the pmo role in change management ranjit...

The PMO Role in Change Management

Ranjit Sidhu

Ranjit Sidhu

Director ChangeQuest Ltd

The PMO Role in

Change

Management

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Establishing a PMO function

Useful change concepts for

establishing a PMO

PMO’s role in supporting

organizational change

What we’ll cover

Establishing a PMO function

Useful change concepts for

establishing a PMO

PMO’s role in supporting

organisational change

1

2

3

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Establishing a PMO

function

1

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Once upon a time an organisation

had…

• No formal PM process or

methods

• Lots of ad hoc and urgent

requests

• Little visibility of progress

• Poor resource management

• Conflicting priorities

• No sight of benefits

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Setting off on the journey

• Started small – supporting one

programme

• Aim to support project

managers

• Established key milestones

• Put simple reporting in place Visible

improvements

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Taking a steady approach

• Invested time to listen and

understand concerns

• Chose not to be directive,

but gently nudge

• Pace was set by the

project managers

• More teams came on

board

Pace of change was slow…

but the change was ‘sticking’

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Obstacles and challenges

Top two reasons why PMOs

are terminated:

1. Organisational

restructuring

2. Change in senior

management

2015 Global State of

the PMO Survey ESI

International

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

The hero’s journey

Adapted from ©Dwight Longenecker

Ordinary

World Crossing

the

Threshold

Meeting

Mentors

Trials, and

Obstacles

Bigger

Ordeal

Claiming

the Prize

Integration

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Useful change concepts for

establishing a PMO

Useful change concepts for

establishing a PMO 2

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Kelman’s three levels of adoption

• Compliance

• Identification

• Internalisation

Tell them what to

do, they’ll have

to do it

They need to understand why

they need to do this and

consequences of not changing

They need to be able to make

decisions about what, why, when

and how things are done

Which do

you want

for your PMO?

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Delivery vs Transition

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Approach to change

Approach to change will vary

depending on the level of

complexity and uncertainty

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Anxiety and resistance

Survival anxiety

What if I don’t change?

Will I get left behind?

It can’t stay this way!

Learning anxiety

Will I fail?

Will I be exposed?

Emphasise the

WHY and drivers for change

Provide coaching, support, mentoring,

training

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Bringing about change

UNFREEZE CHANGE REFREEZE

…new

mindsets

and habits

formed and

established

…a period

of

confusion,

challenge

and

clarification

…

Inertia is

overcome,

and existing

habits and

mindsets are

broken

down…

Lewin

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Threat vs reward

Uncertainty

Too many unknowns

Lack of information

New things to deal

with

Certainty, information

Feeling in control

Being listened to

Have some autonomy

Anxious, think less clearly Willing to learn, motivated

THREAT REWARD

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Communication and engagement

• Put yourself in their shoes,

consider the impact to them

• Focus on two-way, face-to-

face interactions for greater

engagement

• Segment audiences, to tailor

messages

• Cater for different personality

preferences

• Allow plenty of time Actions speak louder

than words

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Stakeholder engagement

principles

Mayfield (2013)

• You can forget important stakeholders but

they won’t forget you

• Identification is a continuous practice –

new stakeholders emerge, old ones fade

away

• Seek first to understand, and then be

understood (Covery, 1999)

• Emotion trumps reason

• Demonstration trumps argument

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Monitoring and gathering

feedback

Gathering feedback

from people

throughout the

change initiative, is

essential for

monitoring the

effectiveness of your

change efforts

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Publicise good news stories

Create a

rumour mill for

positive news

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Back at the organisation…

• Managed to get the new sponsor on side

• Have a standard PPM framework, but allow

flexibility and autonomy

• High visibility, management reporting

• Effective resource management, cost

tracking and improved delivery

• Tracking benefits

• Educating and supporting PMs

• Starting to develop change management

capability within the team

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

PMO’s role in supporting

organizational change

PMO’s role in supporting

organisational change 3

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Balancing delivery with change

• Are there sufficient activities

to manage the people side of

change?

• Has sufficient time been

allowed to engage people in

change?

• Building readiness for change

• Is a suitable approach

applied given the nature of

change and culture of the

organisation?

Project Plan

Change Plan

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Assessing impact of change

The severity of the impact depends

on:

• Change ability of the organisation

• History of change in the

organisation

• Individual responses to change

• The environment and nature of

change

Change impact

Business continuity

Change risks

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Assessing overall impact on the

business

Change initiative

Department A

Department B

Department C

Department D

One H H L H

Two M L H H

Three H M L M

An organisational heat map can provide

an overview of the number of changes

impacting business areas

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Measuring benefits and adoption

of change

• Track and report on how

well the changes are

being adopted

• Help put reinforcement

strategies in place to

ensure the change sticks

• Track and measure

benefits resulting from the

change

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Developing change capability

• Raising awareness for the

need for change

management

• Developing change

management capability

within the organisation

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

Integrating project and change

management

• Prosci 2009 edition of Best Practices in Change

Management

‘a direct correlation between change

management effectiveness and project success –

meeting objectives, schedule and budget’

• Best Industry Outcomes 2012

‘shows fewer than 20% of organisations have

change management capability. Direct

correlation between under utilisation of change

management and increase in project failure’

© 2015 ChangeQuest Ltd

The PMO role in change

management

The PMO function has a

vital role to play in

helping organisations

adopt and integrate

change management

with project

management.

Ranjit Sidhu Director

Questio

ns

e ranjit@changequest.co.uk

t +44 (0)1276 34480

ranjit_sidhu

/changequest