I’m always intrigued by what a Change Management Office (CMO) is hoping to achieve when they refer to ‘Change Portfolio Management’ (CPM). Digging deep into this gives a sightline into the Executive’s thinking.

When I hear a CMO leader mention CPM, my frame of reference starts with ‘is this about volume control?’ If so, why? The other end of the spectrum points to a highly evolved CMO, one that has a seat at the Executive table. In that space, the CMO leverages change portfolio management as part of a crucial, and often overlooked, strategic dialogue; a dialogue(s) steeped in the fact of finite resources, benefit realization, and making strategic choices related to change adoption and return on investment alongside competitive threats - one of ‘where to place your bets?’ so-to-speak.  

CPM for consistency

For some organization’s CMO’s, CPM can simply be about ensuring they have a view on what is going on and working to instill consistent change management standards across the portfolio of change. That in itself is a valid pursuit as it ensures the appropriate rigor is applied to increase the collective effectiveness of change management practice and the business benefits it brings.  

CPM for volume control

Often, the ‘volume control’ rationale for CPM is one related to an out of control mish-mash of projects that are competing for attention and drawing down on the same resources and so diluting them, such as technical subject matter experts as well as funding. The English expression that I think nicely sums this is ‘avoiding a bun-fight’. That in itself is an admirable reason to deploy CPM. However, it points to the question whether the CMO should lead that and if in fact, it should be led by the enterprise project management office (EPMO) or even the transformation management office (TMO)?

CPM for adoption

There is another level up for applying CPM, yet still focused on volume control. However, this issue in organizations has typically had limited real attention until more recently. The simple fact is that human beings have a finite capacity to handle change – it varies at the individual level and can in many cases probably be nurtured to increase. 

There are credible efforts out there where organizations are starting to quantify this capacity at the workforce level to support change portfolio planning. Whether its steeped in sophisticated analysis based on robust data, or a best guess, the finite capacity for people to handle change has significant business implications, particularly for return on investment (ROI). A change saturated and fatigued workforce will perform less well; their collective cognitive abilities are drained to a point they cannot adopt change well enough (against an assumed adoption goal). The value returned from countless dollars ploughed into changes is degraded with outcomes being less than optimal. Achieving a better-balanced change portfolio means a better landing for the changes organizations seek to make. I’ve heard practitioners liken it to the role of air traffic control, with the landing strip being the change execution window and a good, safe landing being effective change adoption. Who wouldn’t want that?  

CPM for ROI

Another step up again for the application of CPM is strategically ‘bundling’ change delivery to ensure there is change coherence, as well as of course improving ROI. I have seen many times in my career, organizations run at making change in a haphazard fashion when in fact there are many inter-related components that could be better fit together. I’ve seen major transformational initiates run as technology transformation, with entirely separate projects implementing process changes and yet again entirely separate changes working to implement benefits realization, risk management, and an array of human resources related program changes.

The fact of the matter is, in a true transformational environment, these activities should be designed with an organizational systems lens, with them having a logical cohesion to a common business outcome. Assuming that, then applying the bundling approach within the context of CPM, CMOs play can a leading role working to execute the Executive’s will by deigning an integrated program of change. A program that is firmly centered on the core transformational business outcome and then builds these other, related, components around it. 

Technology change is paired with process change, further still human resources related capabilities are integrated to shift workforce behaviors related to the same change. Crucially, all of this is then delivered as ‘one’ or a few changes that are joined up and make sense to employees. Not only does it reduce the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ experience that degrades employees’ capacity to change, but also means the change is better adopted as all the moving parts are in sync and supporting the overall business outcome in a unified way to achieve the desired ROI from the changes being made.  

What an effective Change Portfolio Management looks like

The pinnacle for an effective CPM, and CMOs, is one that involves:

• a sophisticated feedback loop that flows through the change management lifecycle,

• the application of predictive change risk techniques in the change portfolio planning phase,

• the monitoring of cumulative change impacts and readiness through the execution of a program of change,

• the monitoring of change adoption and whether the right transformational bets have been made.

In such cases, CPM is strategic rather than tactical, it helps enable an Executive team to deliver the right amount of change an organization can realistically take without degrading the change adoption goals and return on investment. It means there is a highly conscious programmatic approach to implementing organizational changes that informs an Executive team on trade-offs between change volume and the quality of change adoption and ROI.  

The necessary conditions for achieving any of these aims to realize the business benefits from CPM is worthy of another article in itself. Suffice to say, the most crucial being that an Executive team get that they need to leverage CMOs and empower them to help deliver their strategic intent through change portfolio management.  

The journey to change portfolio management is a tricky one; fraught with challenges but, when applied effectively, is ultimately part of an organization’s key competitive advantage – to change better than those you’re up against. Surely a value-add pursuit?  

*This article has been created to accompany a Round Table discussion moderated by Nick Freeman on Change Portfolio Management, held on the 2nd of December 2020.

**UPDATE: If you would like a copy of the post discussion write up please contact amber.madden@issoriachange.com

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