Australia | Change Management - Planning

Tony Consolino - 08.02.2022

Change Management – Planning

Australia | Change Management - Planning

Introduction

Project Management and Change Management work in harmony to deliver value to a business. However, where Project Management focuses on delivery, Change Management focuses on the people aspect of a transformation.  Combining and aligning the two together ensures that adequate attention is given to both aspects of a transformation.

A key objective of Change Management is to move others to a new way of working, thinking and behaving.

In this multipart series, I will take you through the planning and execution stages of Organisational Change Management and conclude with incorporating change processes into your projects. 

The focus of this initial blog will be on the planning stage. Planning for change is a critical step to ensure buy-in from key stakeholders in your organisation and ultimately achieve the desired outcomes.

Triggers for change

Organisational change can be triggered by many factors such as company mergers, compliance reviews, changing legislation and achieving client satisfaction goals. It can also be triggered by the need to become more efficient; efficiency being one of our core values at Insentra we are often changing our processes and systems to enable the crew to work smarter.

No matter what the driver is for change, it is a fundamental part of every organisation’s growth to provide the best service for their clients, which in many cases are your own crew members.

Starting with your vision

We start our change planning with a change vision. A change vision outlines what we hope to achieve with the change. It needs to be easy to understand, and compelling enough to attract the reader to want to find out more about what the change is all about. Aligning to the organisation’s vision, the change vision needs to state the problem we want to address and the benefits that will result from this change. Building a business case for change will be more impactful if you emphasise the current problem and the risks of doing nothing. Deepening the pain of inaction will help drive action. 

The change must add value which needs to be clearly articulated in your change vision. Obtaining buy-in from the change stakeholders is like a politician trying to drum up votes by introducing new policies. If there is little or no value on offer, you can’t expect to get their buy-in.   

It is important to include exactly what is changing for the stakeholder, and equally as important, what is not changing. Talking about change in your organisation often introduces reluctance from others, often caused by a lack of understanding and knowledge due to poor communications. The more detail you include in your change vision the better informed the business will be to make the right decisions. A good way in gaining support from the key stakeholders is to include them in the process of drafting the change vision – One Team One Dream. By adopting this approach, they are more likely to want to embark on the change rather than reject it.  

Change for the people

Another important factor for a successful change is the consideration for those affected by the change. A key step is to determine exactly what parties will be impacted and speak with them to assess how they feel about the change. It’s also an opportunity to address their concerns, improve the change plan design and subsequently increase change adoption. Identify and document your supporters, fence-sitters and opponents to provide you with an initial understanding of the change support you can expect to receive. Take note of the supporters as they would be ideal change agents who want to see your change succeed.   

Create a stakeholder analysis document to capture your stakeholders and their commitment to change. This tool is useful for capturing their initial feedback, and tracking feedback received as the change progresses. Your stakeholders can be further categorised into separate groups based on their roles and departments they belong to in the organisation. Understanding your stakeholders and their willingness to change is fundamental to any change initiative and brings them along on the journey to change commitment. 

How am I affected?

This is a question most people ask when hearing that the business is about to implement a change.   

Developing a change impact assessment will help you effectively communicate to your stakeholders what they can expect to see when the change is rolled out to the business. This assessment is used to document the changes between the current and future states. It details the anticipated change activities in terms of communications, training, and other actions to enable the change. There may be a different impact on processes and behaviours for different departments so it is recommended that your impact analysis documents these separately for each of the stakeholder groups recorded in the stakeholder analysis process. 

Like all Change Management planning deliverables, the change impact assessment is an evolving artefact that is constantly referenced and evaluated for correctness or updates.   

Communication is key

A change communications plan is crucial in the change planning process as it is often the first time most of the organisation is hearing about the change.   

Listing all the activities in your change communications plan builds awareness to the change. Whilst there are multiple methods for communicating your plan to the target audience, the main aim is to ensure it is impactful. Create a narrative that clearly states the benefits the change brings to them and addresses any concerns raised during the stakeholder analysis process. The plan needs to communicate to the audience why the change is required and what is in it for them. 

One way to ensure your communications plan resonates with the business is to incorporate diagrams or pictures as people are more likely to remember and understand the messaging when they can visualise it. A picture does indeed paint a thousand words! 

TIP: Sound out the change sponsors and your marketing team to review and fine-tune the plan to ensure it conveys the right message to the target audience 

The Change Management team

Your Change Management team work together on a shared goal, generating energy and enthusiasm for the change, and sharing insights for new ways of working. This team consists of crew members that are capable of driving the change from inception through to completion. 

Change Leaders are tasked with delivering the benefits of a change. These leaders often consist of business executives, directors, and team leaders. They are accountable for keeping the change on track or altering its course should the situation warrant it. 

Change Managers play a key role in the change process and are responsible for defining all aspects of the change plan including stakeholder analysis, creation of the communications plan, business impact identification and developing a training requirement plan. In larger organisations spread across multiple geo-locations, it may be more practical to have individual change resources to manage these functions. 

The Change Sponsor’s role is the face of the change who champions this business transformation. They drive the momentum of the change to achieve a successful outcome. 

Change Agents are key supporters of the change and are very influential in garnering the support of others in the organisation. The change team and change agents work closely together, gathering invaluable business perspectives with the ability to set and course correct a change journey. 

State your case – the Change Plan

One of the key obstacles to effecting change in your organisation is convincing others to change their processes or behaviours. People are used to working in a certain way and asking them to change is often met with a lot of resistance… unless you build a solid case for change. 

A good change plan will drive enthusiasm and urgency within the business.  

Your change plan describes the reason for the change. A powerful, impactful message that will influence buy-in from your stakeholders. A compelling case for change on your initiative must include the following:  

  • Describe the current situation, highlighting the problems with the current approach 
  • Describe the reason for the change, emphasiszing the impact of doing nothing  
  • Describe the future change vision, its alignment to the business vision and the benefits that will result   

Change Plan Design

Here is an easy five-step process to guide you in the process of developing your change plan:  

  1. Understand the organisational culture. Culture plays a pivotal role in shaping your organisation’s capability and appetite to change. If the business is already an adopter of challenging the status quo, learning and adapting on the fly, your change success chances will be much higher  
  1. Align timelines, milestones and activities with project management. Close alignment of important project outcomes is important as it will give you the ability to plan your change activities at the right times. This is particularly relevant when it comes to communicating to the business and building awareness of what is coming 
  1. Plan out your change activities according to business impacts. Use the change impact assessment outcomes for input here. The change activities may include communications, training, organisational alignment or policy and procedure changes  
  1. Plan for engagements with your change team. These are ongoing briefing sessions or workshops with your change leaders and change champions who will help you create energy, passion, and drive with the wider business  
  1. Make your plan visual. Use visual references to paint the picture of what’s to come. By bringing your plan to life visually, your stakeholders will bring your change to life.  
TIP: To further solidify buy-in from your stakeholders, conduct a collaborative review so the change outcomes are fully understood. This will avoid any misunderstandings when the change is ready for scoping 

Conclusion

The change activities you plan from the outset help form the bridge that moves stakeholders from their established ways to new ways of thinking, working, and behaving. Armed with your change plan, you can then guide your stakeholders to bridge this gap.   

Planning effectively and diligently for a successful change will allow for a smoother execution stage, which I will cover in my next blog. 

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Australia | Change Management - Planning

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Australia | Change Management - Planning

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