Your Project Plan Will Fail Without This Key Factor

Change management is managing the people-side of change. It’s making sure that projects consider who will be impacted, how they’ll be impacted, and risk mitigation to ensure the change is not just known, but also accepted.

A study by Prosci found that even with a poor change management plan in place, merely incorporating change management into project plans increased success rates by 3x.

Having an excellent change management plan increases success rates by 7x.

Change management takes a specific skill set and is not often represented on projects, despite the evidence to support it. Too often, companies worry about project duration and costs and hyper-focus on getting projects across the finish line rather than pausing to reflect on making the change sustainable, which includes getting stakeholder buy-in and reinforcement of the changes along the way.

Thinking to yourself “phew, we have training in place… we’re all set?” Hold up a second. Training is a crucial part of change management, but it’s only one element. Change management also includes thoughtful planning to include the right individuals early on, a strategic communication plan that aligns with the project plan, pulse checks to check in on buy-in and adoption, reinforcement plans to ensure sustaining results, and overall mechanisms to reduce risk and increase likelihood of project success.

As much as we appreciate the desire to jump right into a project, we caution you against doing so without working with a change practitioner.