Change Management Process
– A Structured Approach

Change Process Phases Overview

If your change initiative is guided by clear and well-articulated change management principles, your program has a solid foundation. Taking a principled approach to change in your organization is without doubt necessary for the long-term success of your initiative. The question arises: "How do you apply these change management principles in practice?" Principles without a clearly defined process for change can lead to endless discussions about interpretation.

Complementing our own five key Change Management Principles, we have developed and use an easy to understand and structured approach to implementing change in organizations. We call our unique process for planning and delivering real organizational benefits the CHANGE Approach™.

Our approach consists of six phases that successful change programs progress through. The phases are not meant to be traversed in a simple linear direction. Organizational change is messy, with change leaders and followers sometimes backtracking to earlier steps. The power of our CHANGE Approach™ lies in its ability to give clear direction and purpose to the many complex change activities that need to occur if the change initiative is to be successful.

The following diagram and table illustrates the six phases contained within our CHANGE Approach™ process and the key purpose for each phase.

Figure 1 – The CHANGE Approach™ Phases

For each of the key phases, we ask a set of probing questions. Answering these questions helps you evaluate where you are at in your change initiative and where you could do with some help. Visit the CHANGE Approach™ questions checklist.