organizational change competency

What does an organization look like when it has developed change competency? It often starts with an organization facing constant demands to change and using effective change management over and over with each new initiative, which leads to a fundamental shift in operations. Sponsors repeat the activities that made the last change successful. People managers develop skills to support employees through the change. People on the front lines of the organization see navigating change as part of their job and the way the organization does business. Eventually, each role in the organization will have internalized their role in change and developed the knowledge and skills needed to react to it effectively. This change-ready organization has developed change competency...

Change competency is similar to change management, with key distinctions. 

First, change competency is not an activity. Prosci defines change management as the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change to achieve a desired outcome. Change competency is an organization’s ability to react to and manage change over and over again. It's an enterprise-wide capability to apply change management practices successfully and routinely.

Second, while change management can be taught and learned, change competency requires a fundamental shift in culture and values. It must become part of day-to-day operations and cannot be simply demonstrated in training or instructional materials.

Finally, change competency must penetrate every level and facet of the organization, from the executive leadership to people on the front lines. An organization may have change management expertise in sponsors, consultants, and change management practitioners. However, the people who must work with the changes every day are the focus of much of the change management activities. In change-competent organizations, these people are key players. To build change competency, and organization must give individual people impacted by change the perspectives, tools and techniques they need to move through their transitions quickly and successfully.

Tim Creasey

"Defining Change Competency," Prosci Blog. Accessed on December, 5 2022