![\"horse](\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/078a98d.jpg\")
Just as a \u201cstarter for 10,\u201d when you type in \u201cChange Management\u201d as a search string into Google, you get in excess of 2 million hits.<\/p>\nJust as a \u201cstarter for 10,\u201d when you type in \u201cChange Management\u201d as a search string into Google, you get in excess of 2 million hits.<\/p>\n
I have published many of my previous articles, because the issues I have tackled all seem to be the subject of continuing debates on LinkedIn and this one is no different. In my article called\u00a0Project Management vs Change Management<\/a>,\u00a0I said Change and Change Management are widely recognised terms, but unfortunately misunderstood ones… therein is probably the subject of another article.<\/p>\n So, here is that article.<\/p>\n First of all let\u2019s go with a few definitions (as usual) but I am not going to quote some of the better known sources; e.g. Prosci rather I have chosen some lesser known sources at random:<\/p>\n It seems that although they all define the term differently, they all have essentially the same\/similar message:<\/p>\n Expanding on the last bullet, the Change Management \u201cNO\u201d fraternity will argue that–yes, you guessed it<\/em>–change cannot be managed! Well, I kind of agree and disagree. Why?<\/em> Because:<\/p>\n NOTE: It is arguable that these should form part of a Change Management Risk plan!<\/p>\n So for me, there are two sides of Change Management… the hard side and the soft side. Whether these can be managed by a single individual is the key issue. I have made my view on this subject abundantly clear in the PM vs CM post I referred to earlier.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s move on to the wider debate of what can we replace the term with!<\/p>\n There are those that argue their case for Change Leadership… 900,000 + hits on Google by the way.<\/p>\n Forbes published an article by John Kotter in 2011 called\u00a0Change Management vs. Change Leadership — What’s the Difference?<\/a>\u00a0in which he distinguishes between the two:<\/p>\n Interesting that he differentiates between the two yet I think he is also saying that the two go hand-in-hand \u2026 that\u2019s my take anyhow.<\/p>\n Then there are those that would go with Transformation Management (note the use of the word management). Just let\u2019s complicate matters for a short while by referring you to the following article in\u00a0The Change Leader\u2019s Network<\/a>\u00a0in which they talk about:<\/p>\n Started to get a headache yet? Yes? Good!<\/p>\n And just to make matters worse let\u2019s talk about Transition Management which the\u00a0Business Dictionary<\/a>\u00a0explains as the \u201cSystematic planning, implementing, and monitoring change in an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Wait a minute have we now turned full circle because we are talking about change again!<\/p>\n Sometimes I associate things with music and all of a sudden I have started singing the Beatles song \u201cHelp<\/a>\u201d in my head \u2026 note the use of the word \u201cchanged\u201d in the lyrics! Sorry a slight digression… let\u2019s continue.<\/p>\n So we have Leadership, Change, Transformation and Transition. It is interesting when you run these words through the \u201cMS Word\u201d Thesaurus:<\/p>\n What this tells me is that Change, Transformation and Transition really all mean the same thing but Leadership is a bit different although you will note the words management, control and direction.<\/p>\n Finally …<\/p>\n I think I may have used this phrase before \u2026 \u201chorses for courses\u201d. That to me sums up this whole debate. If you, or an organisation, feel comfortable with the words Change Management then what the hell, carry on using it. Equally so for the words Leadership, Transformation and Transition!<\/p>\n Me, I am a Change Manager, always have been and always will be but I can be a leader and I can also get involved in transformation and transition work.<\/p>\n In reference to the term Change Management, another Beatles song has just come into my mind \u2026 \u201cLet It Be<\/a>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just as a \u201cstarter for 10,\u201d when you type in \u201cChange Management\u201d as a search string into Google, you get in excess of 2 million hits. I have published many of my previous articles, because the issues I have tackled all seem to be the subject of continuing debates on LinkedIn and this one is… Is the Term Change Management Still Relevant?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[228,607,611],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organization","tag-change-management","tag-change-manager","tag-horses-for-courses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1197,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions\/1197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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