How can you develop the right skills and experience for a change management team?

Developing pertinent skills and experience within a change management team is vital to instigate positive alterations and reach successful conclusions effectively ?? Understanding the change management framework is foundational. Acquiring essential skills like leadership, communication, and organization and gaining hands-on experience are pivotal steps. Attaining relevant qualifications boosts credibility ??, and staying abreast with industry trends ensures you are equipped with contemporary knowledge ?? By embracing these insights, you'll refine your proficiency in change management, enabling the cultivation of impactful transformations and the realization of prosperous outcomes ??.

There isn't just one change management framework out there and its good to be aware of this when starting new projects, particularly if you are an external consultant coming into an organisation for the first time. Besides this, its good realise that there are more models, approaches and frameworks we can use, each with their set of pro's and con's. After all no tool is perfect. So it can be good to keep in that that one tool will help in some situations while others are better suited else where.

Any framework that you may use, creates a path for employees to follow, but what I find is more important is ensuring that the framework you choose has to fit into a culture that you are working on. This is because many framework out there is designed based on one's culture which may or may not work for you. For instance, I am from Asia and a lot of times I need to redevelop based on existing framework just to accomodate the cultural behaviours as it very much influence the response and result you going to obtain at the end of the day. So before getting into any framework, it's best to study on the culture and people who are working with especially if you are a consultant.

A shift in mindset is needed before any skills can really be developed. When looking at how organisations are structured in the west we see behaviors and ways of thinking, mindsets, that are reductive. The organisations believe in hierarchy, linear development, systems of control based on year's of experience and job titles. Reductionism by nature is resilient to change. A shift to a complexity understanding if the world is one which embraces change. The mindset of a complexity thinker considers change as fundamental to life. For any complex living system to live it must continually adapt or it hits stasis, death. Organisations are complex adapting systems. At Enrusk we help organisations take on this mindset. We change not I tell you to.

Often competencies can be enhanced by having the right tools and templates available. Will your team have to create all of its templates from scratch? That's not good. They'll end up spending more time developing tools than actually monitoring change.

Whether it's leading or supporting change, sponsors are crucial to narrate and embody the desired organizational change. Not every sponsor is gifted with natural change competencies. Hence, coaching sponsors in their role is important to give them the necessary tools and practices to be successful.

Remember, you're not in it alone. Start your journey by setting up informational interviews with leaders and professionals in Change Management - both inside and outside of your company. Ask to hear their stories. Ask for recommendations for someone joining the field. Ask for advice on what courses and credentials will be most meaningful. Not only are you gaining valuable insight, but you're building your network!

Some great ways to form your own opinions and understanding of change management is to: - Join a network and spark up conversations - Test new ideas in the same networks or social media. This is a great way to see what people respond on and if there are others thinking in the way way. - Read books, whether they are straight forward change management or psychology, neuroscience or something else complimentary. This is a great way to build information that can be connected to projects when appropriate. - Write a paper using your own research. This is a great way to formulate your ideas into a tangible structure thats ready to share with the world.

I think a critical step, especially when trying to develop greater Change Management competence and cohesion within your organisation is creating a Community of Practice to share learnings from previous changes, sense-check current actions you are taking for a change, or just to learn from other practitioners. If anyone is unfamiliar with the concept of a Community of Practice read the seminal text on the subject by Etienne Wenger (his 1998 book “Communities of Practice”)