How to build an effective CMO
Change Management Offices (CMOs) often develop organically, without a deliberate plan, forming after a critical mass of change managers have been recruited into an organisation. But like all new functions, there is a significant benefit in having a structured approach to building the most effective CMO.
Every organisation has a unique context, so there is not a templated plan to do this, but there are some common steps everyone should do. In this article, I outline those steps. In future articles we will look at some of these activities in a lot more detail. This article will help those who are just starting out on the journey of building a CMO. It will also assist those who already have one to reflect on how it may be improved.
The CMO basics
There are three basic steps, which I think of as the foundation stones to building an effective CMO. Without these, it will be a struggle to do anything else.
1. Engage a sponsor
The first step is that the CMO needs a sponsor, and ideally an active and engaged sponsor to support the development of the function. Such a sponsor does not have to be the line manager of the CMO, but generally it makes life easier if they are. This sponsor will need to do many things, but initially they should focus on: making the case for the CMO, finding and recruiting a CMO leader, and ensuring the CMO has an adequate budget.
2. Find a leader
Which takes us neatly to the second foundation stone. Finding a leader for the CMO. This needs to be someone who understands change and change management deeply. As they are building a specialist function, they should be a specialist in change management. But as important is their ability to engage senior stakeholders, whose support will be critical in the successful work of the CMO.
3. Get a budget
The third foundation stone is the budget for the CMO. This is regularly an area of tension, as it is often seen that the CMO should be paid for from the initiatives that use change managers. This works to some extent, but if you want to build a really strong CMO, the CMO needs its own budget as well. Without this it is very difficult to recruit permanent staff, develop the tools and methods of change management, or do any of the other activities described in this article.
Next steps for building your CMO
Build the initial change management team
A CMO is nothing without access to quality change managers. The best CMOs have a combination of permanent staff, who understand the organisational context and culture well, combined with some external support from contractors and consultants. These external team members will help with managing the inevitable ups and downs of demand – as well as giving access to a broader set of change management practices than internal staff may have been exposed to.
“... irrespective of seniority, the most important factor in this is that the CMO gets high quality recruits.”
CMOs generally need a spread of seniority in change managers. A few experienced hires will help to develop the skills and competencies of the more junior team members. But irrespective of seniority, the most important factor in this is that the CMO gets high quality recruits. The first change managers recruited into the CMO will set the groundwork for the CMO’s reputation. Although demand can expand rapidly, don’t get people in just for the sake of filling roles. I have seen people recruit too quickly, far too often. If you do, you will regret this in the longer run as you may not have the quality of team you need, even if it removes a short-term resourcing problem.
Agree the rules of engagement
Another important step in the development of an effective CMO is to agree the rules of engagement with this CMO. These rules of engagement refer to how change initiatives can work with the CMO to get access to the skilled change managers they require. These rules need to be supported by the CMO sponsor and any other important stakeholders in the organisation.
These rules should provide the answers to questions such as: who can use your team, and for what and on what basis? Are there any situations in which it is mandatory to engage the CMO? What budget is required for which levels of change managers? When do you use permanent staff, when do you use contractors or consultants?
Develop your CM toolkit
A common focus for CMO leaders is to develop the approach to change management in the organisation. I support developing a standard toolkit that everyone uses on any change initiatives. But this toolkit needs to be flexible as change initiatives come in many shapes and sizes and the toolkit needs to flex to the needs of the initiative.
“... always start with something very simple and robust. This might be as simple as a standard approach to change impact assessments.”
My advice is always to start with something very simple and robust. This might be as simple as a standard approach to change impact assessments. You can develop more sophisticated elements of the toolkit as the needs arise, and as you learn about the needs of the organisation. If you do not understand the context you will be working in – the types, scale and volume of change initiatives, you can spend a lot developing a rich bespoke toolkit which does not fit your needs.
Change management has a rich set of tools, and it is possible to find good toolkits you can take “off-the-shelf” and tailor to your needs. Issoria has developed multiple tools which you can access as a starting point here
Build your CMO practices
The CMO does not run on Change Management alone. It has its own practices too. There are the practices required to run the CMO itself. Some of these are all those normal team management practices, such as HR and financial management. But the CMO will need practices specifically for its role. A good example of this are tools to allocate and track change managers to initiatives. You can learn more about a set of such practices here.
Engage your stakeholder community
Critical to the success of a CMO is a strong relationship with your stakeholder community. They will be important both in supporting individual change managers working on change initiatives, as well as the progress in the development of the CMO. There are a variety of important stakeholders including the executive of the organisation, change initiative leaders, as well as that important community of senior operational leaders who run the teams impacted by change. This last group is sometimes forgotten, but they can be a powerful and supportive ally for the CMO and are worth investing time to build strong relationships with.
The sorts of things these groups want and need to know about the CMO vary and depend on the details of the change portfolio. But whatever is required, stakeholder engagement should always make sure that your community of stakeholders understands what you do and how you add value.
Then there are two special additional communities you will want to build relationships with.
The first are your change network or change networks. Most major change initiatives need to build a network of interested parties across the organisation to help implement change. Such change networks benefit from having a direct relationship with the CMO, as a centre they can go to for advice and support in performing their roles. This is also beneficial for the CMO, as often future change managers can be found within your change network.
The second is an optional community the CMO can build, and this is a change community of interest. Membership of this community may overlap with the change network, but unlike the change network it is not tied to specific change initiatives. It tends to be made up of people with a general, long-term interest in change management. By encouraging such a network and sharing knowledge with them, the CMO can build a powerful group of allies for the CMO and for future changes.
Advancing your CMO
I have very rapidly described a series of activities the CMO should undertake to become the most effective Change Management Office that it can. But of course, the work never stops. A strong practice matures, learns and continuously improves. A couple of areas for the more advanced CMOs to explore are supporting enterprise level change management and developing external partnerships.
“When your team members are seen as prime candidates for promotion into other roles in your business, you have built a strong CMO.”
The first of these concerns ensuring that the combined effect of all the change initiatives in an organisation is developing the organisation in the way that most efficiently and effectively delivers the vision and strategy for the organisation. The second concerns identifying the right partner organisations for the CMO to work with – whether these are resource providers or sources of change management insights and wisdom.
On top of this, there will always be the need to build the team further as required. This can be tough, but if you have built an effective and well regarded CMO, you will find that people start approaching you as you will be seen as an important function to work with to drive career success. However, you will also tend to find that your staff are poached by other functions. Whilst this can be a problem, it should also be seen as a measure of success. When your team members are seen as prime candidates for promotion into other roles in your business, you have built a strong CMO.
In summary
CMOs are started all the time, and often grow organically as a result of consolidating change managers into one team. This can work, but I believe the best CMOs have a structured plan and approach to building the most effective CMO.
This plan starts by getting the CMO basics in place – a sponsor, a CMO leader and a budget. Then the plan needs to consider activities such as building the initial change management team; agreeing the rules of engagement with your stakeholders, developing your CM toolkit; building your CMO practices as well as engaging you stakeholder community.
But building a CMO never stops, and the opportunity to develop and add extra value to your organisation will always remain. Great CMOs regularly recruit and develop skilled change managers, and they are always looking to at develop new value adding services such as enterprise level change management.
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