Simplifying the art of change management

We’ve come a long way in recognising the importance of Change Management in any business transformation project. We now know the importance of articulating the destination, and the why. Where we still fall short is in articulating the journey. The “How”.

Humans can be incredibly strong and resilient creatures, which then makes it all the more surprising when we crumble over seemingly “minor” details. People need to feel relevant and needed, especially when there is a lot of change about. I am no psychologist, but being the initiator of a lot of change over the last 10 years in various organisations, I do know what it takes to bring people on the journey and get them excited for the joint end goal. Ironically, I don’t love change myself. But I realise that change is the only thing you can be sure of in life (other than death and taxes, of course), but if done right, it can invigorate and inspire.

The human element, the most important component

It never ceases to amaze me that organisations undertake large scale digital transformation projects, spending in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and yet, the human component is often an afterthought, “lets get some change management just to tick the box, but don’t spend more than 50cents, or a dollar if we must”. We live in a world where there are rapid and amazing technology advancements, with robots or other kinds of AI joining the workforce. There is a need to be more aware, flexible and inclusive than ever when it comes to human behaviour, and change at a faster rate than we have ever seen. We need to get better at balancing all of that in a way that is not disruptive, at least not in a bad way.

The thing is, no project will ever be successful unless our people understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how. Once individuals understand how they will be impacted and more importantly how they can contribute overall, you will usually find them very excited to be a part of something bigger and will actively seek to participate. Incidentally, this is when and where you get the really good ideas, from the people at the coal face, or where the rubber hits the road (just seeing how many relevant cliché sayings I can fit into one blog post) who are affected directly.

The beautiful part: Change Management is really simple.

Here’s yet another overused term – “Top Down, Bottom Up”. The only difference is, this time, lets “Join the Dots” between the two. And since I like to practice what I preach, let me share the how.

Three basic components in any change management approach:

 Destination (Top Down)

• The What: It’s your end goal. Maybe it’s a transformation project (ERP replacement, Office365 implementation, Skype or Teams deployment, etc), automation of key processes, or an acquisition.
• The Why: Supporting an overall strategy, whether that is to drive growth, innovation, increase client engagement, reduce operating costs, manage disparate systems etc. This is the reason why we are changing something in the first place.

Starting Point (Bottom Up)

• The Where: Understand the bottom level components that feed into the top level outcomes and how exactly they interrelate. The devil really is in the detail.
•  Communication, communication, communication (just imagine your sat nav giving you directions): This is the single most important component. Talk to people. Be transparent. Have a single source of information that people can access easily and ask questions. Ask for feedback, ask for help. Give progress reports, admit mistakes or unclear items. Acknowledge the impact on everyone.

Now here is the bit that is too commonly missed – How do we get from our Starting point to our Destination. All too often I’ve heard “But we have a project plan with clear deliverables”. Generally, standard project plans do not cover the How.

Journey (The Dots)

• The How: Look at each department within your business. Then break it down further to look at each role within those departments. Broadly, what is each role responsible for achieving on a daily basis? Don’t assume you know how it is supposed to work. Ask the people who do the job what actually happens. Now work out how each of those individuals will be impacted by the proposed change:
• Are they going to have to log into a different system?
• Run their report differently to how they usually do?
• Engage with different stakeholders?
• Input information differently into a system?
• Have a different To Do list day to day?
• Work in a new office space where the coffee sucks and there is a frigid draft right above their desk?
• Welcome new colleagues, sincerely?
• Have to collaborate with colleagues (heaven forbid) through productivity tools?
• Have more transparency via a dashboard to the Exec team which means inaccurate data will trigger an immediate phone call from the powers that be because the world has ended? (not really, obviously)
• Login to a new network?

There’s no shortage of questions to ask and it may seem like I’m oversimplifying in these examples. But this is exactly where it all goes down, and even in more complicated scenarios, the same principles apply.

Agree on what good looks like, and how you will measure success. What is measured is managed.

• The Who Look at the individuals within the roles. Who can be a champion for change among their peers? Who can be the go to person day to day in the transition phase that knows exactly what their colleagues are experiencing and give them guidance on how to proceed and adapt? Not only does this mean less overhead in terms of support (depending on the scenario, of course), but it creates a familiar and safe environment that serves as the constant while things are changing around them.
• The When: Make sure timelines are crystal clear and reasonable. Not saying comfortable necessarily, but they need to be achievable. A little bit of pressure never hurt anyone, but severe pressure means you lose motivation and quality of outcome. Not to mention stress is bad for you. Also, this is critical:  be very clear on who is responsible for what.

Celebrate achievements together along the way. Change is a team effort. Your project success depends on your people, no matter how fancy the technology.

Lastly, keep it simple. The best plans are on one page. “Plan on a Page” or “PoP” is my favourite thing. At work anyway.

Now, since I have a new laptop, if I can just work out HOW to log onto Wifi and HOW that impacts my ability to post this blog………. need to phone a friend (that was the last one, promise).

Till next time…

Nathalie

As a side note, our Avanade Advisory team have a Change Management practice, and can assist you with proven strategies to keep your transition and change plans simple and effective. Reach out to us if you need help!

An abridged version of this blog post is available on Avanade.com