change is also a constant presence in IT. These days, change management is one of those terms that gets thrown around in response to change both within IT and beyond. But what is change management really about? And how can it help you achieve your technology goals?

Change management is a structured approach to support people through change and therefore facilitate successful organizational change. As folks in the change industry often say, organizations don’t change, people change. Successfully managing the people side of change is what precipitates a successful change for an organization.

Any change, big or small, one that broadly impacts a large number of people across teams or is narrowly focused, can benefit from elements of change management. Changes may include a new policy that is being rolled out, an updated business process that is being introduced, or a brand new software solution that is being implemented. The approach to change management can be scaled appropriately for the nature of the change.

Change management should be systematic and repeatable, such as the ADKAR model that is part of the methodology developed by Prosci (https://www.prosci.com/). ADKAR is used to build Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, and Ability for the change, and then Reinforce the change. By proactively and strategically working to build buy-in for change, barriers can be identified and overcome, and the change can be positioned for success.

What happens if these elements are not in place? The change will likely not be successful. For example, if the people impacted by a change don’t have the skills or resources needed to enact the change, it can lead to anxiety or frustration. They will be less likely to engage with the change if they have those feelings, and will be at a greater risk to continue doing things as they always have. If this occurs, the end result will be that the change does not achieve its full potential.

People don’t like change, and resistance to change is common, even normal. That is why change management is needed. In organizations that are looking to make business process or technology changes, using a structured approach to support people through it can help to ensure that the business benefits for the change are realized. Resilience to change and other competencies are also developed throughout the change journey which will serve to assist with the implementation of future initiatives.

In Triware’s Advisory team, we believe that it’s about more than the technology. We take a strategic approach to your needs to ensure you are getting the best value from your technology investments or introduce process and other improvements to align your operations with your strategic priorities.

Want to discuss how you can incorporate change management into your technology projects? Angela, Shane, or Andrew from the Triware Advisory team will be happy to meet with you. Contact us today!