Our Take on the Definition of Change Management.

We see it all around us, every day. Transformation in various forms. A new snack item hits the shelves. A new technology enters the scene at a hospital and a nurse is expected to adopt it immediately for the sake of a patient’s life. Leadership changes leave people within companies in a confusing aftermath of putting the puzzle pieces back together. A company just past start-up phase realizes this is the year for multi transformational systems and embarks on a year of change. Or something as seemingly simple as planning, committing to, and executing your own personal fitness plan. And while all of these aforementioned changes vary in severity, one commonality is at the heart of all the chaos: people have to make the change “happen”. Some have one person, some several, some an entire corporation full of people. The change itself is not the hard part - it’s the getting there that feels daunting, confusing, tiring, exhausting. The migration to the new way of doing, thinking, feeling.

The exponentially increasing rate of change

And now, add onto this equation the exponentially increasing rate of change that we are all experiencing in the world today. Whether through technology, political, environmental, economical, social. You name it, these external factors have a way of keeping our heads spinning, when all we want is to have a moment of calm and clarity.

This is exactly why it’s critical to ensure today that you and your people are ready for the ride. But as elementary as it sounds, defining what change management actually is could be the proper first step a person needs to make. And to truly and humbly admit that any prior misconceptions could be at play when it comes to this definition.

Before we can begin talking about change management, we need to understand where it came from. And this is the fascinating part, because the origins of the profession of change management actually began in the human behavior and neurological space (shocker since we are talking about people, right?!)

The origin story of the work that we do

This is a loaded discussion so I’ll do my best to paint a quick picture for you. The early and mid 1900s drummed up a great deal of thought leadership and innovation in the study of people, behavior, group dynamics, and culture: Van Gennep’s “rites of passage”, Lewin’s behavioral studies and field theories, Beckhard’s formula of change built specifically for organizations just to name a few. By the end of the 1990s, change experts like Jeanenne LaMarsh and John Kotter took the scene, heralding their own methodologies for making change happen.

Prosci’s introduction into the change world initiated in market research, which defined the need for the creation of Prosci’s change methodology and specifically the ADKAR model many of us know and use today. Agile’s early 2000s entry to the scene of project management really shook things up for many and by 2011, it was decided that the profession of change management demanded a true formalization: enter the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) which you could liken to the Project Management Institute governing the PMP exam. I could go on and on and I recognize there are many experts and game changers omitted from today’s discussion. (I promise to pick this subject back up later and write you a dedicated letter on the history of change!)

Final words and clarification

The title or nomenclature of “change manager” may mean different things to different people. In the IT world, many are familiar with the ITIL certification, which focuses heavily on the change and release process for engineers and IT leaders. While this practice does involve the human component to an extent, it is highly focused on the technical aspects involved in change. At the same time, someone may be referred to as a Change Manager if they are executing a task for their company and changing one thing to another: take a postal worker who may be updating addresses in the system. While the list of possibilities may go on and on, it’s important to acknowledge that change management is simply two words and these words may be largely misconstrued. My letters to you will be focused on the profession surrounding the people side of changes: organizational, individual, and behavioral change, with the goal of humanizing how all of this works so it just makes sense.

I am very excited to get started on this migratory journey together!