The Scenario
A pharmaceutical company is implementing a new access control system. You are employed as the Group OD Advisor, and you are delighted that the access control project has a strong emphasis on change management – you believe strongly in the importance of change management, and would like to integrate the project change management interventions into your own ongoing culture change initiative and the introduction of a new performance management system. The project change manager seems to be quite approachable and easy to work with, and you soon agree to work together in running an organisational culture assessment. The next steps will be to work with the leadership team to define an ideal new culture, and then to align the new performance management management system with this.
- Enter into dialogue as widely as possible within the organisation and ensure alignment with all other major organisational initiatives as far as possible
- Actively collaborate with other role players who work in similar domains as project change management only as far as there is an overlap between your scope and theirs.
- Allow your initiative to get “sucked into” other initiatives unless this is mandated by project leadership and accompanied by a formal redefinition of your scope and role.
- Take your eye off the ball that you are there to play – you serve the project.
- OD has a longer-term focus and a much wider scope than typical project change management.
- Ensuring a clear distinction and managing the boundaries effectively does NOT imply that there must not be good integration and full alignment – not only may the OD function provide several powerful change levers during and particularly after the project, but it will not be in the organisation’s interests if your change initiative is at odds with larger OD processes.