Most likely, leaders will ask “Is change management necessary for this project?” before embarking on a transformative project or organizational change.

More often than not, the resounding answer to this question is a concrete yes. When leaders, managers, project teams, or employees ponder this question, they are usually concerned about resources required, perceived delays, or personal impacts to make the transformation successful. What is initially perceived as “a lot of extra work”, change management actually creates less work for leadership in the long run, because it anticipates specific risk mitigation tactics and guides informed decision-making.

If a leader still has doubts, an effective way to decide if change management is necessary is to consider behavioral change: If employees are being forced to change work habits, change management is necessary. 

Change management is primarily used to enact behavioral change within teams. Well-managed behavioral change means positively influencing the team member’s ideas and reactions surrounding the proposed change. Encouraging individuals on the team’s behavior to accept and implement the change is crucial to the transformation’s success. Alternatively, if leaders encounter a team that is resistant or unwilling to change and do not address this reluctance, the transformation may be sabotaged.

No matter if the transformation is a small-scale discrete project or a company-wide organizational restructuring, intentional change management is the key to implementing the individual and team behavior changes necessary for success.

So, where to start?

Leadership must determine the change management requirements for a transformation. To begin, consider this goal-oriented question: 

“What tools and methodology will enable the behavior change we need to make the transformation successful and long-lasting?” Refresh your memory with a reminder of what successful goal setting looks like.

Types of Organizational Changes

Figuring out the specific type of organizational change your organization is undertaking makes expected behavior change clear. Based on the type of transformation, leadership will be able to outline how to make the transformation successful. 

The transformation type should be defined early on. Read more about different kinds of organizational transformations.

To determine the type of organizational change your organization is experiencing, review the initiative from various perspectives:

• Scope: Is it a single project or an organization-wide transformation?
• Timing: Is it an anticipated or unexpected change?
• Size: How many people will be affected?
• Degree: How substantial is the gap between the current state and desired state?

The sum of all these factors indicates where change management requirements fall on the scale of “little effort” to “maximum effort.”

Most organizational changes are made up of consistent themes. Some transformations only affect certain teams, while others affect the entire organization and every individual within it. For example, technology and software upgrades are usually discrete projects and affect users and teams involved with an organization’s data systems. Mergers and acquisitions, however, are company-wide transformations that affect multiple organizations and external stakeholders.

Once leaders are aware of the transformation’s themes they will begin to be able to predict management requirements. However, an even deeper understanding allows leadership to complete a precise analysis and foresee more specific issues and risks.

Predict the transformation’s trajectory and change management requirements by describing the scope, timing, size, and degree of the change. 

Scope

Fully understanding the scope of the transformation predicts future bumps in the road. For example, implementing a change management project within a single team tends to be less complex than undergoing an update of an entire organization’s processes. Thus, the larger the transformation, the more communication and leadership will be necessary.

Changes that make significant contributions to strategic goals or involve senior leaders end up demanding success. Must-win projects can be simple or complex, but the scope of those affected can contribute to goals being met swiftly and with minimal resistance. So, sometimes the bigger the transformation, the harder it is for it to fail and vice versa!

Timing

Deadlines and go-live dates are concrete examples of the timing. Of course, not all projects follow strict timelines.

Unexpected organizational changes happen all the time, however inconvenient. As we learned during the pandemic, sometimes organizations have no control over external forces and their effects on a project. So when the unexpected arrives, make sure leadership and teams are trained in adaptability to continue progressing. Great change management training will always teach adaptable resilience.

Size

The size is the number of people, teams, and levels affected, defining the overall size of a transformation.

It’s up to the organization’s discretion whether it’s worthwhile to include individuals like vendors, clients, and customers in the equation. This inclusion should be based on the transformation’s overall goals.

Degree

The degree of an organizational change represents the overall difference it makes. Remember: the degree of a transformation is defined in concrete terms by analyzing an organization’s processes, culture, and technology. Think of it as a before and after snapshot of the internal workings of an organization.

Defining Behavior Change Expectations

Once leadership has analyzed the scope, timing, size, and degree of the transformation, they are able to define behavior change expectations:

• Minimal behavior change: Adjusting to the change is projected to be easy. Some team members affected by the change may not even notice.
• Moderate behavior change: Adjusting to the change is expected to fluctuate between easy to challenging, depending on who is affected and how they respond to these changes.
• Significant behavior change: Adjusting to the change is expected to be complex and challenging for a range of employees, teams, and stakeholders.

Although behavior change is not the only factor that makes change management necessary, it is a decisive aspect of finding success. With a clear expectation for the degree of behavior change, leadership can select appropriate change management methodologies and tools. 

A Methodology for Every Transformation

The various kinds of organizational transformations and the diverse ways they often play out inspired LaMarsh to develop our own change management methodology.

We developed our scalable methodology, Managed Change, to be applied easily to all types of organizational changes.

Allow data to guide your decisions

Determine the change management requirements of any project with consistent, data-driven assessments. Beginning before a project takes off and then utilized to sustain it, Managed Change includes a collection of assessments that inform early decisions and determine change management requirements.

Only one methodology

Our methodology was developed and tested to adapt according to different transformation scenarios and kinds of change. This adaptability makes it possible for practitioners to master one methodology and use it to gain clarity, no matter the circumstances. Since then, Managed Change has been applied to many kinds of organizational transformations around the world. 

Choose the tools you need

Our methodology allows leaders and change practitioners to select the project management tools that address the specific problems within the transformation. Managed Change’s ongoing collection and analysis of data will continue to inform practitioners on which tools to use throughout the change while allowing agility to adapt when a project’s scope or risks shift. 

Manage multiple changes

Organizational changes rarely happen independently of each other. When multiple transformations collide in the absence of a plan to manage behavioral change, a difficult and tense situation often arises. The resulting chaos creates an increasingly urgent need for behavior change. Managed Change is deliberately designed to aid leadership in mitigating the cumulative impacts of transformations.

Focus efforts on what matters most

Managed Change highlights the aspects of a transformation initiative that require attention, problem-solving, and follow-through. Our methodology helps pinpoint how change management can best aid a transformation and provides tailored steps, tools, and leadership guidance to drive behavioral changes and the acceptance and adoption of any transformation. Take leadership skills to new heights with a change management certification in Managed Change. At LaMarsh, our experts are here to guide you and your transformation to success. Get in touch to learn more.