ACMP Quarterly e-zine September 2013
Letter from the President
ACMP Global Standard Development Update
Dear ACMP Members and Friends,
Three years ago the ACMP Board of Directors, through the efforts and interests of the membership, held a world café exercise around the need and desire for a standard and certification program for change management. The result of the exercise was a framework for standards and certification.
Would you like to be recognized as a change management practitioner who is part of a thriving profession? As a leader or manager in your organization with a remit to increase business success, do you see change management as a critical discipline? Our market research has identified a global need to increase focus on the people side of change and help change practitioners; change agents, leaders and managers of change get support and achieve recognition through an established profession.
“As we build recognition for the change profession we will raise the
A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through "the development of formal qualifications
profile of the change management
based upon education and examinations, the
discipline, which benefits everyone
emergence of a regulatory body with the
who is part of the change community.”
authority to admit members and hold them accountable to a code of ethics and professional conduct.”
Our commitment is to complete that transformation which will distinguish change management as a profession. Just as accountants, architects and doctors are part of a
A group of thought leaders evaluated the framework, presented it to the members and allowed members and non-members to provide input from the change management community. The Board then conducted a competitive procurement with six companies and in September of 2012 The Communicators were selected to develop the standard. In October 2012 the Market Analysis Survey was conducted to validate our findings and to determine the current level of interest for the development of a standard and certification program. At the 2013 the findings were reinforced and validated moving to the next step, which is where we are now, establishing a Standards Working Group.
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Inside this Issue
Letter from the President ACMP Global Standards Development Update The Hallmarks of the Profession ACMP Standards Working Group Executive Director Update ACMP Member Voice: Standards are Important Change Management 2014 – Registration is Open!
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Rick Rothermel
ACMP Board Director Liaison to the Standards Development Project
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The Hallmarks of the Profession The three things that are in common to establish any profession are a professional association, a standard and a certification against that standard, and a professional code of ethics and professional conduct. As a member of ACMP you are taking the first step in helping us become a global community of change professionals. This is methodology agnostic and focuses on the core practices of change management. Once the standard is complete we will be able to offer a certification. Certification is a formal qualification based upon education, experience and an exam against the standard. A certification is in contrast to certificates, which are currently provided through many excellent training organizations. When you are part of a change management education session, you receive a certificate of completion, which documents your learning. In contrast, a certification shows demonstrates competency by testing against a defensible set of standards. This defines what we expect from ourselves and the community of change practitioners, agents, leaders, and managers around the world. When we hold ourselves to a higher standard, as outlined in this code, it gives credibility and enhances the repute of change management. The code of ethics and professional conduct will preserve our integrity and instill confidence in the emerging profession of change management.
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profession, we believe that change management is sufficiently business critical and complex to deserve recognition as a profession. To accomplish this goal we are: 1. An established professional association. * 2. Completing a global standard of change management. * 3. Collaboratively creating a code of ethics and professional conduct. * *For more, read The Hallmarks of the Profession, Left Rail ACMP recognizes that change management is a complementary discipline to other professional disciplines that work together to bring about change. It is our goal to partner with complementary professional organizations that focus on project management, program management, organizational development, business process re-engineering/operational excellence, human resources, training, communication and a range of other disciplines. Our collective goal is to achieve success from our change initiatives - this is the foundation for a healthy inter-disciplinary relationship. As we build recognition for the change profession we will raise the profile of the change management discipline, which benefits everyone who is part of the change community. This is not an easy task but we are confident that together with you and our many complementary change organizations, we can collectively make it happen. Thank you for being part of the Association of Change Management Professionals. Our value proposition is simple: the ACMP aims to increase your value by providing a wide range of professional development and networking opportunities, while advancing the discipline of change management around the world. Whether you are new to change management, an experienced change management practitioner, a professional from one of the many complementary disciplines to change management or a leader or manager who understands the strategic value of effective change management, we need your help to achieve our goal of establishing change management as a profession. Kindly yours, Donna Brighton ACMP President
September 2013
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The Standards Working Group Harnessing over 500 years of collective wisdom in change management
Sumreen Ahmad Standards Working Group Chair
Jason Papadopoulos Wiesbaden, Hessen Germany
Bill Mullins Atlanta, Georgia United States
April Callis East Lansing, Michigan United States
Erika Moore
Deep Ghatak New Delhi, Delhi India
D Scott Ross Minneapolis, Minnesota United States
Gregory J. Voeller Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States
Margaret Thompson
Craig A. Mills Jakarta, West Java Indonesia
Austin Kirkbride Phoenixville, Pennsylvania United States
Kirk Luckwald Sievert Halifax, Nova Scotia United States
Theresa Moulton
Rocio Consuegra Mexico City Mexico
Andrea Grossman New York City, New York United States
Risto R. Gladden Englefield Green, Surrey United Kingdom
Terri Ray
Karen Barnett Hagerstown, Maryland United States
Marisue Fasick Palatine, Illinois United States
Theresa Moulton Boston, Massachusetts United States
Deborah Morrison
Karin Hazelkorn San Francisco, California United States
Debra Noyes Kohler, Wisconsin United States
Mark Bolton Los Angeles, California United States
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ACMP Member Voice Standards are important ACMP has appointed its first Membership Task Force. The fundamental and core purpose
of the ACMP Membership Task Force is to objectively review the ACMP membership offering to ensure the highest value is delivered to ACMP members.
Executive Director Update
ACMP Membership Task Force members were asked what membership to ACMP means to them. Here are some responses: “ACMP provides a community of professionals who understand and assist with the challenges of the discipline and it affirms credibility of the profession within my organization.” “I feel very strongly about joining professional organizations, like ACMP, to advance my skills and networking opportunities. I believe just as strongly that I should give back to the organization whenever possible. I volunteered for the ACMP Membership Committee as a way to give back to others in the Change Management profession who could benefit from the many resources that ACMP provides as well as the chance to network that is available at conferences and online.” Thank you to all the members of the ACMP Membership Task Force for your continued effort and commitment to ensuring the highest value is delivered through ACMP Membership.
Registration is open for Change Management 2014! Orlando, Florida | March 30, 2014 – April 2, 2014