Projects bring change to an organization and at times a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) comes along as well. It is necessary to recognize that the impact of change to the organization needs to be understood and formally addressed by the project management team.

Setting accurate expectations for what the project will bring to the organization and how it will be impacted is essential to keeping people on side and supportive of the project. If you do not actively go about setting the expectations properly, then people will set their own - many of which will be incorrect - and resistance to the project will take place. Providing regular communications to the organization on the status of the project and where it is going, along with task specific training will help maintain a broadly consistent, accurate set of expectations. Implementing the project successfully is a tough job, and almost impossible if everyone is not heading in the same direction.

The following change diagram illustrates the progression of events when going from one state to another. The old status quo would be State A, while you are transforming the organization toward State B – the new status quo. The FUD factor is eliminated by ensuring the staff is continually kept informed of what is taking place and that specific training is provided for those directly involved with the changes.

It is highly likely that a state change will take place with each major project deliverable. It is a good idea to concentrate on those deliverables when determining what actions are required to ensure FUD is avoided wherever possible.

Refer to the Project Change Planning Tables document which is used to address these concerns.