Consultants and project staff are constantly spouting terms like "change", "change project", "change initiative", or "change effort". Because these terms are thrown around so frequently, anyone working with or listening to consultants might begin to think that the consultants perceive the change as the goal or the "point" of the project.
I have met a few consultants who strongly defend their position that change is the main point of any and all projects. Most of these I strongly disagree with this position, and consider these good folks to have "drunk the cool-aid".
Some consultants will tell you "change" is the process. I say "change" is just a generic descriptor for the "to-be" or future state that the client is trying to reach. I agree with William Bridges who wrote that "transition" is the term for the process. But I think most consultants and change agents would agree that the goal or point of any project is the "to-be" state, however that state is defined or described.
As a change management practitioner, to me "change" is just a very vague term used in lieu of describing the details of a future state. "Transition" is the process that facilitates an organization moving from the as-is state to the desired to-be state. However you slice it, change and CM take supportive, secondary positions to the primary goal or point of the "to-be" state. We as consultants just need to learn a new way of speaking about change that indicates its relationship to the true goal of a project.
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