change project management skill sets

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Change Project Management Skill Sets - The View ofPractitioners

Following my presentation of Change Project Management - The Next Step toaudiences consisting of members of the Project Management Institute, a surveyof participants was conducted. The survey asked participants to rank the sevenchange project management skill sets discussed in the presentation, based ontheir interpretation of the level of relative importance of each skill in successfulchange project management. Additionally, participants were asked to rank theirindividual strengths relating to each skill set. This article analyzes their

responses and the implications for increasing the level of knowledge of theseskill sets for change project leaders.

The purpose of this exercise is to explore the need for further education amongchange project leaders. Training for these professionals is difficult due to thevery nature of their jobs. Constant attention to a variety of factors that effect achange project usually take up more than the allotted workweek. Schedulingtraining is difficult at best. After project management training is on theschedule, a crisis many times preempts the training. Our attempt here is toassist in identifying the highest priority for training beyond entry-level skills forthe profession of change project management.

Note: This is an interactive article in that there are email links in eachsection that allow you to provide your insights. Ideas generated in this

manner will be available on this site in the future.

The premise of the concept of Change Project Management is that there is adifference between change projects and what we traditionally think of asprojects. Change projects are differentiated by the tendency to impact humanlives. Activities such as reorganizing a company, implementing new technologythat changes job functions, or a merging of cultures deeply impacts humanbeings. This type of project, a change project, requires all of the skills of

traditional project management plus certain unique skills inherent to changeprojects.

The change project management skill sets explored are:

Communication

Coalition Building Planning Concepts "Project Time" Management Decision Making Active Listening Meeting Management


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For additional information regarding change project management, see therelated article ChangeChange Project Management - The Next Step. Excerpts

from this article briefly describing each skill set are included here in italics.

Participants

Members of the Project Management Institute participating in sessions in bothColumbus, Ohio, and Long Beach, California, completed the survey. Eightyrespondents participated in the survey.

Demographics

Years of experience ranged from one to 36 years with an average just over 10

years. For analysis purposes, years of experience were categorized in thefollowing groups:

1 - 3 years 4 - 9 years 10 - 15 years 16 - 20 years 20+ years

Industries represented include Technology, Government, Financial, Health Care,Insurance, Consulting, and Education.

Project duration ranged from two months to five years. For analysis purposes,

project durations were categorized in the following groups:

Less than 3 months 3 - 6 months 6 - 12 months Greater than 1 year

Project budgets ranged from $20,000 to $50,000,000 and project team sizes

ranged from two to 250. For analysis purposes project budgets werecategorized in the following groups:

Less than $100,000 $100,000 - $1,000,000 Greater than $1,000,000

Company size in number of employees ranged from one to 110,000 employees.For analysis purposes companies were grouped into categories of:

Small (1-99) Medium (100-999)
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Large (1,000 and more)Seventy-nine percent of respondents indicated their primary projects arechange projects as defined in the presentation. The remainder of therespondents indicated their primary projects are not change projects as defined

in the presentation. The responses of the project managers were notsignificantly different from the change project managers.

Project Communication

A communication plan is critical for the success of the change project. This plan

starts with building the foundation for change, sustains enthusiasm andmomentum throughout the project, and praises all involved as success is

realized. Communication has to be honest. Trusting the constituents to handlethis honesty builds credibility. Communication is required often, even if all ofthe facts aren't available. Perception is important. Any communication should be

simple and straightforward, presented in terms of the business reasons for thechange.

Communication is one of the skills that applies to all aspects of change projectmanagement. Communication is directly tied to the following skills: coalitionbuilding, decision making, project time management, active listening, andmeeting management. Communication takes many forms from the veryinformal (conversations as meetings are gathering for example) to the veryformal (presentations to executive boards or written strategies for the change).

The incorporation of both informal and formal communication techniques into acomprehensive communication campaign is required for successful change.

Overall those surveyed felt communication was the number one skill set neededfor successful change project management. Also, interestingly enough,communication also ranked as the number one skill possessed by the changeleader. This is interesting because in my experience analyzing projects in

jeopardy or those that have already failed, the overwhelming reasons given forthe lack of success is a lack of communication.

We think we are better than we are. In his book, Selling The Invisible, HarryBeckwith refers to this phenomena as psychologists have come to describe it as

the Lake Wobegon Effect. This is taken from Garrison Keillor's famous radio

show sign-off from his fictional hometown, Lake Wobegon, "where the womenare strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are aboveaverage." Perhaps we feel we personally communicate well, the failings I haveobserved occur in not institutionalizing the communication within the fabric ofchange projects.

Change leaders from the Government and Education industries ranked the

possession of communication as a skill as four and three respectively. Also,


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leaders of short projects (3-6 months) ranked the possession of thecommunication skill set at five, while they felt the need for this skill was ranked

at the top of the list.

Those considering their organization as 'Very Good' at leveraging change

(effectively managing multiple change projects throughout the organization, seedetails below) ranked their possession of the communication skill at three.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Communications

Coalition Building

It is unlikely that too much time can be budgeted for the important act of

coalition building and representing the views of all constituents on the changeproject management team. The change leader can expect to spend at least halftheir time on this task. Coalition building is done at breakfast meetings, in the

hallways, and as meeting attendees are gathering their papers. Cooperation ofconstituents representing many different viewpoints is necessary for successfulchange implementation. The job of the change leader is to anticipate the actionsand reactions of important constituents, possibly influencing these actions andreactions. As with the general population it is dangerous to stereotype changeconstituents. Individuals change their viewpoints as new information is obtainedand evaluated. Keeping ahead of this curve is the challenge. Change projectleaders however do have control of the information communicated concerningthe change project to these constituents. Clear, concise, communication in

terms that are relative to the audience serves as the best way to build effectivecoalitions that can pay large dividends at critical points in the project.

The survey results indicate that the coalition building skill set requires the mostwork. The overall ranking of need for coalition building was three, while theranking for possession of this skill was five. Those change leaders with only 1-3years of experience ranked the need for coalition building lower than averagewith a ranking of four. Those change leaders with 20+ years of experienceranked the need for coalition building at two while feeling their ranking of

possession of this skill was only five of seven. It seems the more experiencedthe change leader, the more they value this important skill.

The longer the project the greater the need for this skill (ranked at two) while

shorter projects (3-6 months) ranked the need for coalition building at five.

The larger the company the higher the need for coalition building. Large

companies ranked the need for this skill at three, while small companies rankedthe need at five.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Coalition Building
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Planning Concepts

Project planning is both an art and a science. Without reiterating all of the

published techniques for good project planning, there is one concept that maybe unique to change projects. The nature of change projects is that human

beings are impacted, sometimes deeply. By definition change projectparticipants can become very emotional. The stakes are higher. Approaches thatare only glints of an idea can quickly become marching orders. Control can belost quickly. The change project team leader does not have the luxury of takinga great deal of time to analyze the implications of proposed changes to the plan.

For example, in large system implementation projects I have been involved in,it was always preferable to convert to the new system on a three-day weekendas large volumes of invested client assets could be at risk if there were delays in

the process. It was also preferable to convert the data at the end of a reportingperiod. This posed a planning problem due to the lack of three-day weekends

that fell at the end of a month. As the projects entered their final phases andthe inherent panic concerning completion set in, high level executives would

usually suggest a switch to a year-end conversion. Their argument was that itwas less risky, and client confusion would be reduced since there would be a

clean break at year-end. Additionally, the project team would receive addedtime to complete the final implementation tasks.

Invariably this was not a good idea because of the volume of year-end workthat large financial institutions must perform. This work involves the computersas well as the people, many of which were on the project team. There wereother technical arguments against this approach as well. If the change project

manager was not prepared with these arguments, this approach (suggested bya top-level executive) at an emotionally charged time could put the change

project in jeopardy.

The change project leader must have a vision of the project plan and all of itscomplexities available for recall at any time. Similar to the heads-up display of afighter pilot, the change project leader must be able to instantly see theimplications of proposals or compromises and be able to argue the validity ofthe proposed actions relative to the scope and goals of the change project. It isalso important to anticipate these "brainstorms." This is possible if the changeleader knows their constituencies and what their underlying goals and

motivations are at any point in the project.

Overall those surveyed felt planning concepts were the number two skill setneeded for successful change project management. Planning also ranked as thenumber two skill possessed by the change leader.

Although the need for planning ranked high overall in importance, the surveyrespondents with over twenty years of experience ranked the value of planning


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skills as fourth out of seven. Respondents with 1-3 years of experience rankedthe need for the planning skill as second of seven. Again a difference is noted in

ranking based on experience level of the change leader.

Government change leaders ranked their possession of this skill at six of seven.

Consultants ranked planning as the number one skill needed for successfulchange project management. Perhaps the explanation of this result is that theplan is the most visible piece of this puzzle and easiest to evaluate, which isimportant for change consultants in justifying their contribution.

It is interesting that both small and large company change leaders rank theneed for planning high (two and one respectively). Small company change

managers rank their possession of this skill at number one, while large companychange managers rank their strength of planning concepts at four.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Planning Concepts

"Project Time" Management

"Project time" is different from regular work time. In our regular jobs, the goalis to have enough work left over on Friday evening so there is a reason to comeback to work on Monday! The concept of not getting everything done is builtinto the process.

Project time requires that we get everything done as soon as possible because

there is a defined completion date. Also, given the nature of change projects,

unanticipated tasks will come up that must be completed without revising thedeadline. Communicating this fact of life is a top priority for change projectleaders, especially with an inexperienced, temporary project team.

As today's business climate moves to a more project oriented culture, potential

change project team members are more familiar with the concept of projecttime. This is of course not the case in all situations.

Overall those surveyed felt project time was the number six skill set needed for

successful change project management. Project time ranked as the numberseven skill possessed by the change leader.

Change leaders in the financial industry and change leaders for short projects(3-6 months) indicated a greater need for this skill set, ranking it four out ofseven.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Project Time Management

Decision Making
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The best decision-makers are the most experienced decision-makers. Manychange project teams are staffed with up and coming, though relativelyinexperienced employees. The change leader should study decision makingtheory in order to assist the project team in making decisions that usually havea much greater impact than any they have been forced to make in their

assigned jobs. It's difficult for these employees to have a cross-boundary viewof the organization and therefore may miss important implications of theirdecisions. Some keys for the change leader from Harvey Kaye's Decision Power,1992:

Place the decision in context. Organize the important information. Formulate the decision as a problem. Structure the problem to cut it down to size. Transform the problem into a goal.

As change projects are layered one upon the other in many organizations,complexity is increased. In these uncharted waters, decision making is critical.

Due to the complexity of the environment, decision making simply can't becentralized. We don't have time. This skill set, distributed throughout the

organization, is necessary to change rapidly.

Overall those surveyed felt decision making was the number five skill setneeded for successful change project management. Decision making ranked as

the number four skill possessed by the change leader.

Those change project managers who indicated their companies were 'Very

Good' at leveraging change while corresponding to the average responseregarding need, ranked their possession of the decision making skill as numberone out of seven.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Decision Making

Active Listening

Change projects are by nature emotional undertakings. Change project leadersare very busy people. The skill of active listening, which is important for any

leader, is hypercritical in a change project. Many times the change project

leader is temporarily responsible for the careers of members of the projectteam. With little background information, in a volatile situation, the projectmanager must effectively deal with the matrix management environment.Listening is key.

Listening for the subtle nuances of the corporate political process can save agreat deal of time and effort and possibly the project. The unsuccessful change
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leader, while having many of the expected project interactions, misses theimportant information due to a lack of listening skills.

Overall those surveyed felt active listening was the number four skill set neededfor successful change project management. Active listening ranked as the

number three skill possessed by the change leader.

Interestingly the industries that would most likely be characterized as teachers(Education and Consulting) ranked themselves lowest in possession of theactive listening skill set with a ranking of six out of seven.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Active Listening

Meeting Management

The change leader will be faced with numerous meetings. Meetings will range

from informal to very formal. A change project leader's calendar can containmeetings with the lowest grade employees and the highest level corporateexecutives within the same day. Meeting leadership skills can sell ideas, buildcoalitions, obtain additional resources, facilitate decision-making, obtainobjective status reports, communicate the project status, and resolve projectissues. In other words, meeting leadership skills facilitate the tasks of change

project management.

Overall those surveyed felt meeting management was the number seven skillset needed for successful change project management. Meeting managementranked as the number six skill possessed by the change leader. The only

demographic of the survey that varied from this average were change leaders ofprojects with a duration of three to six months who ranked meetingmanagement as the top skill they possessed.

Meeting management is a vehicle for communication and coalition building.Although ranked low as a standalone skill set, poor meeting management willadversely impact both communication and coalition building. Since these skillsets were ranked very high in importance, poor meeting management skillslogically have an adverse effect on the success of a change project.

Click here to contribute your comments on the skill - Meeting Management

Leveraging Change

It is very easy for the change project leader to be extremely focused on theirproject. The outside influences of other change initiatives within theorganization must also be considered. The change project manager must beaware of all change projects within the organization and how their projectblends with the other initiatives. It is the responsibility of the change project
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leader to be informed and up to date on all initiatives that can have an impacton their project.

Change by definition is a variable process in which we don't know all of thefacts. There is a proverb that states "You can't leap a twenty-foot chasm in

two ten-foot jumps."This proverb may be interpreted as recommending a bigbang approach to change - the idea that we really can't start a change effortuntil we know all of the facts. A better interpretation is that we should notembark on a change project unless we can make a case for the change thatpaints a vivid picture of the process for those being impacted. In fact, we cancross a twenty-foot chasm with multiple leaps if we can clearly see the steppingstones to the other side.

Some keys for the executive suite in leveraging multiple change efforts withinthe organization:

Believe change is possible and necessary. Find the balance between stretching the organization and asking the

impossible.

Ensure organizational performance measurement techniques supportchange.

Reward innovation. Benchmark for best practices/inside and outside your industry. Communicate.

Forty-four percent of all respondents felt their organizations were 'poor' atleveraging change, 38% rated their organizations as 'good' at leveraging

change, and 18% rated their organizations as 'very good' at leveraging change.

The Government industry category had the lowest score with 67% poor, 22%good, and 11% very good. The Consulting industry category had the highestscore with 20% poor, 40% good, and 40% very good.

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Conclusion

Project management training is prevalent. Change project management training

is not. Education in this area occurs primarily on the job. Unfortunately, theimpact of mistakes while learning change project management is very costlyboth in dollars and impact on human resources. In an interview with a first time

change leader, she explained how she learned the skills - "Trial and error ofcourse. Unfortunately, some of the things I now know I learned the hard way. It

was pretty painful for me personally and quite frankly, for the people thatworked for me." After living through a successful two-year change project,

when asked if she would do it again, she said, "I think I'd hesitate because I


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didn't learn enough. And I can think of all of those things that I never really gotmy arms around. I know I don't have the skills to handle it for the next one."

This individual was successful. She learned a great deal during the leadership ofher change effort. But in this case the hidden investment in training this

resource was lost to the organization because she will not use the acquired

skills to lead another large change effort.

These skill sets are more difficult to capture in a training program. Trainingdevelopment in this area is difficult but the rewards are high.

change project management skill sets

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