The Most Important Aspect of Change Management

It can take a lot of time and effort to complete all of the work required by many formal change management methodologies. If an organization has the resources to complete all of this work, it is often very beneficial to do so. However, if an organization does not have the resources to do this much work, significant gains can still be made by focusing solely on the most important aspect of change management.

12 February 2024

The use of formal organizational change management methodologies has increased dramatically in recent years. Many organizations that just a few years ago were barely familiar with the concept of change management now employ some formalized form of it on most, if not all, of their projects – and a lot of these organizations have seen the use of formalized change management methodologies result in significant improvements in staff and stakeholder support for projects, which in turn has often resulted in improved project returns.

While there is little doubt that using formal change management methodologies can improve staff and stakeholder support for projects, the amount of work required to fully employ such methodologies can seem overwhelming, and this sometimes keeps organizations from trying change management at all.

Many formal change management methodologies require organizations to spend a significant amount of time completing assessments and creating change management sub-plans. A common place for formal change management methodologies to start is with some sort of assessment of an organization’s readiness for change. This assessment often requires a significant number of staff and stakeholder interviews and surveys. The information gathered from this assessment is then typically used to create several different change management sub-plans, typically including at least a communication plan, a training plan, a resistance management plan, a management coaching plan, and a sustainment plan. These sub-plans then guide the rest of the project’s change management effort.

It can take quite a bit of time and effort to do all of the work described above. If an organization has the resources to do all this work, it is typically well worth it to do so. However, some organizations simply do not have enough resources to get it all done. Luckily, an organization does not need to do all the work associated with formalized change management methodologies to achieve many of the benefits change management can provide.

The most essential part of change management is creating a desire for change in staff and stakeholders, and organizations that have limited change management resources will be best served by focusing their efforts here.

The reason creating desire for change is so important is that the success of all other aspects of change management is fundamentally tied to it. Staff and stakeholders who desire to see an organizational change take place are less likely to resist the change, will be more engaged in learning about and training for the change, and will work harder to sustain the change than staff who do not desire the change. Therefore, an organization that focuses its change management efforts on creating desire for a proposed change also significantly helps itself be successful in the other main areas of change management.

No other area of change management has nearly as much impact on the success of a project as that of creating desire for change. No amount of resistance management, training, or sustainment activities can overcome a lack of desire for change. Conversely, a sincere desire for change significantly decreases resistance, increases sustainment, and goes a long way toward overcoming less-than-perfect training. Simply put, people who desire to change will, and people who do not desire to change will not.

All aspects of change management are important, but some are much more important than others. Creating desire for change is far and away the most important part of change management. If an organization has the time and resources to do everything entailed in formal change management methodologies, it will most likely benefit from doing so. If not, focusing on creating desire in staff and stakeholders for proposed changes will often by itself dramatically increase the chances of success.