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Master Organizational Change Management Practices

PMOs, if you don't know who is responsible for org change, it's you.

  • Organizational change management (OCM) is often an Achilles’ heel for IT departments and business units, putting projects and programs at risk – especially large, complex, transformational projects.
  • When projects that depend heavily on users and stakeholders adopting new tools, or learning new processes or skills, get executed without an effective OCM plan, the likelihood that they will fail to achieve their intended outcomes increases exponentially.
  • The root of the problem often comes down to a question of accountability: who in the organization is accountable for change management success? In the absence of any other clearly identifiable OCM leader, the PMO – as the organizational entity that is responsible for facilitating successful project outcomes – needs to step up and embrace this accountability.
  • As PMO leader, you need to hone an OCM strategy and toolkit that will help ensure not only that projects are completed but also that benefits are realized.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • The root of poor stakeholder adoption on change initiatives is twofold:
    • Project planning tends to fixate on technology and neglects the behavioral and cultural factors that inhibit user adoption;
    • Accountabilities for managing change and helping to realize the intended business outcomes post-project are not properly defined in advance.
  • Persuading people to change requires a “soft,” empathetic approach to keep them motivated and engaged. But don’t mistake “soft” for easy. Managing the people part of change is amongst the toughest work there is, and it requires a comfort and competency with uncertainty, ambiguity, and conflict.
  • Transformation and change are increasingly becoming the new normal. While this normality may help make people more open to change in general, specific changes still need to be planned, communicated, and managed. Agility and continuous improvement are good, but can degenerate into volatility if change isn’t managed properly.

Impact and Result

  • Plan for human nature. To ensure project success and maximize benefits, plan and facilitate the non-technical aspects of organizational change by addressing the emotional, behavioral, and cultural factors that foster stakeholder resistance and inhibit user adoption.
  • Make change management as ubiquitous as change itself. Foster a project culture that is proactive about OCM. Create a process where OCM considerations are factored in as early as project ideation and where change is actively managed throughout the project lifecycle, including after the project has closed.
  • Equip project leaders with the right tools to foster adoption. Effective OCM requires an actionable toolkit that will help plant the seeds for organizational change. With the right tools and templates, the PMO can function as the hub for change, helping the business units and project teams to consistently achieve project and post-project success.

Master Organizational Change Management Practices Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how implementing an OCM strategy through the PMO can improve project outcomes and increase benefits realization.

1. Prepare the PMO for change leadership

Assess the organization’s readiness for change and evaluate the PMO’s OCM capabilities.

2. Plant the seeds for change during project planning and initiation

Build an organic desire for change throughout the organization by developing a sponsorship action plan through the PMO and taking a proactive approach to change impacts.

3. Facilitate change adoption throughout the organization

Ensure stakeholders are engaged and ready for change by developing effective communication, transition, and training plans.

4. Establish a post-project benefits attainment process

Determine accountabilities and establish a process for tracking business outcomes after the project team has packed up and moved onto the next project.

5. Solidify the PMO’s role as change leader

Institute an Organizational Change Management Playbook through the PMO that covers tools, processes, and tactics that will scale all of the organization’s project efforts.


Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

9.1/10


Overall Impact

$71,921


Average $ Saved

20


Average Days Saved

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

California Department Of Technology

Workshop

10/10

$130K

6

Best: Team gets together and collaboration. Immediate feedback and interactions. Practical tools to take home. Hands-on practice of tools and t... Read More

Milwaukee County Department of Administrative Services – Information Management Division (DAS-IMSD)

Workshop

10/10

$411K

100

Paul was a great facilitator and kept us moving forward at a pace we were comfortable with. It was great to have Jerry there as well to bring his e... Read More

The Woodland Trust

Guided Implementation

9/10

$171K

2

Gaining confidence in a new skill preventing need to onboard a consultant

California Health and Human Services Agency

Guided Implementation

9/10

$32,195

10

VKB Landbou (Pty) Ltd

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

10

The experience was really great from the start. Elvis was very patient and allowed the team to ask questions. The team really enjoyed the 'homework... Read More

City Of Bakersfield

Guided Implementation

9/10

$68,500

20

Long always gives great advice and shares helpful tools. His input has been very valuable to us as we work to bring awareness to our lack of projec... Read More

Oxford County

Guided Implementation

10/10

$25,000

10

Having the opportunity to get some one-on-one support with a change management expert and to bounce some ideas off of an expert as I work my way th... Read More

The Woodland Trust

Guided Implementation

8/10

$42,750

9

Best part - the practical tools ready to use and ready to go. Exactly what I need at this time. Long Dam was incredibly knowledgeable and I would... Read More

Daytona State College

Guided Implementation

10/10

$13,700

10

NEI Global Relocation

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

5

Best were the blueprint process and templates leveraging best practices to jump start our OCM effort and guide us through the change management pro... Read More

Shelby County Government

Guided Implementation

8/10

$1,370

1

Although I was very familiar with the topic and related Info-Tech research, Long went through an in-depth explanation of a few of the tools and fea... Read More

ONTIC

Guided Implementation

8/10

$13,700

10

The call was well structure and went at a good pace. Really helpful to give me a fresh perspective

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.

Guided Implementation

10/10

$102K

20

Matt Burton is a wealth of knowledge and experience - I appreciate his willingness to help. Matt provided a significant amount of collateral that ... Read More

Oman LNG L.L.C.

Guided Implementation

10/10

$34,250

26

Everything was excellent

Surescripts, LLC

Guided Implementation

10/10

$13,700

10

Working through the templates that best meet the needs of our PMO and organization.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Workshop

8/10

$25,000

20

It was an excellent and valuable experience. I really appreciated that we actually completed real tools with a real project. Being a small group ... Read More

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

20

Excellent call. The analyst (Long Dam) was excellent. He clearly explained everything, suggested the appropriate tools, and was responsive to my qu... Read More

University Of Regina

Guided Implementation

9/10

$9,000

20

It was very valuable to receive feedback on customization of change management processes to align with our methodology.

San Diego County Office of Education

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

N/A

Long was friendly, knowledgeable and interested in helping us. He quickly followed up with resources for us to look into. We were seeking a thought... Read More

City of Danville, VA

Workshop

7/10

N/A

N/A

Positives: There are a lot of tools and templates that will greatly assist us with developing an OCM culture in our organization. Negative: It... Read More

Florida Department of Corrections

Workshop

10/10

$411K

50

The instructor provided, Bill Holliday was extremely knowledgeable about the tools, OCM in general but also on getting participants to engage. The ... Read More

Surescripts, LLC

Workshop

8/10

N/A

N/A

It is really hard to estimate time or cost savings at this point since we just finished our workshop and will determine what processes and template... Read More

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Guided Implementation

9/10

$10,000

20

Utah Valley University

Guided Implementation

8/10

$12,341

5

Elvis is great to give advice about how to form a change management practice at UVU with the available tools that Info-tech has to offer. He also ... Read More

Bay Cove Human Services Inc.

Workshop

10/10

$34,250

10

The best part was the level of communication and examples provided. The group consisted of senior managers as well as PM staff. The senior manage... Read More

Bay Cove Human Services Inc.

Guided Implementation

10/10

$2,599

5

The experience has been nothing but positive. Elvis is extremely knowledgeable and very easy to work with. I can't rate the time or cost saving... Read More

City Of Kawartha Lakes

Workshop

10/10

$25,000

32

The information, tools and templates shared were great, but the facilitated discussions were probably the best part of the experience - seeing atte... Read More

University Of Regina

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

5

It was extremely helpful to have an easy to use tool that will help with the analysis of stakeholders. This will benefit the project managers not ... Read More

Municipality of Chatham-Kent

Workshop

8/10

$100K

120

The hands on templates and learning how best to apply them. If I were to do this workshop at another time, I would prefer to do in person.

Virginia Department of Health

Workshop

9/10

$34,250

10


Organizational Change Management

Embrace (the accountability for) change.
This course makes up part of the PPM & Projects Certificate.

  • Course Modules: 6
  • Estimated Completion Time: 2-2.5 hours
  • Featured Analysts:
  • Barry Cousins, Sr. Research Director, Applications Practice
  • Gord Harrison, SVP of Research and Advisory

Now Playing:
Academy: Organizational Change Management | Executive Brief

An active membership is required to access Info-Tech Academy

Workshop: Master Organizational Change Management Practices

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Assess OCM Capabilities

The Purpose

  • Assess the organization’s readiness for change and evaluate the PMO’s OCM capabilities.
  • Estimate the relative difficulty and effort required for managing organizational change through a specific project.
  • Create a rough but concrete timeline that aligns organizational change management activities with project scope.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • A better understanding of the cultural appetite for change and of where the PMO needs to focus its efforts to improve OCM capabilities.
  • A project plan that includes disciplined organizational change management from start to finish.

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Assess the organization’s current readiness for change.

  • Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment
1.2

Perform a change management SWOT analysis to assess the PMO’s capabilities.

  • A diagnosis of the PMO’s strengths and weaknesses around change management, as well as the opportunities and threats associated with driving an OCM strategy through the PMO
1.3

Define OCM success metrics.

  • Criteria for implementation success
1.4

Establish and map out a core OCM project to pilot through the workshop.

  • Project Level Assessment

Module 2: Analyze Change Impacts

The Purpose

  • Analyze the impact of the change across various dimensions of the business.
  • Develop a strategy to manage change impacts to best ensure stakeholder adoption.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Improved planning for both your project management and organizational change management efforts.
  • A more empathetic understanding of how the change will be received in order to rightsize the PMO’s OCM effort and maximize adoption.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Develop a sponsorship action plan through the PMO.

  • Sponsorship Action Plan
2.2

Determine the relevant considerations for analyzing the change impacts of a project.

2.3

Analyze the depth of each impact for each stakeholder group.

  • Organizational Change Management Capabilities Assessment
2.4

Establish a game plan to manage individual change impacts.

2.5

Document the risk assumptions and opportunities stemming from the impact analysis.

  • Risk and Opportunity Assessment

Module 3: Establish Collaborative Roles and Develop an Engagement Plan

The Purpose

  • Define a clear and compelling vision for change.
  • Define roles and responsibilities of the core project team for OCM.
  • Identify potential types and sources of resistance and enthusiasm.
  • Create a stakeholder map that visualizes relative influence and interest of stakeholders.
  • Develop an engagement plan for cultivating support for change while eliciting requirements.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Begin to communicate a compelling vision for change.
  • Delegate and divide work on elements of the transition plan among the project team and support staff.
  • Begin developing a communications plan that appeals to unique needs and attitudes of different stakeholders.
  • Cultivate support for change while eliciting requirements.

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Involve the right people to drive and facilitate change.

  • RACI table
3.2

Solidify the vision of change to reinforce and sustain leadership and commitment.

3.3

Proactively identify potential skeptics in order to engage them early and address their concerns.

  • Stakeholder Analysis
3.4

Stay one step ahead of potential saboteurs to prevent them from spreading dissent.

3.5

Find opportunities to empower enthusiasts to stay motivated and promote change by encouraging others.

3.6

Formalize the stakeholder analysis to identify change champions and blockers.

  • Engagement Plan
3.7

Formalize the engagement plan to begin cultivating support while eliciting requirements.

  • Communications plan requirements

Module 4: Develop and Execute the Transition Plan

The Purpose

  • Develop a realistic, effective, and adaptable transition plan, including:
    • Clarity around leadership and vision.
    • Well-defined plans for targeting unique groups with specific messages.
    • Resistance and contingency plans.
    • Templates for gathering feedback and evaluating success.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Execute the transition in coordination with the timeline and structure of the core project.
  • Communicate the action plan and vision for change.
  • Target specific stakeholder and user groups with unique messages.
  • Deal with risks, resistance, and contingencies.
  • Evaluate success through feedback and metrics.

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Sustain changes by adapting people, processes, and technologies to accept the transition.

4.2

Decide which action to take on enablers and blockers.

4.3

Start developing the training plan early to ensure training is properly timed and communicated.

  • Training Plan
4.4

Sketch a communications timeline based on a classic change curve to accommodate natural resistance.

4.5

Define plans to deal with resistance to change, objections, and fatigue.

  • Resistance Plan
4.6

Consolidate and refine communication plan requirements for each stakeholder and group.

4.7

Build the communications delivery plan.

  • Communications Plan
4.8

Define the feedback and evaluation process to ensure the project achieves its objectives.

4.9

Formalize the transition plan.

  • Transition Plan

Module 5: Institute an OCM Playbook through the PMO

The Purpose

  • Establish post-project benefits tracking timeline and commitment plans.
  • Institute a playbook for managing organizational change, including:
    • Clarity around roles and responsibilities.
    • Formalized methodology.
    • Reusable tools and templates.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • A process for ensuring the intended business outcomes are tracked and monitored after the project is completed.
  • Repeat and scale best practices around organizational change to future PMO projects.
  • Continue to build your capabilities around managing organizational change.
  • Increase the effectiveness and value of organizational change management.

Activities

Outputs

5.1

Review lessons learned to improve organizational change management as a core PM discipline.

  • Lessons learned
5.2

Monitor capacity for change.

  • Organizational Change Capability Assessment
5.3

Define roles and responsibilities.

5.4

Formalize and communicate the organizational change management playbook.

  • Organizational Change Management Playbook
5.5

Regularly reassess the value and success of organizational change management.


Master Organizational Change Management Practices preview picture

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

MEMBER RATING

9.1/10
Overall Impact

$71,921
Average $ Saved

20
Average Days Saved

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve.

Read what our members are saying

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 5-phase advisory process. You'll receive 12 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Prepare the PMO for change leadership
  • Call 1: Scoping Call.
  • Call 2: Review the PMO’s and the organization’s change capabilities.
  • Call 3: Determine an OCM pilot initiative.

Guided Implementation 2: Plant the seeds for change during project planning and initiation
  • Call 1: Define a sponsorship action plan for change initiatives.
  • Call 2: Undergo a change impact assessment.

Guided Implementation 3: Facilitate change adoption throughout the organization
  • Call 1: Perform a stakeholder analysis.
  • Call 2: Prepare a communications strategy based on stakeholder types.
  • Call 3: Develop training plans.

Guided Implementation 4: Establish a post-project benefits attainment process
  • Call 1: Establish a post-project benefits tracking process.
  • Call 2: Implement a tracking tool.

Guided Implementation 5: Solidify the PMO’s role as change leader
  • Call 1: Evaluate the effectiveness of OCM practices.
  • Call 2: Formalize an OCM playbook for the organization’s projects.

Authors

Barry Cousins

Travis Duncan

Contributors

  • 12 anonymous company contributors
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