Imagine an orchestra where every instrument, from violins to oboes, is played by a percussionist. The resulting music would no doubt be the sonic equivalent of a train wreck. That’s because orchestras, like any team or organization, can only be effective when the right people with the right skills are in the right positions.

The same holds true for any team tasked with change management. Today’s government change-management experts can’t rely on planning in a static IT environment. The only thing they can count on is change itself. Yet facing a complex objective is no excuse for failure. Change can be managed.

One of the most critical components in managing change is assembling the right team. With the right personnel in possession of relevant skills, even changes to changes can be managed effectively.

"With the right personnel in possession of relevant skills, even changes to changes can be managed effectively."

The most effective change management teams include experts with unique experiences and skills that complement the strenghts of other team members. Essential team members must include:

The Chief. Every team, group or organization needs a leader. Leaders must make critical choices to establish strategic direction and initiatives to reach an objective. Even applying best practices can be tricky if too many are attempted at one time. Industry performance and benchmarking experts provide an independent eye and a well-thought-out approach.

The Bean Counter. More than half of all projects exceed budget and timelines. Having team members specifically focused on dollars and cents helps provide the necessary fiduciary oversight.

The Schmoozer. Government organizations are first and foremost social systems. Political skills require an understanding of how decisions are made and how control is maintained. Governance provides the disciplines needed to manage the engineering solutions, align the architectures and implement the strategic initiatives in light of the political environment. By aligning project objectives with the organization’s overarching strategic goals, the schmoozer can help protect the project’s long-term success.

The Business Broker. There’s much more to technical architecture than learning about computers or computer-based information systems. Similarly, business architecture is more than knowledge of money, markets and marketing, products and product development, customers, sales, selling, buying, hiring and firing. Business and technology architectures require an understanding of how a business works and how technology can support the business’ goals.

The Techie. Change-management teams had better include good solution engineering and analytical skills. To integrate changes into an existing environment, the techie must provide a lucid and well-argued plan for transitioning the old system to the new one. This team member must understand the technical impact for the organization and for individual system users. Proactively addressing training issues helps ensure system adoption.

The People Person. Simply put: no people, no organization. Lose sight of this fact and any would-be change-management team will likely fail. People skills are those that typically fall under the heading of communication or interpersonal skills. To be effective, leaders must be able to listen actively, to restate, to reflect, to clarify without interrogating, to draw out the speaker, to lead or channel a discussion, to plant ideas and to develop them.

Change will be accepted if the organization’s team members feel that their needs and requirements were listened to as the system was being developed.

A successful team will draw on a diverse range of skills to properly plan the change, provide the leadership and guidance, track the budget, implement the system and actively work to achieve end-user buy-in.

Pulling together different personalities and skills are critically important for successfully navigating change and reaching desired results. Regardless of what you actually call the team members (I’d highly recommend not using my naming system!), by incorporating these skills into your group, you’ll have built the foundation for a successful change-management team.

Malcolm Slovin is a vice president at Engineering, Management & Integration Inc. of Herndon, Va. His career includes work in project management, systems development and maintenance, information engineering technologies, systems integration, and technical and business strategic planning.