Change Thoughts

Benefits Realisation: should it be part of a Change Manager's role?

Effective change management requires a strategic, long-term approach, not just a focus on achieving initial adoption, which change methodologies are strong on.

For a change initiative to be successful, it should be planned with the end goal of realising sustained benefits, aligning with the organisation’s strategy.

If change management (and more generally people-led thinking / co-creation) is included from the early stages, such as in the development of the business case, it fosters ownership of the full journey, ensuring the transition from adoption to benefits realisation. This approach can also help identify potentially expensive gaps such training requirements and post go-live user support. 

This is also the time for benefit definition to be agreed with the sponsor, programme lead and business lead. This can enable the strategic manager and business lead to plan for events after the transition key dates. This progress can be tracked by the benefits manager or programme lead to be reported back to the sponsor. 

However, many organisations face challenges like change fatigue, lack of resources, and a failure to clearly define what success looks like as a result of a lack of a strategic change approach. 

These issues can make it seem as though change is a never-ending process, leading to disengagement. 

There is a distinction between a strategic change management team and a time-limited project team:

• A strategic team is involved from the conception of the business case through to enabling the organisation to achieve the intended benefits. 
• A more transactional ‘connect and go’ change management team may focus on adoption and delivering the project itself.

For real change to take place, it’s not enough to simply deliver a product or system; the organisation must adapt its processes and operations accordingly, a step often overlooked.

This highlights the importance of strategic foresight, including assessing the organisation’s capacity and capability to handle change before initiating new projects.

Without this, projects risk being poorly integrated into the business, resulting in unrealised benefits and wasted investment.