Implementing Change: Role of Templates In Applying Change

With atypical fail rate between 70-80% in attempted change projects, few people believe implementing change is a straightforward process. It needs time, money, man hours, and a large amount of work get from an idea to effectively implementing change. Like most processes, there are tools which may be employed to facilitate the desired changes. However, the entire process can be made more difficult when folk attempt to use these change tools in a manner for which they werenever intended. Templates are tools that are sometimes subject to this type of misuse in the change process. 

The reality concerning templates is they are akind of easy, helpful shorthand for bigger and tougher processes. They are a roadmap for the proposed change and, as with any other roadmap, they include major features to the exclusion of considerable detail. When a template is used in this fashion, with the acceptance that it is there to indicate major features, it usually works rather well. Sadly, this isnot necessarily the way in which templates are treated while implementing change.

There are people who look at templates as be-all, end-all solutions to given problems. They want to treat templates as sorcery wands that may be waved over their present issues to generate success. This demonstrates the misperception of templates and the basic failure to recognize that theyaren't complete in nature. It is very rarely the case while implementing change a template may be employed in lieu of other kinds of planning. Even though it does happen often, it is ill-advised to assume that a given template can or will work in that fashion.

A template is not there to replace the thinking process or the planning process that happens when implementing change. A template is only there to help to clarify the process for those that are doing the thinking and the planning with the intent of augmenting the efficacy of those activities.

For more information, please see our website: Implementing Change