Want to be one of the 30 percent of transformations that succeed? Then start thinking about change management early
Change management efforts should start even before an organisation commits to a significant change. It should inform the problem framing so that the right solution is determined. Asking, answering, and communicating questions like ‘why are we changing?’ and ‘what will our business and people get out of this change?’ are as vital to change adoption as the solution itself.
However, all too often we see change management overlooked until after the business case has been signed off, the solution has been designed and the build is underway. And then someone asks, ‘but who’s doing the comms?’ and ‘how will people be trained?’ At this point, the change is starting late. And starting change late has consequences.
So, what’s the fallout from starting change management late?
The solution is designed in isolation of those impacted.
By initiating the change effort late, a great opportunity to involve those impacted by the change in the design is missed. When you design the solution with the people that are most impacted by the change (the actual people who will be using the solution come go-live), it has a higher chance of being understood, accepted, and ultimately successful. It also has the bonus of creating ambassadors for the change, early on.
With a longer runway, the change team can identify key stakeholder groups and work with leaders to identify a reference group that are involved in designing a better solution to address key pain points and deliver a great user experience.
The change management team is constantly chasing their tails and playing catch up.
In the absence of a well-thought-out plan, the change management team finds themselves playing catch up to understand what’s been designed and built, when they could be playing a more active role. By the time the solution build is underway, the change team could be designing, developing, and delivering tailor made communication and engagement activities that will ultimately drive adoption levels and speed up the return on investment for your transformation.
Involving them late means the broader project team is in the weeds of building and testing the solution, with limited bandwidth to step back and consider the impacts, further hampering the change effort and ultimately, adoption levels.
With limited runway, change management activities are limited, rushed and less effective.
With less time to scope, plan, build, and deliver, change management activities are limited to what’s feasible rather than what’s required to bring people along on the journey. Ideally, these activities follow a logical sequence – from building awareness and understanding, to developing knowledge and capacity, and reinforcing the change to drive sustained adoption.
By engaging the change management team earlier, the change management outcomes and activities can be aligned to the program milestones, so that end users’ change experience develops over time. This helps to take people on the journey and avoids them feeling overwhelmed by an avalanche of change right before go-live.
Remember, your business transformation is likely one of a multitude of ‘changes’ impacting people at any one time. Simply telling people what’s changing and expecting them to adopt a solution is no longer realistic – stakeholders rightly demand to know why the change is taking place, what they’ll get out of changing and what it means to them and their work.
Ultimately, people are more resistant and less engaged.
People are likely to be more resistant and less engaged if they feel a change is being forced on them. It can also lead them to draw their own conclusions if they know a project is underway but are not privy to the details, and this may send the rumour mill spinning.
Conversely, sharing what is known and being clear on when more information will become available can alleviate uncertainty and ambiguity and instil trust and confidence. Ultimately, good change management is about having empathy – would you want to find about something that will impact you and your way of working at the last minute?
Where do you start if you don’t know what’s changing?
Involving change management earlier in the project lifecycle means that there will be lots of unknowns about solution design and even timelines. So, what can realistically be done to move the project – and, in particular, the people aspects – forward?
Get clear on the case for change and future state vision.
As part of defining the program scope and developing the business case, it is imperative to understand the problem you are solving for and the outcomes you want to deliver.
Not only does this help to set program boundaries, the bonus of developing the case for change (the ‘why are we doing this?’) and future state vision (the ‘what will your people and business get out of changing?’) upfront, is that it serves as a useful tool for engaging leaders and other key stakeholders.
At this point, you don’t need to know the specifics of the solution but being clear on the burning platform and the north star helps to build a coalition of leaders willing to support it.
Engage and align leadership.
Active and visible leaders are the most important driver for successful change. Without them, there’s no one to advocate, coach, and manage resistance to change ‘on the ground’.
Armed with your newly drafted case for change and future state vision, this is the perfect opportunity to start having conversations with leaders, using their feedback to contextualise and iterate the program objectives and ultimately aligning a coalition of influential and trusted people to lead the change within their teams.
Develop a plan that aligns change management outcomes to program milestones.
With a change management team in place from the start, the change management plan can be aligned to key program milestones. In practice, this sees the change management team working with leaders and the broader project team to ensure impacted stakeholders are prepared and supported for each key transformation activity.
A common misconception is that you need to have all the answers before starting change and engagement activities. Trust is developed by sharing what you know now, and being clear on when more detailed information will be available. This will help to distil the rumour mill and alleviate unnecessary uncertainty for people. Remember, empathy is key to good change management.
Recruit and mobilise a change advocate network.
Early onboarding of a change management team allows a change advocate network to be recruited and mobilised effectively, broadening the reach of the change management effort. It's possible to repurpose the design reference group to fill this role, given their involvement in shaping the solution.
Engaging the change advocate network early provides time to identify and deliver any required capability uplift, and positions participants to better support their peers and teams in the lead up to and post go-live. The result is front-line ambassadors for change, who talk the language of their peers, and truly understand the concerns and motivations of the people they work with to drive successful adoption.
So why mobilise the change management effort when you don’t know what’s changing?
It might seem somewhat paradoxical to be launching a change management stream when you don’t know exactly what the solution is, let alone what’s changing. But there is a lot of benefit from kickstarting the change effort early:
It will help define the problem, case for change and future state vision to engage and align leaders.
Those impacted can be part of the design, leading to a better solution and improved adoption.
It allows the project and change management effort to be integrated, allowing for planned and informed change and engagement activities.
Want to talk about your change management program and how to ensure your transformation is successful? Feel free to reach out!
ANNA MEVEL, DIRECTOR