The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook

PREFACE

It is less than a year since I wrote the preface to the Change Management Institute’s The Effective Change Manager: The Change Management Body of Knowledge (CMBoK). At the time I had little idea that I would be writing another preface so soon. However, a need has become apparent for a robust examinable text that follows the content and structure of that body of knowledge. In the preface to The Effective Change Manager I described change management as:

• an emergent profession;
• an interdisciplinary profession;  
• a developing profession

Change management is an emergent profession in the sense that no one set out to invent it. The rapidly changing demands on organizations in the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st placed a premium on effective organizational change management. Success in delivering organizational change initiatives has been patchy at best, and research has begun to identify the range of factors that predispose an initiative to succeed. A need has become clear for people with a particular range of knowledge and competence to help organizations apply these insights effectively. For this reason, change management is also an interdisciplinary profession. Insights about successful change draw on a wide range of academic research and practitioner expertise, and require effective interfaces with many other disciplines. The change management ‘nation’ is composed of many ‘tribes’. In particular, those who have come to change management practice from an organizational development (OD) background have long used more than half a century of social science research to engage the commitment of people, helping them to invest personally in change to their working lives. But in addition to the ‘OD tribe’ there are project and programme managers, who have used their specialist knowledge of operational management, applying their structured approaches, tools and techniques to support successful change. It has taken time for people with the appropriate set of interdisciplinary insights to emerge. They have been guided by far-sighted academics who have for many years researched and run courses in change management, or who have included this as an explicit module in MBA programmes. However, the emergence of this interdisciplinary profession is taking time – it is a developing profession. No longer embryonic or in its infancy, change management is clearly ‘out there’ in the world. It is finding a distinctive voice and making its own impact. Its final ‘mature’ form remains to be seen, so perhaps in developmental terms the change management profession could be said to be ‘adolescent’. It may sometimes be susceptible to a passing fashion or to the influence of a single, charismatic figure. However, it is increasingly firm in its sense of itself. It possesses the energy, enthusiasm and, increasingly, the wisdom to make a positive difference in the world. This book, and the well-researched structure of The Effective Change Manager that lies behind it, are a contribution to the maturing of change management. In a remarkably short period a team of 17 authors, each with relevant specialisms, has collaborated to develop this current text. It covers fully the knowledge expected of effective change managers. It covers key elements of the Change Management Institute’s accreditation process for change managers, and can be used as the basis for courses and examinations that support that process, including the APMG International syllabus from 2015 onwards. In this current book – The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook – we have sought to reflect both the breadth and depth of knowledge needed by change managers across the variety of challenges they face. Our understanding of change management has been based on several years’ worldwide research by the Change Management Institute (CMI) about what change managers actually do. Rather than offering an academic definition of ‘change management’ the book as a whole reflects this research. Most importantly, however, this is a handbook. We are not seeking to break new ground in what we cover here. Our aim is to make existing change management knowledge both accessible and practical. Given the impact of change on leaders and managers of many backgrounds and across organizational life, this book is not written for people in a narrow professional ‘ghetto’. It is designed to address the needs of many who need to do the work of managing change, even though this is not their job title. See the following section on ‘Who is this book for?’ In the following pages we offer applications, techniques, checklists and frameworks that will, we hope, encourage and support excellent practice. If readers return to this book frequently, dipping into it to find fresh insights or tools to address a current challenge, we shall have succeeded in our purpose.

Richard Smith, June 2014 on behalf of the editorial team

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CONTENTS

Preface – Change management in contex..................................................xvii

Who is this book for?................................................................................... xix

Editorial and practical information about this book ......................................xx

Those who have made this book possible xxi Author biographies ............xxiv

01 A change management perspective .......................................................1

02 Defining change ...................................................................................78

03 Managing benefits: Ensuring change delivers value ..........................132

04 Stakeholder strategy ..........................................................................172

05 Communication and engagement ......................................................210

06 Change impact ..................................................................................258

07 Change readiness, planning and measurement ................................290

08 Project management: Change initiatives, projects and programmes..329

09 Education and learning support .........................................................367

10 Facilitation .........................................................................................415

11 Sustaining change ............................................................................454

12 Personal and professional management .........................................492

13 Organizational considerations ..........................................................535

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