Eight elements to consider when resourcing a change management team
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Change management resourcing is a business decision. Whether your organization is considering to hire, buy, rent or build a change management team (or any mixture of those strategies), the root of the decisions depends on the goals or desired states your organization is working towards.
After training and working with thousands of change management practitioners and consultants, it is clear there is a demand for qualified professionals. There are several resourcing strategies available, but the pendulum appears to be swinging in the direction of hiring permanent change management staff. This demonstrates that leaders and hiring managers are recognizing the value of change management and the positive impact it can have in improving how change happens. It further reinforces the need for decision makers to have choices in their resourcing decisions.
There are four strategies to source change professionals for your team:
- Hire: Recruit and hire new employees
- Buy: Partner with change management consultants
- Rent: Augment current staff with contract employees
- Build: Develop existing staff as change professionals and provide supporting infrastructure
These are all viable resourcing options, and these options have pros and cons depending on your specific situation.
So – how do you make the best decision to hire, buy, rent or build the change management resources you need?
Whenever you are dealing with people, there are no definitive rules and gut reactions aren’t good enough. The process should be as analytical as possible.
Include these eight critical elements in your considerations:
- Timing: Can the change effort wait a few months to finish hiring? Or is the change management expertise and support needed immediately?
- Organizational commitment: Does the organization value and endorse change management? Does the organization reinforce its application?
- Risk management: Is the decision a proactive or a reactive approach to attaining acceptance and adoption by those affected by the change?
- Available qualified resources: How likely is it that qualified new hires or supplemental resources are readily available?
- Budget and headcount: Are there dollars to invest in managing the current change? What is the size and scope of the change?
- Management capability and capacity: Do you have leaders with the skill and experience to guide and manage change resources and evaluate change-related tasks?
- Organizational readiness: Does the organization understand change management and have a methodology and toolset?
- Long-term change capability: Does the need focus on immediate change projects, or is there a longer-term desire to build internal change capability?
Use our free guide to identify the factors present in the change your organization is facing and review the suggested resourcing for trends. By prioritizing the factors that most relate to your organization, you can determine the optimal resourcing strategy. ■
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