‍What is Change Management?

Change Management is the application of a structured yet flexible methodology for leading the people side of change. Together with managing the technical side of change- what we call project management- organizations must be able to prepare and support its constituents throughout change processes in order to achieve their objectives effectively. Ideally, Change Management and Project Management work hand-in-hand so that the organizational benefits of a change initiative are realized. After all, successful change doesn’t just happen from the top-down; it must occur on an individual level, with each person adapting and actively engaging with new developments in their everyday work. Change Management provides the structure and tools for organizations to support their members throughout transitions from an individual to an organizational level, which ultimately will add up to successful organizational change.

What is Change? 

Change is an initiative or solution being introduced in an organization to improve upon something, solve a problem, or to respond to new developments on the political, economic, social, or technological level. Changes made in this way almost always include new desired behaviors from employees in their day-to-day work. 

The Evolution of Change Management

The discipline known as Change Management has grown by leaps and bounds over the past century. Early in the 20^th century after the Industrial Revolution, change was only understood in terms of productivity and efficiency. However, this mechanistic viewpoint could only stand for so long; people simply do not behave like machinery. It took advancements in the fields of psychology, social sciences, and business for people to recognize that a different approach was needed to handle the “soft” side of change. 

It was around the 1990s that the concept of “change management” established itself in the business vernacular.  Pioneering organizations and thought leaders began to synthesize knowledge from different disciplines into guiding principles and best practices that demonstrated how individual change can be supported with thoughtful action.

Now in the 21^st Century, Change Management education has matured into a systematic body of knowledge that practitioners use to deliver consistent results. Various educational institutions have formalized the discipline and offer training certification courses in Change Management. Many companies are starting to recognize the advantage of cultivating organizational change management as a core competency, with some of the most successful establishing continuous organizational change as part of their culture.

At the Change Institute, we take a cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary approach to change management and equip you with the skills you need to develop your organization’s change management competency. Developed in collaboration with academia, consultants, and real-world organizations, our programs cover the whole spectrum of organizational change and focus on developing change management skills through experience-based learning methods. Our resources cover such topics as:

• Crisis Management 
• Innovation Implementation
• Team Creation & Management
• Leadership

The world continues to change at an exponential rate. Luckily, we no longer have to navigate through them haphazardly. Change Management principles provide us a roadmap to thrive amidst volatility and to take advantage of whatever new developments come around. Forward-thinking individuals can take advantage of resources such as our own to gain Change Management competencies and knowledge that will allow them to future-proof their organizations in the decades to come.

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