Change management and loss

Written by Nicole Lott

Change can be an uncomfortable experience where reaping rewards is accompanied by loss. While a project manager or sponsor may see the glorious benefits of their project, others may see the loss before the reward.

People may be facing the loss of their comfortable ways of working or their positional or knowledge power. Some may even fear losing their identity where their sense of self is tied to their work. Anticipating potential fears as well as acknowledging and empathising with your stakeholders, will allow you to design a thoughtful change process.

Before you start enlightening your audience about the plan and what's in it for them, consider the gulf between their current perspective and what you would like them to see. The bigger the gulf, the more effort should go into change management. Give people the best chance to work through their concerns and engage in the way forward.

Be sensitive to the broader context of change. Consider what other activities are going on in the organisation, the operating environment, or even the world, that may be weighing on your audience. People have different capacities for the scale and speed of change. You can minimise the pain for your stakeholders by pacing the change accordingly.

Step back and put your goals into the context of what is important and urgent for your audience. If there are particularly pivotal stakeholders, key decision makers, or stand-out blockers, spend time with them to understand their perspective. Adjust your approach and timing with their input.

If the change expected from your project is the main game, then see what can be done to reduce the pressure from other activities in the organisation. Your transformation, portfolio, or project management office is a great place to find help. Consider the scale of loss that your stakeholders may perceive from the portfolio of change impacting them, not just your project.

We can help with:

• reviewing project risk assessments for change management controls

• individual interviews or focus groups to inform your stakeholder analysis

• conducting facilitated discussions if there are conflicts along the way.