When I first entered the world of asset management, I thought it was mostly about keeping things running. Machinery, maintenance schedules, and physical stuff. On the other hand, change management seemed like something the HR or transformation teams did when “something big” was happening.
But the more I worked with asset-intensive organisations from manufacturing to utilities to transport authorities, the clearer it became…change is always happening! Whether we call it organisational transformation, configuration changes, network change, asset renewals, or regulatory compliance, it’s still change, and managing change effectively is the difference between improvement and introducing risk (and issues).
That’s where ISO 10020 (Organizational Change Management) and ISO 55001 (Asset Management Systems) come together. At face value these two standards could have been designed in silos, but they complement each other beautifully when it comes to building capability (physical and non-physical assets) and resilience in any organisation that relies on that capability.
Can they coexist?
ISO 55001provides a structured framework to manage assets throughout their life from planning and acquisition to disposal. It helps us align asset decisions with organisational objectives, balance cost, risk, and performance, and create sustainable long-term value.
ISO 10020adds the human and non-physical elements. It focuses on how we manage change within an organisation, how we engage stakeholders, assess readiness, manage resistance, and make change stick. It’s the playbook for navigating the very real, very human side of transformation.
An asset management plan that doesn’t account for change won’t get you the results you want, and a change management initiative that ignores the asset lifecycle risks being temporary and shallow.
In my work, I’ve seen the best results when we use the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) not just to plan capital works or maintenance, but to embed change management thinking. The SAMP becomes a translation tool connecting strategic goals to asset management decisions and change initiatives. I often say that asset management is the “what” and “how,” while change management is the “who” and “why.”
Together, they provide a coordinated, cross-functional approach that makes the whole organisation more adaptive, aligned, and capable of delivering sustained and measurable value. Key points (from my perspective)
- Align your change initiatives with asset objectives. Don’t treat change as a separate project. Use asset management objectives to define what success looks like.
- Use the lifecycle lens. Changes to operations, maintenance, procurement, or systems will be evident across a lifecycle. Map them accordingly.
- Measure both lag and lead indicators. ISO 55001 helps track what we said we’d do. ISO 10020 encourages us to check whether people are actually on board and adapting.
At the end of the day, organisations don’t get better because of frameworks and tools alone! They get better because people use frameworks and tools to work smarter together. ISO 10020 and ISO 55001 are just that…tools. But when you apply them as one, you build something far greater than compliance; you build capability.
Want to learn more about how Organisational Change Management, Risk Management and Asset Management work together? VISIT HERE
Martin Kerr, Author of “Organizational Change Management for Asset Management” CLICK HERE
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