How can you make sure your change management plan adapts to feedback?

While surveys have a place, they miss all the questions someone didn't know to ask and are horrible when attached to pre-defined multiple choice. Talk to the front line first. Keep it open. What works well? What is the most significant time investment and why? What do you have to rework most? What tools or process changes would have the most impact on efficiency and first-time accuracy? If you could change 5 things?

The first step is understanding what good looks like and what done looks like. After that, find out what is getting in the way.

Change is constant. It's not about avoiding it, but mastering it. Got unexpected feedback? Embrace it. Create a Feedback Loop. Include everyone in your continuous cycle of collecting, evaluating, and refining. Transparency is vital. Update all on changes and reasons. Earn their agreement. Remember: a great Change Management Plan goes from 'plan' to dynamic 'blueprint.' Embrace feedback as a stepping stone to success. See your plan transform into a master strategy.

Organizing a Focus Group works well in my experience, it brings in several Stakeholders from various roles and responsibilities into a room to brainstorm and discuss the problem statement you are trying to solve. Recording steps from several frontline agents and or Time & Motion Studies to complete a SIPOC [suppliers, inputs, process, output, customer] to visually understand what the current state looks like to assist you in understanding and identifying gaps and areas of opportunities to improve overall KPIs and Metrics.

Feedback mechanisms refer to structured processes and tools put in place to systematically gather, assess, and utilize feedback from various stakeholders, sources, or systems. These mechanisms are vital components of change management, allowing organizations to understand the impact of their initiatives, make informed decisions, and enhance their strategies over time. Feedback mechanisms encompass a range of methods and practices aimed at acquiring, interpreting, and acting upon valuable insights and information.

Absolutely, you've described the concept of feedback loops quite accurately. Feedback loops are essential for effective change management and continuous improvement within organizations or any change process.

Engaging in effective feedback loops is paramount for continuous improvement. Establishing mechanisms to involve key stakeholders is crucial. Implementing a regular cycle to gather their input and revisiting it until completion is essential for success. Additionally, defining the medium for recording feedback sets a solid foundation for a successful feedback loop.

Implementing healthy feedback, especially for change management is riddled with hurdles and pitfalls. So how does leadership start to implement feedback effectively? If a company doesn’t first have a culture of feedback trying to implement is skipping dozens of steps. Feedback must be understood as information given with the purpose of improvement. Anything less or more than this is not feedback. Feedback should start with direct observation, followed by the effect created by the words or actions, and end with what needs to change or continue. Start with understanding feedback. Then graduate to giving and receiving feedback. Finally, graduate to creating a culture of feedback.

A Change management project is typically very chaotic, and potentially drives a lot of discomfort & unhappiness. So, pushback is going to happen, in huge volumes. Accepting & incorporating ALL of the feedback is impossible & unwise. So the important question is: Which feedbacks are to be adopted into the Change management strategy? The Feedback handling mechanism must also include a mechanism to qualify/ quantify the comments in an unbiased & unfiltered manner. There should also be a mechanism to assess alignment to the Change strategy & Org Vision. High-rated items can be analyzed further & then adopted into the overall initiative, while lower-rated items can be pushed down.

Navigating the complex landscape of change management, feedback serves as both a compass and a map. But discernment is key; not all feedback is equal. Enter the "Contextual Resonance Matrix," a tool that balances objective metrics like urgency and feasibility with a qualitative lens—'Resonance' with your core values and strategic aims. Resonance isn't mere alignment; it's harmonic alignment. It enriches your change plan, making it more adaptive and impactful. If feedback passes the 'Resonance Test,' it becomes not just a cog, but the wheel itself, propelling the organization forward. In essence, resonant feedback is the catalyst that transforms change management from a task to an enlightening opportunity.

Ask yourself what and when. What data are you looking for? E.g. the success of your communication plan? Then, go to those most impacted by it. Next, identify the phases that will benefit from feedback, such as the ‘Go Live’ date for leadership changes. Here, you can use a pulse survey soon after that date. Remember not to create ‘feedback fatigue’. All the more reason to prioritize and be purposeful. Your audience should know why you need the information and how you plan to use it. Share the appropriate findings with your employees; while protecting sensitive or confidential feedback. It’s imperative to show them that they are being heard. This helps build credibility into your feedback process and encourages participation.

Adding in feedback loops as part of a project plan will assist in helping change. Prioritizing feedback is essential, but equally crucial is setting up 'adaptive feedback loops.' These are channels that not only collect but also quickly act on prioritized feedback. Use real-time dashboards that can visually represent feedback metrics. This lets you pivot or validate the current change strategy based on incoming insights. Don’t just look at the feedback; delve into the 'why' behind it. Cross-reference it with KPIs and other data points for a 360-degree view. Lastly, engage in 'change rehearsals'—simulated run-throughs based on prioritized feedback—before fully rolling out adjustments. Doing so mitigates risks and helps with change.

I'd recommend against using matrices, charts, or scoring systems. That's more "structure" than you need and gives the whole enterprise an aura of rigid bureaucracy that's intended to limit discussion. Just hold the conversations about what you're all hearing and then ask, "Of all this, what do we think is of higher importance?"

A mutual action plan typically used when change management is triggered by a technology change should be used continuously through the onboarding and training all the way until an ROI is realized and processes are firmly in place. Responsibility lays on both sides and those responsibilities should be set in stone with timelines and as much details as possible. Especially and most importantly what happens if the said individual(s) or team does not meet the required deadline.

This step is one of the most important ones, communicating the feedback. If you want engagement, you need to make sure you are creating an environment where people can get involved, feeling their opinions matter. There isn't anything more frustrating than being asked to give feedback and never hearing back. It is crucial to acknowledge each feedback, explaining how it is tied to the objective or not. And if actions are coming out of the feedback, try to involve the people that triggered it.

Make the communication as tangible as possible by using a ‘you said we did’ approach. This helps people feel involved and invested in the change which helps drive adoption of the change.

Real adaptive feedback loops are iterative and transparent. They are triggered at important milestones and openly share which feedback is adopted and why /why not. Adaptive feedback loops are an effective way to ensure the change initiative's success.

‘Communication is key’ especially when it comes to feedback. You can have all the feedback in the world as part of your change journey but if you are not communicating collaboratively you’re doing yourself a disservice. Communication when done well can positively impact and significantly improve the over all success of the change. Communication needs to be consistent, considered, continuous, constructive and collaborative as well as being clearly articulated in a positive way to ensure ongoing engagement with those who are part of the change and those part of the overall strategic goals/objectives.

As I mentioned above, it's as simple (and as challenging) as just putting on your walking shoes and going back out to the cubicles and the shop floor and telling folks what you're hearing and what your own thoughts are with respect to addressing the issues raised.

Seeking feedback should be a mechanism to ensure your project is on the right track and delivering what the business needs. If it isn’t then the project team should be adapting and changing their approach. Often feedback is seen as just making sure people “feel” they have been heard and engaged in a process. Change teams “need” to listen, take action and communicate that what has been asked for has actually happened. Stakeholders will then feel valued and even if the project doesn’t delivered exactly as planned the target audience won’t feel disgruntled as they had been included in the process from the outset.

A última etapa é atualizar o plano de gerenciamento de mudan?as com base no feedback. Revise metas, atividades e métodos de comunica??o, ajustando conforme necessário. Documente as mudan?as e explique a lógica por trás delas, comunicando-as às partes interessadas. Isso pode incluir ajustes no cronograma, or?amento, escopo ou riscos da iniciativa.

Any change artefact that is stagnate is a recipe for disaster. Building in regular reviews based on feedback from all stakeholders is crucial to the success of change management. No one change manager can ever think of all the eventualities!

From my experience, feedback is one of the crucial success factors in change projects, especially in a highly complex environment in which most organizations and people operate. We need feedback as an important element of a continuously learning organization and agile organizational development at all levels: ? in product development from the customer ? in process development by the participants ? in leadership from employees and management colleagues ? as team players from our superiors, colleagues and network partners Every feedback process has its own dynamics and therefore its own rules. Truly understanding this and applying it professionally is a lifelong learning process in which we can keep learning.

Updating a change management plan should not come as a shock. It's important to anticipate and get ahead of potential feedback and potential solutions as best as possible, based on lessons learned from past projects. If you think of your plans as low/medium/high touch, I'd suggest thinking about what levers you can pull down the road if the plan needs to be updated/enhanced. Some typical adjustments I've had to make based on stakeholder feedback include: increased leadership engagement or reporting, frequency of comms, more creative engagement, re-tooling a change agent network, or making learning more "drip feed" or experiential. Work with your teams early on to plan scenarios for how an enhanced plan may impact schedule or resources.

By starting a change managment project you'll create uncertainty and fears naturally. Therefore, communication is key. It's crucial to communicate the target solution at the begin of the process. However, the plan should already have some flexibilty as there always different paths to reach the summit. I'd make those affected into participants. Means include them as much as possible into the process by assigning task. This would require an permanent alignment in which feedback will be delivered automatically. Take this response seriously and adjust the path without losing the target out of sight. With this approach the engagmenent of stakeholders will increase.

In my experience, it's the people, not just the plans, who adapt to feedback. By consistently highlighting what has changed, we maintain momentum and reinforce progress. Rewarding new behaviors encourages sustained motivation, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Additionally, adjusting the environment to support change ensures ongoing adaptation and success. These strategies ensure our change management plans remain responsive and drive meaningful transformation.

In my opinion a CM plan is at max only 5-10% contriubtes to the outcomes/benefits and well-managed execution is +90%. Start with a good enough strategy and as you go change and tweak based on the on-ground dynamics. This is at the core of agile change management. Change is dynamic not static.

Make sure that your organisation is a safe space for people to contribute feedback, remembering that feedback is only as comprehensive as the range of those providing it is representative. So, it is really important to listen to questions, complaints and feedback, paying special attention to whose voices are being heard and whose are not. Underrepresented groups may not feel comfortable to contribute until you make them feel welcome and included.

Surprisingly missing from this discussion so far, probably because it sounds simple, but is so often missed by so many. - LISTEN to the feedback! Understand that questions and feedback is not the same as resistance to change. Asking questions is a sign of engagement so be careful not to diminish those who contribute, they are at worst trying to understand for themselves, and at best, genuinely want to help.