The Pitfalls of Change Management: Why it Often Fails

The ITIL Change Management practice is a widely adopted framework, aimed at helping organisations implement technical changes efficiently and to minimise disruption.

However, despite its importance, its comprehensive guidelines, and the fact it has been around for so long, change management often encounters roadblocks that lead to failure. Unfortunately we see this time and time again with many of our clients, and often we end up redesigning, or at least re-establishing and re-embedding, change management on their behalf.

We should say up front that nothing written here is very exciting, and it is not exactly bleeding edge either. In fact quite the opposite. But it is such a hot topic that we come across over and over again, so in this article we will explore the reasons why change management often falls short of its intended objectives.

Resistance to Change, and to Change Management

One of the most significant challenges faced when implementing change management is resistance from within the organisation itself. Employees, especially those who have been accustomed to existing processes, or the lack of them, often resist following what on the face of it can appear to be an overly bureaucratic and time consuming process, fearing that it could disrupt their daily routines or create even more work for them. In short, unless it is communicated and marketed correctly, the likelihood of success is very low.

A Lack of Proper Training

A really important thing to remember is that no matter how good a process is, effective implementation requires well trained and knowledgeable personnel to deliver it. Insufficient training can lead to misinterpretation of ITIL guidelines, resulting in flawed processes and mismanagement of changes. One of the main issues we see here is that organisations often underestimate the importance of continuous training and education for their delivery teams and stakeholders, often leading to changes flowing through the process without the right questions being asked, and inevitably leading to both minor and major incidents.

Overly Complex Processes

Change management processes can sometimes become, or at least appear to be, overly complex, involving excessive documentation, approvals and stages. While thoroughness is essential, overly complex processes can lead to bottlenecks, delays and avoidance behaviours. Streamlining and simplifying by introducing standard or pre-approved changes, as well as aligning with DevOps related activities, can have a huge impact on the speed of the process and therefore its perception as adding value, rather than just appearing to be an overly bureaucratic or unnecessary practice.

Insufficient Resources

Plain and simple, change management requires resources to deliver and govern it. Many organisations underestimate the resources needed, leading to understaffing, inadequate tools and budget constraints. Often in smaller businesses and their IT departments the change manager role becomes just a part of someone's other job, leading to limited time allocation to run it appropriately and with enough discipline, which often leads to unsuccessful changes and causes more incidents.

Inflexibility

While change management aims to standardise processes, it can sometimes become too rigid, especially in more recent years with the rise of the need for speed. Organisations can become overly reliant on traditional ITIL guidelines, leading to a lack of adaptability in responding to unique situations or urgent changes. We see the balance between following best practices and remaining flexible as crucial for success.

Change Management versus DevOps

Let us make no bones about it, DevOps is very powerful and where possible should be explored and exploited. The key words there though are where possible.

We often see a scattering of DevOps activity, which some then think paves the way for saying we do not need change management any more, we have DevOps. The problem here of course is that not all of that creaking legacy estate is going to work particularly well under a DevOps regime.

Finding the balance between DevOps and change management is not easy, but they can and do work hand in hand. The mistake we see a lot is a perception that one trumps the other, when in fact they should have a harmonious relationship where they complement each other.

No Support from Senior Management

Just as employees can resist change, so can senior management. If senior leaders do not fully understand and support change management, or fail to provide the necessary resources, the implementation is often likely to fail. Often we see urgent projects needing to bypass processes, or phrases like we need to be agile being used as excuses for poor planning, or because those sponsoring projects or changes do not fully understand the implications of not following this critical practice. Leadership commitment is therefore vital for leading by example and driving process adherence, or the much needed culture change across the organisation itself.

Inadequate Measurement and Feedback

ITIL emphasises the importance of measurement and feedback to continuously improve processes. However, many organisations fail to establish meaningful key performance indicators around change itself, or do not collect the data effectively. Without proper measurement and feedback loops it becomes challenging to identify areas for improvement and gauge the success of change management efforts.

Conclusion

ITIL Change Management is a robust, tried and tested, and in our opinion essential framework designed to help organisations implement changes smoothly and efficiently.

However, unless it is implemented in a way that matches the culture and risk profile of an organisation, and unless people are trained and fully empowered to govern the practice correctly, it is destined to fail, or at least the full benefits will not be realised.

By understanding and mitigating the common mistakes mentioned above, organisations can enhance their ability to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving IT landscape, keeping unnecessary downtime to a minimum.

In addition, whilst many organisations continue to explore opportunities with DevOps, and so they should, for us, in most organisations there will always be a place for good old change management.