5 Take Aways from AFEI's Change Management Conference

I recently attended the AFEI Change Management Conference in Washington, DC (April 30 - May 1).  There are some interesting things that happened while I was there which I thought relevant to share in this blog.

1. If you are on Twitter, check out the hash tag #AFEICM09 for notes and commentary from a broader range of folks at the conference.  I highly recommend checking it out as colleagues have posted great thoughts and links there related to speakers and content.
   
2. A new change management association is forming called, "Association of Change Management Professionals"  ACMP, which Stephen Wehrenberg is helping to form.  The group is focusing on a certification body of knowledge for the profession. 
   
   My commentary: we will wait and see what happens.  I always get a little weary of individuals self anointing to pull together the creation of an association.  In this day and age I'd always suggest utilizing social media tools to do just that.  The wisdom of the crowd is always better than the individuals.
   
3. At the AFEI conference I was struck by how many people are trying to "structure" the process of change management (CM). Yet there were multiple individuals who consistently stated that there is no one-size-fits-all process or methodology for CM.  Why, you ask?  Because change happens at the individual level, and people are hard to put into a methodology or process.
   
   My commentary: Stop focusing on the process of CM and focus on the people that are impacted by it.  See #5 below.
   
4. Making Change Work, a report by IBM, studied CEOs and organizations and their proclivity to change.  "Over a two-year period, the percentage of CEOs expecting substantial
   change climbed from 65 percent in 2006 to 83 percent in 2008,"
   
   My commentary: The stat above prompted my Twitter post on 5/1, "If 83% of CEOs think significant change is coming to orgs, then doesn't that make "change" the norm and not the exception?"   The report is a great resource for anyone looking for stats on CM.
   
   
5. Victoria Grady, an Assistant Professor at GWU closed out the conference with a fantastic session on her research and work on the Loss of Effectiveness which results from change initiatives within organizations.  She's created a fascinating qualitative index that measures the impact of change on individuals.
   
   My commentary: Grady gets it.  It is about the people going through the change, not the process itself.  Pay attention to, and take care of the people who are being impacted by the change and the affects will be less dramatic and smoother for all involved.

Comments

[Dave Chesebrough]

I have to agree - nothing is as constant as change. The notion that change can, or should, be "managed" seems a bit odd in a way. It is a little like architecture in that you can acknowledge it or not, but it is still an attribute of a system. It seems what we are talking about is enabling humans in organizations to be more flexible and adaptable as changes occur around them.