In my last post I explored the phrase “the only constant in life is change”. In this post, I examine the term “change management”.

What people intend to communicate

I think people talk about managing change because they want to convey the message that while things are changing and may feel turbulent everything is under control and being managed, and that things will turn out fine. We want people to feel comfortable and safe, to believe that we are in control of the change, not the other way around.

What people may unintentionally communicate

As well intentioned as we are, I think these messages give people a false sense of safety/security and may be confusing.

Isn’t change, by its nature, unpredictable, non-linear, and to a large extent uncontrollable? Change isn’t an entirely rational/logical process. Can change really be “managed”? Pause and think of all the changes you’ve experienced inside and outside of work in just the past five years. Did the changes feel comfortable, safe, and like everything was under control and being managed in a way that nothing out of the ordinary, unsuspected, or surprising was happening?

Isn’t change, by its nature, unpredictable, non-linear, and to a large extent uncontrollable? Can change really be “managed”?

I know for me it’s confusing when on one hand I’m told about a transformational, foundation shaking change and how it will revolutionize how we do things, but in the next breath told about how the change is being managed in an orderly fashion and how everything is under control and will be great.

In addition to this dissonance, a possible unspoken, unintentional message is that if the company has everything under control and is managing the change but I have misgivings about the change, I shouldn’t feel that way and need to stop it and get on board with the change.

Closing thoughts

If by “change management” we mean the transactional, task-oriented deliverables on a project plan that once you check them all off you say the project is done, I think these can be managed to a large extent. (although anyone who’s worked on a project knows that these can be fluid and volatile, too.)

If by “change management” we mean managing the human beings who will be experiencing the change and what they think, feel, and believe, do we really want to try to manage people in this way? What are the ethical/moral considerations?

Perhaps we can achieve the intent of the change management phrase by being honest with people, telling them what they probably already know. “Change can be unpredictable and messy. We don’t have all the answers.” Then we can share what we do know, what we are doing, what our plans are, what help we need from them, etc.

“Change can be unpredictable and messy. We don’t have all the answers.”

It might be more helpful to think of “change management” as navigating through a change or helping to facilitate a successful change.