Chapter Meeting

Peter de Jager

Change Management - The Missing link in Project Management

About the Program:

There's an old adage that we in IT seem to believe in, "Build it and they will come!"... nothing could be further from the truth. We've all worked on projects that finished on time, on budget and on spec and yet the final products gather dust on the shelves, unnoticed, unused and unloved.

What role exists for IT to ensure that what we work so hard to deliver, will be embraced by our users? How do we create desire to participate in what we do? How do we get our users (and ourselves) to embrace Change?

Overview:
Management is faced with two conflicting situations.
a) We must implement all Change that is necessary and,
b) We must resist all Change that isn't.

These are both obviously true and therefore pose a paradox and a Management Challenge;
a) How can we get people to embrace the Change that is necessary?
b) How can we create an environment that allows rational resistance?

This session will examine the tools available to organizations to help them achieve what at first glance appears as an unsolvable conundrum.

Details:
The presentation is interactive, thought provoking and guaranteed to generate good, deep, discussion about how Change is, and should be, implemented in an organization.

• An interactive discussion about Change itself.
• A presentation of the Virginia Satir Change process model, which consists of the following concepts:
1. Status Quo - What happens before the Change takes place.
2. Foreign Element - The event that initiates the Change process.
3. Resistance - Exactly WHY do people resist?
4. Denial - What it is, and what you can do about it.
5. Chaos - The beginning of the learning curve.
6. Integration - Exactly how we regain competence.
7. New Status Quo - The reinstatement of the Status Quo.
• An interactive exercise to demonstrate the validity of the model
• Examples of applying the model in a work environment

Summary of Key Concepts & Benefits: (i.e. the 'take aways')

Change is NOT an isolated event. It is a repeatable process which plays out over time. Understanding how the Change process works enables organizations to manage change implementation projects smoother, more effectively and efficiently.

The participants will learn, and utilize, the following concepts;

1. Change is not an event, it is a process that takes time and has distinct stages.
2. A certain amount of 'resistance to Change' is crucial to ANY organization. There is far too much Change possible for us to embrace every Change available. And, organizations MUST foster an environment that permits rational resistance to Change, in order to intelligently select the most appropriate Changes available.
3. People do not really 'resist' Change, they resist being changed and they resist uncertainty. The goal of management is to entice people to Change when appropriate, AND to plan the Change as effectively as possible to minimize the uncertainty.
4. If people are 'resisting' Change, it is because they do not believe it is necessary. In other words, not enough of the right form of communication has taken place.
5. The overriding importance and value of clear, constant, honest communications.

Intended audience? Any IT manager/supervisor who is mandated to change their organization through the introduction of new systems.

Speaker Biography

Peter de Jager is a speaker/consultant on the issues relating to the Management of the Future -- Technological and otherwise.

He has published 100's articles on Problem Solving, Creativity, Change and issues relating to the future and technology. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Scientific American.

Having spoken in more than 30 countries he is recognized worldwide as an exciting and engaging speaker. His audiences have included the World Economic Forum, The World Bank and The Bank for International Settlements.

In his presentations he attacks, with humor of course, the myths surrounding our understanding of the Change process and technology. His talks are accessible by both staff and upper management. The sole objective of his presentations, despite the seriousness of the topic, is to provide actionable items which immediately help with both the management of change and the ability to cope with change.

His presentations are highly interactive, fun, irreverent to mistaken ideas and most importantly, directly applicable to the change & technology challenges facing us both personally and professionally.

Articles published in:

The Washington Post, Datamation, Computerworld, Information Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, The Futurist, Scientific American, Toronto Star, Innovative Leader, Executive Technology, CIO Magazine, Corporate Computing, Information Center, Computing Canada and Info Canada

Currently has monthly columns in The ABA Bankers Journal , Municipal World, Galt Global Review, HR Gateway, CIPS Across Canada, and Managing Change & Technology.

His Computerworld Canada column is syndicated across the IDG family of publications, including: Singapore, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Computerworld USA.

Estimated monthly readership? In excess of 1,000,000 readers worldwide.

He is also the president of the Global Future Forum - NA www.thegff.com

AND sits on the advisory board of the Society for Leading Change www.theslc.org

Media exposure?

More than 2,000 interviews and appearances including, Dateline, Nightline, Crossfire, Fortune, Forbes, Today Show, BBC World Report, NPR and CSPAN as well as profiles in The New York Times, FT of London, Globe & Mail, Financial Post, Esquire and The National Post.

From the NY Times Profile? "A talent for simple metaphors and pithy pronouncements"