Learning By Doing: From Adaptive Project Management to Change Management

Increasingly, goals are moving targets in today’s continually changing economy. In relation to their processes, tools, and technologies, companies face continuous transformation, which may be both desired and undesired, expected and unexpected.

Organizational change usually involves instability and uncertainty at multiple different organizational levels, challenging companies across all of their domains, while requiring the development of effective strategies that help teams embrace change and adapt to it.

All of this is exactly what Change Management is all about. Change management is the structured approach that helps companies embrace change smoothly, with the aim of reaching desirable outcomes in the most efficient way possible.

Of course, change has always been part and parcel of the reality of doing any kind of business, while projects are always carried out with the aim of bringing about change. However, when companies face disruptive change such as in relation to the Covid-19 crisis, the demand for effective change management practices becomes ever more urgent. Fast and agile change management practices are especially fundamental when organizations find themselves in situations requiring a complete rethink of their business goals and their ways of operating,

Change impacts an organization in many different ways, starting from the challenge of thinking about moving an entire company from its current state to its new future. Where the practice of adaptive project management becomes helpful is precisely there where the central strategy needs to be to learn by doing, which means to constantly be adapting and improving decisions, policies, and practices based on the outcomes of earlier learnings.

In this way, a company not only embraces flexibility by being able to adapt constantly to change. It simultaneously also succeeds in navigating destabilizing disruptions.

We might say that change management and adaptive project management work in parallel with the common objective of moving an organization forward.

To understand the link that connects the two approaches, we might ask ourselves how best to enable change management by means of adaptive project management practices.

In answering this question, we should consider at least five critical aspects, outlined below, as fundamental pieces of a change management process. Supporting each of these aspects with adaptive project management practices, tools, and technologies helps to improve the outcome of entire strategies.

 The five aspects to consider are as follows.

1. Prepare. Start by holding meetings and discussions to align an organization around change, both logistically and culturally.
2. Develop. Once the organization is ready, develop a realistic plan. In this phase, solutions such as Uppwise not only allow you to properly define your strategy, outline objectives, key goals, and key results, but also measure outcomes, track progress, and provide ongoing status updates.
3. Implement. Make your plan real and give change a chance, following your strategy, where adaptive project management solutions help in bridging the gap between strategy and execution, while ensuring just-in-time adjustments as needed.
4. Avoid. Do not backslide or return to old ways of doing things, thereby making change part and parcel of an organizational culture and practices.
5. Review. Review and analyze results to understand and assess whether change initiatives have been successful and where improvements might still be necessary.

An effective change management strategy never happens by chance, requiring the implementation of a structured plan.

Thanks to adaptive project management tools, such as Uppwise, you can rely on powerful, flexible, and comprehensive tools to plan the execution of your change management strategy, continually in line with your company’s current needs.

 If you would like more information about our products and learn how they might support your business, please reach out at any time!

 We would be more than happy to guide you in your search for better and more tailored solutions to manage change throughout your organization.