what problem does change management solve?
Dare to be critical: why would you need change management? Your organisation is, after all, continuously changing — what happens if you do not (pro)actively guide that change? McKinsey studied the difference between projects with and without a well-founded change approach and found a return of 143% versus 35%. In concrete terms: every euro invested returns 43 cents with change management, compared with a loss of 65 cents without. Lack of management support and resistance due to a lack of clarity were identified as the main causes of failure.
The answer to "what problem is solved?" is therefore simple: change management increases the chance of success of projects that involve change, and avoids or reduces the costs of projects delivered late, incompletely or not at all. That is the direct impact.
the indirect impact: collateral damage
Besides the clearly quantifiable cost of failed projects, there are creeping, indirect costs:
- Loss of competence and knowledge. Organisations that do not sufficiently succeed lose people, often the best first. With them goes knowledge that costs time and money to rebuild.
- "Coffee-corner euros". Without clarity about drivers, approach and responsibilities, a lot of energy evaporates in corridors, discussions and initiatives that not infrequently rest on wrong assumptions.
- The toll of the pressure. Change comes with stress. If it becomes too great, employees drop out (a cost that also says something about how the change is being managed).
not only the change manager's task
So is it enough to make communication plans and build in a feedback loop? That is a solid step, but not the whole story. The change management that leads to smoother adoption cannot be captured in project routines alone, and is not the exclusive responsibility of whoever leads the project. The change competency belongs in the backpack of every leader; alongside classic leadership skills, knowledge of human behaviour, motivation and psychological laws also belongs there.
your concrete action points
Make the value explicit: link the change approach to the business goals and the costs of failure.
Look beyond the direct project cost; also include knowledge loss, lost energy and dropout in the trade-off.
Anchor change skill in every leader, not only in the change manager.
