I read an interesting post a little while ago… “Change Management – a means to an end.” The author was making the point that organizational change practitioners should stop trying to convince their clients that ‘change management’ is necessary because change management is a means to an end… results!

I couldn’t agree more.

Management consultants have the opportunity to play a very effective role as trusted advisor to their clients.  However, a lot of clients are just looking for someone to implement what they’ve already decided.  And too often, the consultants comply (I encourage you to read my July 2009 post “We don’t hire consultants for advice“).  Consultants should resist blindly saying “yes” to a client’s order and focus on ensuring that value is created through whatever project or engagement is in play.  I don’t know about you but I’m not interested in being an order-taker.  There’s one of those on every street corner.  And if you follow the order and fail… guess what? You still failed.  And let’s not kid ourselves… the client didn’t fail, you did.

We should initiate all our early client discussions with their aspirations and goals as the context and push for a deep understanding of the benefits (results) they’re seeking.  Everything should flow from that… strategies, tactics, actions, deliverables, tasks…

Unfortunately, I think we’re often speaking a different language when we talk about change management methodologies… it’s academia, theory.  If we aren’t doing that, well, we’re probably viewed that way.  And I think it’s a more acute problem for organizational change practitioners.  We’re viewed as soft HR types.  In many cases, that’s probably a fair characterization.  But in many others, it’s not.  I describe myself as an accidental change practitioner.  I have a decidedly analytical bent to me (because of my early training as a strategy and process consultant).  But I also have a deeply rooted HR side to me; a real belief in the need to inspire people, to create an environment in which they’re motivated to do great things (even when that involves big change).  It’s these complementary perspectives that (I think) make me an effective consultant because I am always searching to fuse analysis with inspiration… analytics with messages… reality with vision.

Too often, our clients don’t really understand what ‘change management’ is… even though you’ll get about 200,000,000 search results for it on Google.  And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what ‘change management’ is.  It’s not important.  What is important is that you help your clients find the right path to success.  And although we may know that the path to success must be paved by “people”, success will only be marked by the achievement of results… the realization of benefits.  As an entrepreneurial finance prof used to say “It’s in the numbers!” (actually he said “numbahs” but that’s a story for another day).  And that, my friends and colleagues, is the only thing that should matter… for you and your clients.