Delivering effective business change – how difficult can it be?

Well, very!

If your business change projects are not aligned to your future departmental policy objectives, if the expected benefits are unclear and not measurable, and if the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) is inexperienced in the somewhat dark art of effective sponsorship, then you might have a failing project or programme on your hands. Many organisations saturate their staff with a vast, un-coordinated array of colliding projects, draining their declining budget and the energy of their sponsors and staff in equal measure, for little tangible benefit.

Are these projects really necessary or well-structured? Has a strategic approach been taken to select the projects that best meet the future size and shape of the organisation? How well equipped are sponsors and staff to deliver the expected benefits on time?

Business change projects and programmes must be linked to strategic objectives and consideration of the organisation’s readiness for change, in both capability and availability of resources, to ensure project outcomes are well understood.

Defined selection criteria to help choose options are required. Perhaps not everything can be done? Saying no can be hard, so developing a strategic approach to portfolio management, supported by the use of an accredited change management methodology in tandem with effective project management greatly improves the chances of delivery success.  Assessing and developing an SRO’s competency as an effective Sponsor is also vital.

CMC Partnership has helped many public sector organisations on this journey. Working “customer side” our business change managers transfer skills as standard, ensuring we improve in house capability wherever we can.

Take Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, where CMC assisted not only in programme and project management, but also in the development of Prosci® Change Management capability as a tool to improve benefits realisation.

Using the Prosci® Project Change Triangle™, together with relevant portfolio modelling and assessment tools, the organisation and the priority for its individual business projects can be clearly assessed. This enhances an understanding of the tasks and challenges ahead and puts the organisation in a much stronger position to deliver the required outcomes.

©2012 Prosci® Project Change Triangle™