The document discusses organizational change management and communications. It defines organizational change management as helping move an organization from its current state to a desired future state through a transition period. The goals of change management are to align leadership, manage changes, and enable organizational transformation. Key aspects of change management include building alignment, enabling the organization to transform, managing the change process, and effective communication. Stages of change management include build, enable, manage, and communicate. Risks and mitigation strategies are also discussed.
2. Definition
Organizations are almost always in
a state of change, whether the
change is continuous or episodic.
The Change Management and
Communications Plan includes a
strategy and framework to
effectively engage stakeholders
and communicate changes
necessary across the
transformation areas to achieve the
desired results and sustain the
benefits of the effort.
As shown in figure above, the discipline of
organizational change management
(OCM) is intended to help move an
organization's people, processes, and
technology from the current "as is" state to
a desired future "to be" state. To ensure
effective, long-term, and sustainable
results, there must be a transition during
which the required changes are
introduced, tested, understood, and
accepted.
3. Objectives – 1/2
The goal of the change
management and communications
effort is to align executive
leadership and build commitment,
manage the changes, and enable
the organizational transformation
to support the complex process of
implementing the approved
recommendations in the Strategy &
Governance, Organization,
Sourcing, and Technology areas.
Achieving the change management
objectives helps the organization more
effectively implement the changes
necessary to realize the vision for the
transformation, achieve the desired
results, and realize the long-term
benefits of the new initiatives.
4. Objectives – 2/2
The objectives of organizational change management is to enable:
• Effective leadership and build and sustain ownership and foster effective
communication.
• Organization members and other stakeholders to adapt to the new vision, mission,
and systems.
• Identify sources of resistance to the changes and minimize resistance to them.
• Mitigate the tension and strain it creates so that it can evolve.
• Effectively transfer knowledge and skills that enable users to adopt the new vision,
mission, and systems and to identify and minimize sources of resistance.
5. Transformation Process
The three elements of
organizational transformation e.g.
People, Process and technology are
the key consideration to any
process success.
• People: Empowering people to
be successful with technology.
• Process: Enable organizational
excellence through the
adaptation of industry standard
processes.
• Technology: Get the right
technology to ensure business
continuity and spur innovation.
6. The Change Process
By defining and completing a change process, an organization can better define
and document the activities that must be managed during the transition phase.
Moving through these stages will help ensure effective, long-term, and
sustainable results. These stages unfold as an organization moves through the
transition phase in which the required transformational changes are introduced,
tested, understood, and accepted in a manner that enables individuals to let go of
their existing behaviors and attitudes and develop any new skills needed to
sustain desired business outcomes.
7. Change Management Activities
Change Management activities
enables leadership to gauge the
readiness, willingness, and ability
of organizations and employees
impacted by Procurement
Transformation to function in a
new environment.
In any enterprise transformation
effort, there are a number of
variables that exist simultaneously
and affect the acceptance of change
by an organization. These variables
range from Congressional
mandates to the organization's
culture and leadership to the
attitude and behavior of the
lowest-ranking employee.
8. Research
Studies have found that the lack of
effective OCM in an IT
modernization project leads to a
higher percentage of failure.
According to a Gartner survey on
"The User's View of Why IT
Projects Fail," the findings pinned
the failure in 31 percent of the
cases on an OCM deficiency. This
demonstrates the importance of
integrating OCM principles into
every aspect of an IT
modernization or business
transformation program.
“OCM deficiency
FAILS
31% of IT initiatives”
9. Stages of Change – 1/5
In order to maximize the goal of
OCM, organizations would require
to follow different stages of
effective alignments such as:
Build
Enable
Manage
Communicate
10. Stages of Change – 2/5
Build
Build Alignment and Leadership
Commitment - Support creating
leadership alignment allowing
program sponsors and leadership
to speak with a “single-voice”
regarding the ongoing
transformation effort.
11. Stages of Change – 3/5
Enable
Enable organization to transform -
change strategies assume that
change will occur if impacted units
and individuals modify their
perspective from old behavior
patterns in favor of new behaviors
and business/work practices.
Participative change typically
involves not just changes in
rationales for action, but changes
in the attitudes, values, skills, and
percepts of the organization.
12. Stages of Change – 4/5
Manage
Manage the change: Closely align
the change management effort
with program leadership to assist
in scheduling activities focused on
identifying challenges based on the
rate of change or the capacity for
the organization/individuals to
cope with the amount of change
13. Stages of Change – 5/5
Communicate
Manage the change: Closely align
the change management effort
with program leadership to assist
in scheduling activities focused on
identifying challenges based on the
rate of change or the capacity for
the organization/individuals to
cope with the amount of change
14. Managing Changes
• Use a change management interaction model to select multiple and appropriate
activities at any given point in time of the transformation
• Implement a Change Network as a way to formalize peer-to-peer information
sharing and support program communications, as well as, implement changes as
a result of process or technology initiatives
• Leverage various meetings and forums to share successes and leading practices,
prepare individuals for upcoming changes, encourage participation in change
efforts, and gauge adoption of and/or resistance to specific changes
• Use both Change Readiness Surveys compared to the results from the baseline
survey and other short readiness surveys to monitor watch areas, gauge readiness
for specific initiatives, and identify issues
15. Communication is the key
• Use a cascading communications approach to align messaging and leverage
existing communications vehicles/channels throughout the organization
• Implement an efficient process to review and approve all communications to
allow for timely information sharing and mitigate the potential for information
overload for employees involved
• Use a single Communications Tracker as the primary mechanism to schedule,
track, and de-conflict formal communications in order to logically leverage
multiple communications channels and minimize redundancy and information
overload for stakeholders
• View communications is an iterative process which must be continually
monitored using various feedback mechanisms to gauge the effectiveness of
messages
16. Communications Vehicles and Format
• Create website with standard program briefings
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and post links to related information, e.g.,
Administrative Code, pending legislation
• Create two standard communications vehicles—a Transformation Postcard and a
Transformation Update—to “push” information to targeted stakeholder groups
• Use formal memos from leadership for formal announcements, to establish
policy, and periodically provide updates on progress of the transformation and
supporting activities
• Use the official templates to create a program identity and support consistent
communications
18. Approaches
An Integrated Change Management and
Communication Approach effectively builds
stakeholder engagement by proactively executing
change activities and carefully managing
communications across a transformational project.
19. Gather input
• Input is gathered from available means to form the basis for the change
management and communications strategy.
• Stakeholder Map - Analysis to define stakeholders and their needs and concerns
relating to the program; identifies the level of impact the program will have on
the stakeholders and the key messages to address their needs.
• Change Readiness Survey Report - Highlights the degree of readiness measured
in six dimensions:
– Vision and Leadership
– Action and Alignment
– Adaptability and Change
– Involvement and Collaboration
– Training and Performance Management
– Communications
20. Develop Strategy
• Leading practice change management and communications practices adapted to
meet the needs of the transformation effort.
• Change Management Strategy - The Change Management Strategy outlines the
approach, guiding principles, and types of activities used to support the
transformation.
• Communications Strategy - The Communication Strategy outlines the approach
and communication principles used for planning communications
21. Plan
• The strategies are used to develop an integrated set of activities.
• Change Management Plan - The Change Management Plan is a living document
outlining recommended change management activities by timeframe, audience,
key drivers and outcomes, and recommended interventions.
• Communications Plan - The Plan is a living document outlining communications
activities by timeframe, audience, key messages, recommended vehicles, and
development/sender responsibilities.
22. Execute
• Activities are executed and the plans are updated based on feedback.
• Integrated Plan and Execution - The Change Management and Communications
Plans are integrated into an actionable plan which efficiently and effectively
implements the change management and communications strategies to support
the transformation.
23. Change Management Interaction Model – 1/2
The program team should
consistently anchor
communications, training,
and other activities to the
vision, goals, and context of
the overall transformation
initiatives and timelines to
reinforce the alignment of
the changes and support
individuals’ discovery of
“what’s in it for me?”
24. Change Management Interaction Model – 2/2
Instructor-Led
(Classroom)
Instructor-Led
(Virtual)
Web-Based
Job Aids
Specialized
Training
Manuals
Procedures
Swat Teams
Expert Coaching
All Hands Meetings
E-mail
Briefings
Website
List Serve
FAQs
Fact Sheets
Peers
Change agents
Team leads
25. OCM Risks – 1/2
• Resistance is a critical element of organizational change activities.
• Resistance may be a unifying organizational force that resolves the tension between
conflicts that are occurring as the result of organizational change.
• Emotional resistance occurs as the unit or individuals balance emotions during change.
• Emotions about change are entrenched in an organization's values, beliefs, and symbols of
culture.
• Emotional histories hinder change. Signals of emotional resistance include a low
emotional commitment to change leading to inertia or a high emotional commitment
leading to chaos.
26. OCM Risks – 2/2
• Behavior resistance is an integration of cognitive and emotional resistance that is
manifested by less visible and more covert actions toward the organizational change.
• Signals of behavioral resistance are the development of rumors and other informal or
routine forms of resistance by units or individuals.
• Business benefits are not well understood by whole organization.
• Inadequate communication to external stakeholders.
• Internal communications not delivered or inconsistently delivered by managers
• Written communications not read.
27. OCM Risk Mitigation – 1/2
• Accurate, truthful, and timely information replaces gossip and rumor and eases anxiety.
• Managers to assist in building and validating metrics for balanced scorecard reporting
• Identify key stakeholders and their particular concerns and needs.
• Determine the specific benefits (and pain points) of the project for each stakeholder group.
• Communicate early, often, and clearly. Tell stakeholders what is going on, tell them why,
tell them what they need to do, and specify the benefits for them.
• Resistance is often seen as a negative force during transformation projects. However,
properly understood, it is a positive and integrative force to be leveraged.
28. OCM Risk Mitigation – 2/2
• It is the catalyst for resolving the converging and diverging currents between change
leaders and respondents and creates agreement within an organizational system.
• Set up feedback mechanisms and solicit stakeholder input to continuously review and
improve the project.
• Understand how people may be disrupted and work to build support structure in advance
of disruptions; clearly communicate benefits of the change; engage steering committee
leadership to create incentives to change behaviors.
• Review all communications for clarity and consistency; ensure appropriate senders are
identified to ensure credibility of the communication; develop standard key messages and
talking points
29. References
• Burke, W., 2008, Organizational Change: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications, 2nd edition.
• Burke, W. and G. Litwin, 1992. "A Causal Model of Organizational Performance and Change," Journal of
Management, Vol. 18, No. 3.
• Flint, David, 2005, "The User's View of Why IT Projects Fail," Gartner Report.
• Kotter, John P., 1998, "Winning at Change," Leader to Leader, 10 (Fall 1998), 27–33.
• Lawson E. and C. Price, 2003, "The Psychology of Change Management," McKinsey Quarterly.
• Kelman, S., 2005, Unleashing Change: A Study of Organizational Renewal in Government, The Brookings Institute.
• Mergers and Transformations: Lessons Learned from DHS & Other Federal Agencies, November 2002, GAO-03-
293SP. http://www.gao.gov/assets/240/236371.pdf
• Ostroff, Frank, May 2006, "Change Management in Government," Harvard Business Review.
• Gartner's Business Analytics Framework http://www.gartner.com/imagesrv/summits/docs/na/business-
intelligence/gartners_business_analytics__219420.pdf
• Pictures are from Google and graphs designed by me.