(Background To Change Management Cont. 8A)

Program/Project Management Needs Change Management

Introduction

The program level is a more holistic, big picture approach than individual project perspective; both need change management to increase the chance of success.

The program level involves multiple projects, ie
"...organisations with a mature project management function manage related projects by grouping them together as a program, coordinating efforts to achieve additional benefits like lower costs, and greater control and efficiency. Not to be confused with portfolio management - which focuses on strategic management of all projects, programmes, sub-programmes and operations - a program of interdependent projects delivers a single set of benefits..."
Angelo McNeive, 2023

Organisations are increasingly embarking on more complex, interdependent and technically challenging programs; this requires managing change with a program level perspective. Some examples of change projects are around topics like digital transformation, sustainability, new operating models, cultural change, etc.

Some considerations for being without a program level perspective is that you can
"...miss the broader considerations of timing, interdependencies, aggregate risk, resource constraints, the overall budget for the program, and so on. Adding a program layer of governance, roles, practices and routines ensures an overall strategic perspective on a programme of projects..."
Angelo McNeive, 2023.

There are 2 common scenarios that need handling:

i) a lack of program management capability (despite recognising the differences between projects and programs; this means most managers focus on their immediate implementing projects with limited appreciation of interdependencies, impacts, etc on other parts of the organisation).

ii) a lack of change management capability (despite having significant project management capabilities at programme level;   this means that the technical side gets more attention than the people side).

Programs vs projects

Integration of program management with change management (5 areas)

i) strategy alignment (ensuring that all projects in the program, and the program itself aligned with the organisation direction, ie strategic goals and objectives; this is followed by a change management perspective in business cases, program roadmap, risk management, etc; need to be wary of change fatigue; understand issues like readiness impacts, resistance capacity, etc; bring change management into consideration at the start of the project, such as project appraisal, selection, prioritisation, etc during the programme definition phase).

ii) benefits management (it is more than just implementation; don't neglect the human side, ie people - how do they react?
"...When planning your program and identifying the component project, you need to consider all benefits. What does adoption and usage look in terms of each? Benefits mapping is a helpful tool to visualise and align around component of the projects with a single set of people-dependent benefits. As your program progresses, pay attention to aggregate adoption-and-usage metrics across the program. Later, as you gather data sustainment of benefits achieved at the individual project level, be sure to aggregate the data at the program level to gain insights..."
Angelo McNeive, 2023

iii) stakeholder engagement (strategic engagement program level is different to stakeholder engagement, eg
"...when you assess both, you might learn that four projects are going to send surveys in the first quarter to the same impact groups, which is a lot in a short period of time. That won't land well with people. A program-level perspective to change management looks at opportunities to aggregate and streamline activities to understand the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement at a program level as well as with individual component projects..."
Angelo McNeive, 2023

iv) program governance (you need to answer some questions, ie
- Are you putting in place the right policies, practices?
- Do you have a consistent language, mythology, toolkit, etc for change management within the program?
- Is every project using their own separate approach?
- Is the consistency in people-side reporting dates and insights?
- Is there change management perspective to be used in governance decisions at the program level?
- Is a change practitioner working with the program manager?
- Where are the change management sources located?
- What kind of roles, structure, responsibilities, etc , are in place to support the program's people-side perspective?
- What people-side acceptance criteria are in place when closing individual projects and the program as a whole?
- How do you know when they are done?)

v) life-cycle management (if controlling multiple projects, break them into 'waves', deploying a set number of time frames; then consider the life cycle of each individual project and each wave within the program; use change management to understand the levels of impact, resistance, change saturation, collision, etc.
"...Are you discussing the technical dependencies, intended benefits you hope to achieve, and strategic goals you are trying to meet? How will you factor the above into your selection, privatisation and timing of component projects in each wave?..."
Angelo McNeive, 2023

At the end of each life-cycle, you need to define it and measure its success through a change management perspective, ie it should enable strategic conversations about timing of projects and the need to move from one wave to another.