Whatever happened to Change Management?

Whatever happened to change management?

Most Saturdays I go to brunch with a few friends who happen to work in different industries. Last week they all shared the same frustration: change management where they work is either barely there or completely non existent.

But I would argue that change management is becoming more important, not less. So why does it seem like it's slowly disappearing from our best practices?

Everything is moving faster; we have new tools, more expectations, and even entire business models are changing. So the instinct is often "we just need people to adapt faster" or "they'll just figure it out."

And yes don't get me wrong, adaptability matters, more so now than ever! Speed matters. Teams absolutely need to be comfortable with ongoing change. I made reference to having high-agency in an earlier post; this is where having high-agency matters too.

But here's the contradiction that often gets missed:
If you don't invest in change management, you don't actually get speed, you just get friction and that eventually leads to disengagement.

People don't resist change, they resist uncertainty. And what does that look like?

- Likely some duplicated work

• - Inconsistent or completely wrong interpretations of priorities
  • - A bunch of informal processes to "figure things out"

    Ironically by trying to move quickly and maybe skip a step or two, we create the exact opposite of what we want as leaders: team members just spend more time trying to understand the change than executing it. I call this mental toil.

    Good change management shouldn't feel like bureaucracy or red tape that slows things down. In theory, if done well, it actually helps things move faster.

    It's what turns "we rolled out a new tool" into something team members can actually do something with:

    - Here's why we have a new tool

    • - Here's how we use it
      • - Here's what changes in your day to day if anything
        • - Here's what good looks like now
          • - Here's what you don't need to do anymore

            So for those of you leading teams, managing people, or running businesses, don't rush change at the expense of clarity. Do it properly.

            When people understand what's changing and the why behind it, they don't just keep up, they move with you.

            Your team(s) will thank you for it.