Putting a management focus on change management focus areas

Others may identify more or fewer functional elements in their change management method. They may give them different names. I believe six unique aspects or thrusts of change management need to be executed and monitored. Staying on top of these thrusts, the change manager will be well set to succeed.

“Preparation and Management” are the basis of future success

Effective change management is the result of extensive, specific preparation and vigilant management. A change’s success—or not—is largely determined well before it actually happens. Understanding the environment, the people, and the history of a change are essential to success. Success comes when change support is designed and executed according to plan in harmony with those insights.

”Sponsorship” is the unsung essential in change management

Sponsorship is the focus on securing and maintaining executive support for the change and, more importantly, the change management. This is a crucial, functional aspect of change management all too often overlooked because it is assumed either to be there or to be irrelevant. That is an extremely risky calculation.

“Training” is a fundamental to creating knowledge and skill

Implementation of new or altered processes, different tools, skills enhancement, and so on typically implies a fundamental need for new knowledge and understanding. Be it trivial or material, foundational success depends on stakeholders’ understanding of and ability to effect the change. Specifically, stakeholders need to know why the change is being made, what it means to them, and how to make the necessary shift. That often means training of some sort.

“Coaching” or mentoring is the true heart of reinforcement

For our purpose, the coaching focus area is basically personal encouragement from a trusted source. It is definitely not programmed personal development as practiced by psychologists, academics, and other experienced hands. We are referring to non-invasively encouraging proper stakeholder behaviour in the moment.

“Communication” is everything; everything is communication

Communication is the function perhaps most identified with change management, practically synonymous with it in too many people’s minds. This is as wrong as believing the only change management foundation is ensuring people are trained.

”Performance Management” is how you stay on task and focused

Whatever your organization is proposing and implementing should result in noticeable change to somebody, is being done to make an empirically positive impact. The change project must itself fundamentally have performance measures: the goalposts for change management focus to prove the project’s change is being adopted.