What Does a Change Manager Actually Do?

4 days ago

6 min read

Author: Christine Flott, Project & Change Management Consultant

Picture this: Your organization has spent months implementing a new system. The technology team has configured it, tested it, fixed it, tested it again, and finally, it’s ready. It works. It solves a real business problem. It should make people’s jobs more efficient.

And then you roll it out.

People are confused. Others keep doing things the old way. Managers aren't sure how to guide their teams. Support requests pile up. Six months later, the new system technically works, but you’re not seeing the results you expected.

What happened?

Often, organizations spend so much time preparing the solution that they underestimate the work required to prepare the people.

That’s where change management comes in.

Project management gets the solution ready. Change management gets the people ready.

One of the mistakes organizations make thinking they’re preparing people for change is by sending out some emails in advance of a go-live and providing training. However, “getting people ready” involves much more than these two activities. So, what does that look like in practice? Here are some of the key factors a change manager helps answer to ensure a project deliverable is truly successful business outcome.

Defining Success

Early in a project, one of the first things I want to understand is how the organization defines success for the project. Typically, I want to speak with the project sponsor, project manager, and operational leaders to learn what the organization hopes to accomplish with the project. Additionally, I want to get as specific as possible. How else, otherwise, will the team and organization know if the effort was worth the investment?

While this sounds obvious, organizations don't always take the time to define success. Here are a few examples:

If a new system is supposed to increase productivity, identify by how much.
If a new process is expected to improve the customer experience, is there a specific NPS score increase we expect to see?
If employees should stop using an old process, how will we know that they have?

A change manager helps the organization make those outcomes explicit - and then helps connect the people side of the project to achieving them.

We figure out who is really impacted.

Next, we identify stakeholders. Some will be obvious. For example, if we're implementing new software, the people using the software are clearly stakeholders.

But they're rarely the only stakeholders. Managers of impacted teams may have new standards with which to measure employees. Additionally, although they may never touch the system, they’ll need to understand support options, reinforce new behaviors, monitor performance, and help their teams through the transition.

Another group that often goes unrecognized is the IT department. As an example, if an organization is implementing a new digital tool, technology stakeholders will want to know about security, account creation, and support considerations. (How many conversations have I been a part of where a business line wanted to purchase a piece of software without first consulting IT?)

In short, this is one of the places where change management can bring tremendous value. We take a wider view of the organization and ask, “Who experiences something different because of this project?” Doing this assessment early can prevent a great deal of disturbance within the organization – in my experience at inopportune moments – down the road.

Then we determine what is actually changing for them.

Understanding the variety of stakeholders that will be impacted by a change, next we need to determine what the change is, and how disruptive the change will be. As we understand from simply understanding who our impacted stakeholders are, we realize quickly that not everyone will experience the same change.

One group may have to learn a new system. Another may have a new approval process. Managers may have new performance measures. One group of stakeholders may just need to know "it happened." Another group may experience a complete shakeup. And sometimes the biggest change isn't a system or process at all. It's a behavior or mindset.

Additionally, sometimes we have a company-wide very disruptive change (i.e. return to office). At other times we have smaller departmental changes (i.e. new requirements for requesting PTO). The former will require greater effort to manage, the latter more modest planning and energy.

In each circumstance, we shouldn’t assume we know how the change will be perceived by stakeholders. Asking people gives us better information. It also gives employees an opportunity to participate in a change that's happening to their work.

That matters.

We build communications and training around what people actually need.

Once we understand the stakeholders and impacts, building a communication plan becomes the natural next step. As we do this, we can help answer these questions for employees:

What is changing for me?
Why are we doing this?
When will it happen?
What do I need to do?
Where can I ask questions?
What happens next?

And, no, we don't rely on one giant email to accomplish all of that. Depending on the change, communications may include leader talking points, team meetings, FAQs, posters, demonstrations, office hours, or a host of other options. These communications may be produced by leaders, communication specialists, or the change manager (ensuring with internal teams that the tone is right for company culture).

Training gets the same thoughtful treatment. In many cases, organizations have a Learning & Development team. If that’s the case, great! Change managers aren’t interested in getting in the way. At the very minimum, we aim to make sure all the right parties are connected and sharing information (L&D and technical teams). In more high touch scenarios, we may offer more consultation to the project team about the following:

Who needs training?
What do they need to be able to do afterward?
When should training occur?
Do people need opportunities to practice?
Will new employees need the same training six months from now?

In sum, we know that the goal isn't completed training. It's confident, capable employees.

Go-live and beyond.

Initially, go-live is when we finally get to see whether the planning worked. Remember that definition of success we established at the beginning? Now we measure it.

Are people using the new system?
Are they following the new process?
Where are they getting stuck?
Are support requests concentrated around a particular issue?
Are the business results beginning to move in the direction we anticipated?

Good metrics help us see whether adoption is occurring, identify areas where additional support may be needed, and eventually determine whether the organization is realizing the benefits that justified the project in the first place.

Furthermore, one of the biggest differentiators of change management from project management is that the scope of work extends past the go-live. In order to help the organization fully adopt the change, documentation needs to be created or updated (and marketed internally), training programs extended to new hires or upgraded to next level functionality, and, in cases, job descriptions may need to be reexamined. Adoption happens over time, not in one moment.

The overarching goal extends beyond a technically successful implementation to a successful business outcome.

So, what are you really getting when you invest in change management?

Alongside project managers, sponsors, business leaders, technology, communications, and training teams, change managers work to create a deliberate plan for the human side of your project.

First, we identify the vision, stakeholders, and actual changes and impacts. Then we plan for how to prepare the teams for those changes by lining up leaders’ messaging and other communications, ensuring managers are ready to lead through the transition, coordinating appropriate and timely training, and planning long term to make sure the change sticks. What this ultimately does is create transparency, build buy-in, reduce friction, and help employees feel prepared rather than blindsided.

And, ultimately, it helps protect the investment the organization has already made in the project itself.

Change management doesn't mean nobody will ever be frustrated by a change or that everyone will immediately embrace a new system, process, or way of working. It means we don't leave the people side of implementation to chance.

And when an organization has invested significant time, money, and energy into making a change, that's an important piece of the project to get right.