Managing Change: Whose Job Is It?

In an Executive Leadership Team meeting for a hospitality company, the agenda turned to focus on implementation plans for a full-scale lodging management system. The CEO held a document in the air, which was prepared by our Change Management team. The document was our Change Impact Assessment which detailed project team decisions and outlined key impacts on process, people, policy, systems, and organization structure. Having read through the 20-pages of impacts, he waved the document around and sincerely asked “Whose job is it to manage the impact of this project?”

The leaders looked around, and given the blank stares, it was clear they had not read through the document. As the lead sponsor of the project, the CEO knew that changes needed to be carefully managed to reduce operational and performance distractions. With pointed comments, the CEO communicated that every person in that room was responsible for reviewing the document and designating an owner for each of the items listed. During that meeting, I witnessed the best example of sponsorship and leadership of change.

Most projects are kicked off with a hand-picked team, a high-level work plan, and a project charter. Projects take off quickly, move at a rapid pace, and decisions are made with great intentions for success. As decisions are made, it is helpful to understand the question, the decision, who made it, and when. Then, each decision should be evaluated to understand downstream implications.

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Looking to get your organization ready for an upcoming change? Contact us here or by email at laura@fearlesschange.org.