There have been three important developments in the last six months that we should all take note of:

-  Aug 2013 Project Management Institute (PMI) published a discussion paper “Managing Change in Organizations: A Practice Guide” . It is very likely that this is a precursor to including CM in PMBOK (the “Project Management Body of Knowledge”)

-  October 2013 the Change Management Institute( CMI) issued CMBOK, “The Change Management Body of Knowledge”

-  Jan 2014 the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) just released the “Standard for Change Management”

Many rich discussions are underway in various groups including some that I follow and participate on LinkedIn. I am influenced by the generous and thoughtful conversations there.

First, appreciation

All of these initiatives are attempts to do something actually very difficult – to describe Change Management and to establish practice standards. I say difficult because this is pioneering. It has never been done before.

Yes, of course there are dozens, probably hundreds of books, courses, programs, etc out there. However, each represents a school of thought, an orientation or perspective towards change usually spearheaded by an individual / organization. And each is somewhat unique. Examples would be: Warren Bennis, Senge, Schein, John Kotter, Prosci, Daryl Conner.

All of the documents above are an attempt to create meta-standards – above the existing proprietary content. All advance our thinking and understanding.
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Wondering how this might affect your organization? Drop me a line at gailseverini@symphini.com for a one hour complimentary consultation.
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All have been carefully developed by some very smart, talented and experienced practitioners. I deeply appreciate and respect the effort and the outputs.

Fragmented disciplines and approaches

One of the first things you might notice is that there are three independent initiatives from at least two perspectives: Project Management and Change Management. And, indeed, even the two Change Management perspectives are very different. The CMI approach comes at it through competencies and the ACMP approach through process.

In fact there are more probably than these three. I have also heard that the International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA) is working on something and I am sure there are others.

I would add, furthermore, than none of these really take Organization Development into consideration. 


This is symptomatic of the current state of the field – several existing disciplines are working independently.

What do we really need?

If we were really putting the needs of organizations first what would that look like? Surely we would aim for, and measure against, improving the effectiveness of change.

If we did that we would collaborate to develop integrated solutions focused on improving business results.

Many are concerned that Associations lose sight of this larger objective and instead fixate on members and on driving revenue through certifications, training and conferences.

We have a long way to go on these fronts.

This is progress

Having said that, this is what progress looks like. The great work of volunteers from all of these organizations is giving us a new plateau from which to think about and understand what we do.

Kudos and gratitude to all. I hope that we can continue to progress and debate and learn from each other.

What do you make of this?

Thoughts? Reactions? Please share in the Comments section.