Better effect with a PT at work

Published on April 21, 2016 within Blog

In private life, we are quick to try different methods to bring about change. There are ways to live a healthier life, become safer in your parenting role, live more in the present, gain better self-esteem, etc. The really committed ones often take help from, for example, through a PT at the gym or through an education to learn the method properly.

But what does it look like in the workplace? How come we rarely talk about change methods at work? And why are we not better at using method specialists to support projects? - As a PT when we train?

A method is nothing more than a model for how to get from position A to position B. Simply working in project form is about planning, leading and implementing a number of activities to achieve a change of some kind. Today, it is self-evident that each project has a project manager who leads the project and makes sure that the project works according to plan. But much more rarely do we have a designated change manager (the project's PT) who is responsible for ensuring that everything new that the project entails in the form of new working methods, new IT support or a new organization is rooted in the people involved and that there are the right conditions to realize the change in the long term.

During the spring, I will be taking a course in change management at the IT University here in Gothenburg, and what is striking is what kind of theories and models there are around change management. What is also striking is when compared to reality is what little of it is described in theory as really being applied out in the professional world. We want the projects we invest time and money to achieve not only the project's goals in terms of time, cost and content, but also that the project will result in sustainable benefits… Until the next change!

Here are a few tips on various change management models that I will carry with me to my current and future customers.

• 7 Habits model (Stephen Covey)
• 8 step model for change (John Kotter)
• Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze (Curt Lewin)