Painkillers
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- Published: Monday, 15 April 2024 10:25
Benefits Management and Change Management are complementary methods. They support each other and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Both are force multipliers in any change initiative. They are levers that leaders apply to the resources they have so they can achieve more with those resources and meet their objectives.
Both are force multipliers. They are not painkillers to take away the leader’s pain.
A story, adapt it to your own situation
Sir Harold Acme was in pain. He wasn’t sure of the cause but he was certain of the source – that consultant’s latest wheeze to inspire the staff, “Let’s all eat together in the canteen”. It was either the gruel itself that was poisoning him, or the sheer annoyance of sitting with the plebs, but the combined gut ache and throbbing temple were getting too much. He staggered to the medicine cabinet, saw the wide selection of painkillers on its shelves and grabbed the nearest.
An hour later, the pain was less, but still there. He returned to the cabinet. Sir Harold was wise enough not to overdose on the stuff he’d just taken (but not wise enough to check the NHS website for advice on combining painkillers), so he grabbed the next nearest packet and gulped a couple down.
Half an hour later, he was back to his normal dyspeptic miserly self, reading the latest report on his struggling cost-cutting programme. The objective was straightforward, a 10% cut in staffing cost, but it wasn’t happening. You find inspiration in the oddest places, and gazing at the medicine cabinet, the light bulb in Sir Harold’s mind flickered into life. There were two pains in his programme, and he could take two painkillers to fix them both.
First, the 10% cut hadn’t cascaded down the company properly. Half his managers hadn’t realised (or were in denial) that their teams had to go. They had made no plans, nor costed any savings. His forecast benefits were nowhere near the promises in the business case. They were all hopeless guesswork anyway.
Second, even where plans had been made, the changes weren’t happening. The staff couldn’t or wouldn’t get a grip of the new technology to make them more productive so he could sack their colleagues.
Two pains and he could fix both. Combined pains required combined painkillers. That consultant had colleagues she was always trying to sell to him, a Benefits Manager to sort out the promised savings and a Change Manager to see that they got delivered. He hit the intercom, “Tell that blasted consultant that I want to see her tomorrow…lunchtime, in the canteen.”
Six months later and progress has been mixed. The hired-in Benefits Manager has managed to persuade enough people to own enough benefits that his Benefits Register is full enough to satisfy Sir Harold that the programme appears on track. With his nervous repetition of, “That’s not a benefit” and “I wouldn’t have started from here” he’s not made many friends though.
Teams have downsized and productivity has improved overall. However, there are a few patches of resistance (or genuine misunderstanding of the new kit). Attendance at the regular ‘Off on your New Adventure!’ celebrations has become mandatory. Anyone who calls the Change Manager Tigger faces instant dismissal. At least Sir Harold’s remaining managers are happy that they can’t be blamed for any of this.
The moral of the tale
How much of project management exists in the hope of taking away a boss’s pain? Stuff needs to be done, but it’s difficult, new, takes up valuable time and effort. We can’t be everywhere and know everything, so we create roles and outsource tasks for other people to do it for us.
Sometimes, that’s good and sensible. Sometimes, it’s just buck-passing. Usually, it’s somewhere in-between:
“We need to change, but I’m too busy running the shop. Let’s get a Project Manager.”
“I’m too busy implementing the technology to worry about how it will be used. Let’s get a Change Manager.”
“I don’t know if it’s making a difference. Let’s get a Benefits Manager.”
“I can’t get anyone to own the business case benefits. Let’s get an Exec Sponsor.”
“No, I’m too busy running the shop.”
Benefits and Change Managers are good when you bring them in as subject matter experts to assist the organisation’s leaders. A Benefits Manager who’s brought in at the start will raise the quality of your business choices. They will tell you what good benefits should look like. They will map out how your programme will achieve them, and they will monitor its progress as it gets there. A Change Manager will plan a transition from old ways to new that works for your people. They will educate, advise and motivate them to make and accept the necessary change that gets you to your chosen end-state.
Both are force multipliers, support functions like Finance and HR. You don’t expect Finance to spend your money or HR to hire your team for you (I hope). But you do take their professional advice so that you can spend and hire wisely.
The same should apply to Benefits and Change. Neither of them should exist so leaders can abdicate their responsibilities. Benefits and Change Managers are not there to replace leadership. If you think you can outsource the removal of your pain, you will be disappointed.