For the last 10+ years I’ve been managing client relationships and selling Change Management consulting and training solutions to organizations that want to adopt a common approach to manage change.   It continues to fascinate me that despite the increased focus and discipline applied in this field, implementation efforts continue to fail because of human factors.  Organizational Change Management as an industry has existed for 40 years if not longer.  Over the past 10-15 years it has become increasingly more common for large organizations to recognize the need to manage the human issues when implementing large-scale change (i.e. ERP or technology implementations, mergers and acquisitions, culture change, reengineering or business process change, downsizing, organization redesign, or any project that involves changing the way people do their jobs).   Much has been written about why implementation efforts fail.  Statistics continue to illustrate that approximately 80% of change efforts fail to meet budget, target dates, or key objectives. It is also well documented that the highest risk of implementation failure is on the human side, and not with the technology.  Many Fortune 500 organizations today understand that by applying a structured approach or framework to manage the human side, the chance of a successful project will substantially increase.  Then why aren’t we learning from our past mistakes? Read the rest of this entry »