Many people are familiar with the concept of project management. There are professionals out there that are experts in managing projects from conception to execution and help keep all stakeholders on track. As change management becomes as much of a household name as project management, it’s important to understand what makes each discipline unique, the similarities and differences between the two.

Project Management

The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.^

Change Management

In a recent blog post, we go into more depth on the ins and outs of change management that you can check out! To simplify that blog post, change management leverages tools and methodologies that help individuals and organizations. successfully make changes that contribute to reaching organizational goals.*

How PM & CM Work Together

Change management and project management have similar goals, to help an organization navigate from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible.

Project management and change management each contribute to successful project outcomes. Project management is essential to moving your project forward while change management engages people from the current state to understand challenges and resistance experienced in the transition state and builds capacity to utilize technology and adopt the desired behavior in the future state. Change management focuses on the human element in every stage of the project.

This is illustrated in the diagram below:

Why You Need Both PM & CM to Succeed

Each of these disciplines focuses on different aspects of a project and can work harmoniously to ensure a project’s goals are successful. Benefits of integrating your approach to a project include: improved alignment among an organization, increased communication, and less room for errors or discrepancies.

The ADKAR® Model*

So how do we support change in the most efficient way possible? The ADKAR® model is a goal-oriented way to guide organizational change and helps shed light to why an organization may need to make a change in the first place.

ADKAR stands for:

• Awareness of the need for change
• Desire to support the change
• Knowledge of how to change
• Ability to demonstrate skills & behaviors
• Reinforcement to make the change stick

How Neocol Can Help

Integrating project management and change management contributes significantly to project success, increasing sustainability and minimizing negative impact on business performance. At Neocol, we often say change management is the insurance policy you need to protect your technology investment.

Our change management practitioners work with organizations to change individual and overall organizational behavior. This ensures you move through ADKAR® and achieve rapid adoption of your new tool and processes.  No matter the project size or stage, Neocol is here to develop a customized change strategy for your organization.

Let’s have a conversation! Contact us today.

*Source: Prosci

^Source: PMI