X4MIS Change Management - Key Terms to Change

X4MIS | Change Management Glossary

Change management is a collective term for all approaches to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change.

It manages the people, processes and technology in an Organisation. It includes methods that redirect or redefine the use of resources, business process, budget allocations, or other modes of operation that significantly change a company or organisation.

Organisational change management (OCM) considers the full organisation and what needs to change,^[1] while change management may be used solely to refer to how people and teams are affected by such organisational transition. It deals with many different disciplines, from behavioral and social sciences to IT and business solutions.

In a project-management context, the term "change management" may be used as an alternative to change control processes wherein changes to the scope of a project are formally introduced and approved.

Blast Radius:

The Blast Radius in Change Management refers to a tool that assesses the environment being changed by identifying early stakeholders, assessing the impact of change, and completing steps such as organising a workshop, reviewing the proposed change, brainstorming impacted stakeholders, and identifying influencers, resistors and observers. Read more about using the Blast Radius Analysis in your change process.

Change Champion: An individual or group that supports and advocates for the change initiative. This individual may not be a change sponsor but is influential and a champion for change. All sponsors must champion change but not all change champions are change sponsors. Learn more about the role of the change sponsor.

Change Impact Assessment: Evaluating the potential effects of a change on the organisation, stakeholders, and resources. The Change Impact Assessment is a tool used to understand the stakeholders and impact of change on each stakeholder to aid in aligning and delivering successful change. Learn how to use the Change Impact Assessment in the X4MIS Methodology.

Change Management: The process of planning, implementing, and managing change within an organisation to align people, processes, and technology with the organisational strategy. The art of aligning and deploying organisational resources to achieve strategic goals, effectively.

Change Readiness Assessment: The organisation's ability to effectively adapt to change. A tool to assess, analyse, and prepare for Change within an organisation. Within the X4MIS Methodology we use the Change Readiness Assessment in the Compose function.

Change Resistance: Stakeholders or employees who oppose the proposed Change, either inwardly or outwardly. These are stakeholders impacted by the change and managed and integrated into the Change.

Change Sponsor: A senior leader, with experience and influence,  who champions and supports and leads a change initiative. Learn more about choosing the right Change Sponsor here.

Change Strategy: A plan for managing and implementing change within an organization.

Change Vision: A clear and compelling statement of the desired future state. Without a Change Vision, alignment to the overall Organisational Vision is exponentially more difficult.

Compose the Change: The Compose function provides the tools and processes to analyse and define all points or contact which impact a successful change initiative.

Early Adopters: Early Adopters in Change Management refer to individuals who are quick to adopt new technologies or processes, possess knowledge and ownership of areas most impacted by change, and play a critical role in driving successful change initiatives.

E-Learning: Learning delivered through electronic media usually online. The X4MIS E-Learning Platform is the leading online Change Management Training platform in New Zealand.

Embed the Change: The success of every change initiative is the way  in which the people impacted by the change, the level to which they adopt the new way of working, and the lasting impacts of this. Embed is the third function in the X4MIS Change Management Methodology.

Employee Engagement: The level of commitment and motivation of employees to the change initiative.

Enable the Change: The Enable function provides the tools and processes to deliver a successful change initiative. Setting up and enabling the change management team.

Implementation Plan: The Change Implementation Plan (CIP) is a detailed plan for implementing the change initiative. It considers the sequential steps required to deliver the change, the impact of the changes delivered, and defines the reporting used to ensure successful project delivery.

Manage the Change: The Manage the Change function prescribes the process to manage any change initiative using a Change implementation Plan (CIP). Managing Change is the implementation phase of the methodology and delivers, manages and integrates the benefits and new ways of working.

Organisational Change: Changing the people, processes and practices of the organisation to support the change initiative. Organisational Change refers to any actions intetional taken by an organisation to alter it people, process, or technology usually for a strategic purpose. Our article on the Force Field Analysis outlines the internal and external forces impacting an organisation. A shift in these forces, leads to a change in strategy, which is delivered as Change. 

Organisational Development: Can be considered the staged process of improving the organisation's effectiveness and efficiency through organisational change.

Stakeholder Management: The process of managing and engaging stakeholders to ensure their support for the change

initiative. Stakeholder management deals with the 'people' in an organisation and the impacts of changing the process and technologies. Effective Stakeholder Management understanding, engaging, managing and leading stakeholders through progress, from current states to desired states while maximising delivery of change that sticks.