The term “change management” has come to mean a lot of things to different people. Often it is associated with communicating the change and training people on how the new tools or processes they’ll be using. While that is part of managing change, I believe there is more.

Change management is not about what is actually being changed but rather people’s response and reaction to it. That is what you are “managing”. I center my thinking on change management around two models.

The first is the “Why, What, How” model. This model is simple but often overlooked in many change efforts. Often most of the communication and dialog in a change effort is focused on the “How”. How will the new system work? How will we get trained? How will we execute the new process? While these are important questions to answer, they are not the ones that engage and excite your workforce or other stakeholders. People get engaged by the “Why” and “What” type questions. People want a compelling story about how their, their customers or society’s lives will be changed for the better. In fact, in my experience, the more you can get people to buy into the “what” and “why”, the smoother their transition through the “how”.

The second model I use focuses on four main stages in the change process: awareness, attention, ability, and achievement. In this case, I’ve found that change efforts often jump right into the “ability” (e.g., training) before they have people excited and motivated to make the change. It is important to go through the entire process if you want to ignite your workforce.

I’ve often heard people say that the change process is just naturally painful as people don’t like to change. While it’s true that people don’t like to change, it’s not true that the process is inherently painful. It all depends on how it’s managed.

If done right, change management can generate excitement, reduce anxiety and truly prepare your workforce to successfully navigate the change they will face.