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Roles in change management

Change management cannot be done by one person sitting alone in his or
her office. Driving successful change requires a system of actors all moving in
unison to help employees to understand why the change is happening, get them Prosci has developed tools
board with the change and ultimately ensure that they adopt the changes to support each of the
required in their day-to-day work. It is not necessarily easy to get all of the change management roles.
change management pieces moving; but by better understanding the roles that Find out more in the
support effective change management, you and your projects will be more bookstore or call
successful. 970-203-9332 to speak with
an analyst.
This tutorial examines five roles related to change management:

Change management resource/team

Executives and senior managers

Middle managers and supervisors

Project team

Project support functions

Learn why each role is important and what is required of the role in times of change. The tutorial concludes with
some observations on the "employee-facing" roles in change management and the "enabling" roles in change
management.

Change management roles:

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Change management resource/team
Why the role is important:
Having dedicated resources for
change management was #4 on
the list of overall greatest
contributors to success in the 2007
benchmarking study.
There is a growing body of data
that shows a correlation between
the success of a change initiative
and how well the people side was
managed.
Without dedicated resources,
change management activities will
not be completed. Unfortunately,
when budgets and schedules are
squeezed, change management is
pushed to the bottom of the priority
list if there are not dedicated
resources.
Executives and senior managers
Why the role is important:
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What the role requires:
1. Apply a structured change management
methodology - instead of operating in an ad hoc
manner, approach change management with purpose
and intent (read more about Prosci's methodology)
2. Formulate strategy - evaluate how big the change is
and who will be impacted to develop a customized
strategy
3. Develop plans - based on the strategy work, create a
customized set of plans for moving people forward -
including a communication plan, a sponsor roadmap, a
coaching plan, a training plan and a resistance
management plan (read more about the five plans in
Prosci's methodology)
4. Support other ‘doers’ - the change management
resource is the coach and the go-to person for the other
roles described below
What the role requires:
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Roles in change management
In the 2007 benchmarking study,
the active and visible participation
of the senior leader was cited as
the #1 contributor to success. And
in the 2005 study it was also #1.
And in the 2003, 2000 and 1998
studies it was #1 on the list.
Bottom line - their role is crucial to
success.
Employees want to see and hear
the executive's commitment to the
change. The authority they provide
carries over to other change
management actors.
Effective sponsorship is a predictor
of success or failure on the
project.
Middle managers and supervisors
Why the role is important:
Managers and supervisors are
close to the action - it is their
teams who must change how they
do their jobs for the change to be
successful.
In any organization there are two
types of change constantly
happening: 1) top-down initiatives
launched by senior leaders
(macro-changes) and 2) responses
to daily demands from customers
and suppliers (micro-changes).
Managers and supervisors support
their employees through both types
of changes.
The attitude and actions of a
manager will show up in his or her
people - whether the attitude is
one of support or one of
opposition.
Project team
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1. Participate actively and visibly throughout the
project - there are three key words here: active, visible
and throughout - sponsors must be present and seen by
employees
2. Build a coalition of sponsorship and manage
resistance - the sponsorship coalition describes the
group of managers and leaders who will take the
change back to their department, division, workgroup,
etc - the primary sponsor must build and maintain a
healthy coalition
3. Communicate directly with employees - employees
want to hear the business reasons for the change from
someone at the top
* From the 2007 benchmarking study.
What the role requires:
Based on the 2007 benchmarking study, the five roles of
managers and supervisors during change are:
1. Communicator - employees prefer to hear messages
about how the change directly impacts them and their
team from the person they report to
2. Advocate - if the manager opposes the change,
chances are that his or her people will as well - in many
cases, the opposite is also true
3. Coach - helping employees through their own personal
transitions is the essence of change coaching by middle
managers and supervisors
4. Liaison - the role of liaison involves interacting with the
project team, taking direction and providing feedback
5. Resistance manager - research shows that the best
intervention to mitigate resistance comes from the
employee's immediate supervisor
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Roles in change management
Why the role is important:
The project team is tasked with
managing the technical side of the
change. In the end, they are the
people who design how things will
be done differently than they are
today.
Without direction and
management, the technical side of
the project will not move forward.
The project team also plays a role
in ensuring that change
management is part of the project
- by providing the appropriate
resources (budget and personnel)
and time.
Change management will be most
effective when it is pulled in at the
launch of the project.
Project support functions
Why the role is important:
Project support functions bring
expertise in a particular area -
these groups include: Human
Resources staff, Organization
Development staff, Training
specialists, Communication
specialists, solution specific
Subject Matter Experts, etc.
In some cases, one of these
project support functions might
operate as the change
management team or resource.
A final observation on two different roles
In the sections above, we outlined the key roles of the different actors involved in making changes successful in any
organization. It is interesting to note that in all of the roles presented in the right hand column, two of the roles have
direct contact with front-line employees impacted by the change while three of the roles do more of their work
behind the scenes.
Employee-facing roles:
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What the role requires:
1. Design the actual change - create the solution that
ultimately impacts how people do their jobs
2. Manage the ‘technical side’ - with tools like the
charter, business case, schedule, resources, work
breakdown structure, budget, etc.
3. Engage with CM team/resource - work with the
change management resource or team to ensure that
the technical-side and the people-side of the change
progress in unison, provide timely project information
4. Integrate CM plans into project plan - begin change
management at the start of the project and weave the
change management strategy and plans into the
technical-side plans to create one seamless project plan
What the role requires:
1. Experience and expertise - project support functions
bring experience on past changes that can be applied to
the current change
2. Knowledge - each of these groups have specialized
knowledge that can help the project team and the
change management resource or team
3. Tools - each of the areas bring specific tools that
support change management activities - just be sure the
tools align with change management best practices
Enabling roles:
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Roles in change management http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-roles.htm

One-to-one interactions Create and implement the plans that are

One-to-many interactions
Why are these the employee-facing roles?
Because these are the people that
employees want to hear from!
executed by the employee-facing roles within
the business
Why are these not employee-facing roles?
Because employees don't know who they
are and don't really care what they have to
say!

Implications of employee-facing and enabling roles: This is one of the most important takeaways from the
discussion about roles. Change managers in organizations - whether they are the project manager, an HR
consultant, an OD consultant or from a specialist change management group - must ultimately work through others.
They play the role of enablers in most cases, creating easy-to-implement plans and supporting the executives,
senior leaders, middle managers and supervisors throughout the organization.

Action steps for change managers:

1. Adopt a structured methodology you will use on the projects you support. Prosci has certification,
online and hardcopy methodology tools so you can apply the research-based approach using all of the
templates, assessments and tools that are part of the 3-phase approach. Read more about Prosci's
methodology.

2. Begin making a case for why it is important to manage the people-side of change. The case will need
to be made to project teams, senior leaders, middle managers and supervisors - all of the other gears in the
roles discussion. Be sure to answer "What's In It For Me?" and connect change management to what they
care about - such as meeting financial objectives (for senior leaders) or delivering a project on time, on
budget and on target to meet objectives (for project teams).

3. Explain the role that you need each of these groups to fill. Draw on best practices and research to
demonstrate the specific actions you need and the biggest mistakes that are typically made by these
groups.

4. Provide knowledge, training and tools. For many of the different actors, applying change management is
a new job requirement. You will need to help each of them build their own personal competency for leading
change. Prosci offers a 1-day program for managers and supervisors and a 4-6 hour session for executives

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and senior leaders. Call 970-203-9332 to learn more about these research-based, hands-on programs.

6. Coach them. Whether it is a project team you are working with to integrate change management into the
project plan, the division president you are asking to fulfill the role of "great sponsor" or a front-line
supervisor you are asking to coach his or her direct reports - you need to be there to provide support and
answer questions. You are now the coach for the agents of change throughout your organization.

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Tools for applying change management:

Change management certification ($2100) - 3-day program where you bring a project you are working on
and apply all of the assessments and tools as you learn them - taught by former Fortune 500 executives at
locations across the U.S.
2007 Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report ($249) - journal-style report with lessons
learned and best practices from 426 participants, presented in an easy-to-use format - reads as a checklist
of what to do and what not to do
Change Management Toolkit ($349) - hardcopy 3-ring binder presenting Prosci's change management
methodology; includes templates, checklists and assessments for managing the people side of change
(includes USB drive)
Change Management Guide for Managers ($189) - tools to help supervisors engage and coach their direct
reports through change (includes ADKAR book, Employee's Survival Guide and 10 ADKAR worksheets)
Change Management Pilot 2008 ($449) - online tool including Prosci's change management methodology,
eLearning modules and downloadable templates, assessments, presentations and checklists
Change Management Pilot Professional 200808 ($559) - the content of the Change Management Pilot plus
additional benchmarking data and an online version of the Change Management Guide for Managers and
Supervisors
Change Management: the people side of change ($18.95) - a primer that addresses why manage change,
individual change management and organizational change management for anyone involved in organizational
change
Employee's Survival Guide to Change ($14.95) - a handbook to help employees survive and thrive during
change; answers frequently asked questions and empowers employees to take charge of change

*** Prosci also offers leadership packages - groupings of products at discounts that offer you some of the most
helpful and common combinations of Prosci change management resources

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Email a Prosci analyst or call 970-203-9332 with questions about the methodology, its application, or finding the
right resources to support your change management activities.

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