Don’t put the project manager in charge of your change!

group of cogs
untitled artwork

Don’t get me wrong, project managers are great. Some of my closest allies are project managers! They ensure your project hits deadlines, stays on budget, and meets quality standards.

But leading the change? That’s your responsibility.

As a senior leader in charge of a significant organisational change, it’s your job to ensure it realises the intended benefits. You need to lead the important decisions, like:

  • Is the business case solid?
  • Is the solution the right one?
  • Is the timing right?
  • Have the right actions been taken before go-live?
  • Are people ready, willing, and able to adopt the change?

Expecting a project manager to take charge of these decisions, even if they care deeply, isn’t reasonable.

I get it, perhaps you haven’t done this before. So you secure a great project manager. You breathe a sigh of relief and put the whole project in their hands. You entrust them to deliver and to let you know when problems arise. You even sign-off on a change manager – people side of the change, tick!

You can now get back to your real job. Right?

But then it goes wrong. You are on the brink of go-live – or already live – and issues hit. Backlash. Low user adoption. Benefits that just aren’t materialising.

With the solution ‘turned on’, the project manager has probably rolled off and onto their next project. They did their best within the scope of their role. As did the change manager. So what went wrong?

You took your foot off the sponsorship pedal. You didn’t lead the change.

A senior leader I worked with told me about the first time they led a significant change. They had the challenging task of implementing a new system in a complex area of government. Thinking they were doing the right thing, they entrusted the responsibility to the software supplier’s project manager.

$2M and more than a year later, there was a half-developed technical solution that had no stakeholder involvement and failed to meet user needs. The leader had to cut their losses and start over.

Second time around the leader took charge. This was when I came on board. They knew they needed to actively sponsor the change and have deeper involvement (“my job is on the line here!”).

This time, the leader put in place:

  • a rigorous procurement process and detailed contract
  • a highly skilled, internally led project team (and met weekly with the project manager)
  • senior change management expertise (mine), which they listened to!
  • strong governance with key stakeholder representation on the project board and at every stage
  • sponsor plans, for them and other senior leaders (supporting them to be active and visible).

Success followed, with wide adoption and significant benefits. This leader, having learned the ropes of leading organisational change, went on to greater achievements.

The discipline of change management has changed a lot in the last 10-20 years, but active and visible sponsorship remains the number one contributor to success (Prosci research).

Are you leading your change to success? Do you have the knowledge, capability, and support to be the sponsor you need to be – the first time?

**********************

Sign up to our newsletter to receive more insights, freebies and news, to support you in the success of your change.

Because how you make change matters. It matters to your people, it matters to your customers, and it matters to your bottom line.

And it matters to us at ChangeEffect.

©2024 CHANGEEFFECT PTY LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Written by Carly Marriner