Change Management is a paradox in itself. Because the term denotes something that is a daily routine in private and professional life: change and development.
We constantly move from one "setting" to the next, from waking up and going to the bathroom, from work and to off time spend with family and friends. We constantly react to what we encounter and thereby, to a certain degree, alter ourselves as well as our environment. Perhaps precisely because change is so self-evident, as part of a project, change management is sometimes considered a mere luxury.
Specifically IT projects are initially about tangible optimisations of processes or structures. They are designed in view of major milestones and measurable effects. Anything in between, especially the "taking along" of colleagues, is considered self-evident by the project management - a given task to be done on the side.
This mindset ignores the fact that not all stakeholders in the project automatically follow the same development. Each staff, unit, department or company could pursue a different goal. Also, behind the scenes, hidden agendas and entire dramas unfold: desire, rejection, jealousy, ambition, interests, rebellions. Another aspect are projections and expectations towards the project or the IT that seem irrational and out of place, and therefore remain untreated.
Once projects develop in this direction, the focus diverts from their potential and possibilities and resistances manifest themselves. Only by ignoring unconscious correlations, a situation occurs in which the change management has no choice left but to focus on resistances. This is due to the fact that any development implies simultaneously opportunities and limitations. Both have a psychological impact and and push towards development. It depends on the context and the participation for stakeholders to perceive development opportunities or to cling to the familiar status quo.
DEVELOPMENT ON COMMON GROUND
We know all the satisfying experience when something is developed collectively and cooperatively, when something becomes more than just the sum of its parts. We postulate that all stakeholder aspire to this concerted evolution, because basically we as human beings constantly strive to participate and thus realize ourselves. Yet to establish a common ground that recognizes all the differences in both small and complex organizations, is a distinct discipline.
This distinct area can only be set up on a well-crafted project work base. Change Management is a sufficient condition to achieve designated goals, but not a necessity. Imperative though are a neatly run project and liability! Because transformational phases are characterised by uncertainty, a stabilising, reliable framework becomes absolutely vital. Only if the "hard facts" are backed up, can the other variables be attended to. Yet it is those that make the absolute difference as to whether a project is merely implemented or fully accepted and filled with life.
Therefore, change management is always a cooperative task at the interfaces of the organization(s) that synchronise or involve project management, implementation and operative business.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN IT-PROJECTS
The advisory portfolio of Bayard Consulting includes solutions for the described determinants in the environment of master data management. Initially, our IT experts support you software-independently with the technical processing of your project. We understand master data management as a process that brings together stakeholders from different worlds on a technological basis. Accordingly, we support you with the operationalisation of the project management. The change management is established as an interface function at the beginning of the project and continuously implemented with the aim to create synergies. The relevant correlations are processed in the form of concrete measures and methods that quantifiably enhance the project success and are based on the specific issues at hand.
Daniel Piontek welcomes all questions at daniel.piontek@bayard-consulting.com.
Daniel Piontek is a psychologist who studied in Cologne, Frankfurt and Vienna. For Bayard Consulting he currently oversees an SAP implementation for several hundred employees in the German food retail sector.
