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Don't Forget about Change Management
By Amber Harrison
nly the foolhardy, heedless of their own peril, fail to marry U'thnologicol advances wilh cultiinil change. Pretty much anyone who has spent time in a modern enterprise can think of one or two major initiatives that struck cmt because the imjilementers failed to capture tlie hearts and minds of key stakeholders. In today's business climate, almost every organization pays at least lip service to governance, risk and compliance management. The companies tliat care, usLidlly the best-run enterprises, are taking it to the next level and reviewing their compliance obligations. Part of the review process involves formalizing their approach to compliance with the assistance of computer systems that ensure an organization can easily report on compliance or prove it to an audilor, I lowever, all too often what is overlooked when these projects are being planned and implemented is the people aspect. Many projects fail because they only gather support from senior management who sign the purchase agreement but don't actually use the technology. Technology introductions succeed or fail based on how effective the organization is at getting the end users to change their way of working and how the organization supports that way of working. Policies and procedures can be set up with compliance, human resources and other related departments, which then turn to software systems to support and monitor the resultant compliance program, but the human element is ever present, Ifyou don't have senior management and the end users buying into the new program, the projert ultimately will not be a success. To Iruiy embed a new
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way of working and realize your planned benefits, you will at a minimum have to tweak the organizational culture and at worst change it entirely This is where change management comes in. Change management works in conjunction witli tlie otlier elements of any project, whether it be implementing a new technology or new ways of working due to a diange in legislation, etc. By undertaking a structured approach to change management, you are ensuring that it is planned, managed, reinforced and, above all, focused on delivering sustained business benefits. Like most disciplines that involve human beings, change management is not an exact science; rathei: it is an art form. There are recognized principles for introducing change, but the application of those
principles depends on the situation. A brief list of tiie general guidelines for a successful change management program includes: ' Developing the vision and the case for change. ' Reviewing and rapturing how this change contributes to the business's strategies, goals and their measures, and the ongoing imperatives in "business as usual" to ensure competitive advantage' Knowing and managing your stakeholders. ' Managing communication - message management and refinement, channel management and feedback loops, • Reviewing organizational design and ailture against new requirements and refining accordingly ' Reviewing people performance sysReview I February 2008 19
tems, reward and recognition, recruitment and induction, retention and succession planning against new requirements and refining accordingly, focusing on h o w to reward new behaviors, • Identifying and developing change leaders, ' Reviewing current and fliture learning and devdopment needs. From a strategic level, any change strategy should align witii the business goals and project objectives- All streams of work on the project should work to deliver or support the delivery of the same vision/target state and associated set of benefits. One trick that works well is to list the planned benefits in tabular form, with an owner allocated to each benefit, as an appendix in all key project documentafion. The author is required to capture how the content of the document, whether it was a strategy or a plan or a requirements document, contributes to the achievement of each individual benefit. This allows the advantage of reviewing the direction of the project at logical intervals and o f also ensuring the whole project team is very familiar with the planned benefits and vision. On a tactical level, to support good project management, the activities to be lompletcd by the change management team should be broken down to align logically with the exisfing project workbreakdown structure. The team should include all relevant business functions so it encompasses all areas it needs to. Treat change management like any other stream of the project. Have defined deliverables, and dear actions and timelines.
the stated targets every financial organization will have, i.e., 'As an organization we are compliant with the requirements of Basel 11" or, "Our know-your-customer [KYCl initiative will meet our KYC requirements and deliver streamlined customer management processes, resulting in higher qualit\' customer data and better customer experiences," Note: While one-line statements can be very powerful, you need to make your case for change as compelling as possible by providing the background and rafionale for why things need to change, Somefimes this takes more than a few sentences. The use of real-life scenarios, expected behaviors and example benefits/consequences here are essential to help staff begin to build their own understanding of what the vision will look and fed iike and what it will mean for them. These scenarios can also be tailored to different roles and different levels within the organizafion. Step 2 - Vision: Plan how you will approach the diange. To ensure change management is properly embedded in the project scope, it must be done as part of the overall planning stage for the project. You need to develop a good understanding of what is going to need to change as a result of the project and communicate this early, consistently and in a manner that supports ever)' small increment of improvement as the change occurs. Take a step back, review the objective of the project and develop a strategy/approach for managing the change.s that need to occur to mee! the objective and maintain the target state, i.e., what needs to be done to make the change stick. Once developed, your vision tor change and your change strategy/ approach should be presented to and endorsed by the project board/steering committee. You will be using all of the tools in your change toolkit, and the project board/steering committee is one of them. It is vital to communicate what needs to be done, w h y it needs to be done and to get a steering committee's support and input early on in the process. Step 3 - P l a n : Develop your change (action) plan. As before, this should be aligned with other project activities that will be happening in parallel, and the development of your change (action) plan fits in neatly with and will be infiuenced by the requirements and analysis stage of most projects. By working closely with your project team members, you are building up a more detailed picture of the new way of working after
the project is live, i,e., h o w the new IT solution will work, or how the new legislation has been interpreted and what new processes are required to support its application. You are getting into the real detail behind what needs to change fo bring your current situation - the "as is" lo Ihe new target state, the "to be." Things to think about include: • What target behaviors do you need to develop and reward? t What job cJescripfions will be impacted? • Which organizational struttiires need to be reviewed to leverage the new technology or the operational policies? All of these actions will combine and contribute to building the organizational culture you want, i,e.. one where the people, the processes, the organization and the supporting technology all contribute toward compliance. Getting the end result you desire is a real challenge, and depending on the impact ol the change you are introducing, you may encounter a wide variety of behaviors and unanticipated reactions. These may range from people not attending communications sessions to senior managers not rdeasing staff to participate in project-related meefings. This is when you will need to do two key things: First, review your chaiuje action plan. There is a world of difference between merely introducing a diange plan and ensuring that a successful diange plan takes root. The devil is not in the details: it's in the execution. You absolutely must review your plan and its individual components at regular points during tlie project and also at the end of the project. Projects can resemble organic creatures at times and, like unruly teenagers, change over fime, particularly in reaction to stimuli. Just like reviewing a policy or a procedure, each thread o f your change managemeni strategy and all the actions outlined in your c'hange management plan should be monitored, reviewed for effecfiveness, refined or updated as required and certainly evaluated upon completion. If you are encountering resistance from management, look at your stakehdlder management plan. Ask the following questions: Was the senior manager in question informed about the project? Did your sponsor actually speak to the manager in question as she had promised? Was your sponsor dear on the message she was lo provide? Breaking through resistance is key You encounter resistance to change for HARRISON continued on page 33 www,dm review, com
Your Change Management Program
SIfp 1 - DtKiimcntdtion: Review tiie benefits outlined in the business case to the business goals defined in the organization's strategic documentation. You had a business case and benefits in mind when you decided to institute change; now you need to think about how you want to articulate that vision. Not every organizafion will go through the process of developing a formal business case, but every organization should capture the rationale, drivers and benefits for a project in a form in which the benefits of tlie change are defined against the business goals and their measures. Review tliose benefits, business goals and measures, and buiid your vision for the change. This should align with and support 20 February 2008 I DM Review
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leaps. Start at a reasonable level by selecting a manageable project and grow the effort based on success. Limit the initial customizations and the complexity leveL Find the right mix of team members lo maximize rdevcint business biowledge while stOl maintiiining development agility. In this way, early projects can act as best practices templates for later and larger implementations. Keeping tilings relatively simple tor the first process is atlLially tlie fastest way to achieve your ultimate goal of complete endto-end processes management. The diaracteristic~s of an initial BPM project should include areas of medium-to-higli business value combined witii low process complexity Good starting points are typically human-intensive, long-mnning tasks with many manual handoffs. For example, loan approval. steps, new product development and compliance processes are often good
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candidates for your first BPM process. To maximize retum, choose processes or business areas that have high visibility within the organization - customer-facing and/or sales-related processes are best Even though you start small, keep a larger vision in mind Irom tlie get-go. Consider how discrete pilot projects will fit into a larger framework. Make sure that early design and architecture decisions are scalable and robust, becouse tlie fact is llial large gains are realized tlirougli crossdepartmental and corporate-wide process improvement. Taking this approach will quickly prove the incremental value of BPM, which in turn will lead to the creation of BPM diampions witliin the oi^ganization who are eager to see larger-scale, truly ti'ansformative solutions. Business managers today are often nol armed with the same visibility and control sports managers use to gain competitive
advantage. Vital decisions about corporate objectives and how to reach them are made - and then execiitives sit back ajid wait to see if tilings work out as planned. BPM changes tlie game for business performance through process innovation, creating a process-managed enterprise that is able to respond to changing market, customer and regulatory demands faster than its competitors. In business, just as in sports, speed, agility and teamwork arc what counts. 0
KcjerciKts. 1. Pfi'ry Donlum. "Aligning IT ID Business I'rottsses: How BPM is ctimplemenlinj^ F.RP and Custom Applicalions: Aberdeen Gniup, M^y 2007. 2 JiincOe B. Hill, Mark Rdskino dnd Michael Idmes MeJeriovsky. "Predictions 2007: Inttrnal Stalls Arc Inadi-quiite for BPM Maturity," Gartner, Inc., November 2006. Micbaei BfrWff is lUi joiinder oj Appiaii. InJrmtlotjf ojjiier aitil ii loHe may be reached al
iii.iny rcdsoiLs: people may be too busy to attend sessions, proper track. Good, well-run companies recognize that change managemeetings were scheduled at short notice or maybe email is ment is a constant driving force for \he betterment of tlie organization. 0 not the best way to communicate with certain groups, You AmbiT lltinhiH! is a smiiir jinijcd miiimtfa- williii} Ql 'MAS pivjcssional ^en' should try to remember that behind every behavior is a good intention. Second, get malive. One consultant was having difficulty getting input from her end users who were busy consultants working in A hospital. Without their input, they couldn't proceed, so she got creative. Slie baked cookie^ at home in the evenings and spent her mornings in .i number of break rooms scattered throughout the hospital. While you probably won't llnd that approach in any change management Icxtbook, she got tlie input she AddressObject API needed and was able to move on with the project. At every opportunity, communicate. For change to be Prevent errors before they occur to effective, everyone needs to be Involved. It may seem ensure the integrity of your database. excessive for some, not enough for others