Managing Change

Make plans

Planning can seem overwhelming when you start with a blank sheet of paper, but a plan doesn’t need to be fancy – it’s just a list of the things you need to do to get your business from where you are now, to where you need to be.  Think about activities such as preparing the server for installation; data preparation; training; roll-out to operations/business as usual (BAU); then think about who needs to do them and when.  The ‘when’ might be key in terms of balancing it with business as usual work, but you will have to dedicate the time if you want the benefits of your new system.  Be realistic about what can be achieved – you want to make changes without dragging it out, but plan to move too quickly and you’ll be demotivated when you don’t keep up that pace

An essential part of any implementation is letting everyone in the business know what’s happening, when it’s happening, what to expect and what part they need to play. 
•At the start you need to be clear about your business case – so why you’ve chosen CCH and the benefits this will bring to your organisation.  You need to set expectations and create alignment with your vision for the business changes 
•During the implementation, it’s all about progress updates and keeping everyone engaged with the activity and what you need from them.  Recognise and call out where things are going well and where you need to adapt – have a plan to communicate weekly, bi-weekly etc and keep to it
•Once your implementation is complete, it’s about celebrating your success, acknowledging the great effort from everyone involved and driving forwards in the new world.

Here is an example of a  communication plan for you to use.

The drive for activity will come from the top down but to make this business change a success, you’ll need to have buy-in at all levels.  The decisions might well be made by the leaders within the business, but it’s the people who use it everyday who will ultimately make it work so you’ll need them fully on board.  For example, including relevant people in decision-making about processes and the way things work in the future, will ease the transition to the new world.  Your people will be much more engaged with the change if they feel they were involved and they’ve contributed to shaping it.

More so now than ever, our market and the way we do business is evolving and your business needs to adapt in order to survive. Successfully making changes in a business is about culture and behaviour, not so much about the processes or technology – you need to align beliefs and share a common vision.

Gently introduce the idea that your business will continue to evolve – and that you’ll need to adopt a culture that is ready for and embraces change.  Your people will cope with change at different paces and using tools like our Change Curve below will assist leaders with conversations to find out how people are adapting to the change.  Where they are on the change curve will determine the conversations you need to have with them and how they will interact with and impact colleagues.  It's really important to understand how well your people are embracing the business change and adapt your interactions with them accordingly.  In using this as a tool to discuss how everyone feels about change, both leaders and their teams can recognise where they are and where colleagues might be at a different point on the curve.

People fear change, even small changes, because the new world is unknown and they feel out of control, which can lead to a whole raft of negative feelings.  Help people to understand more clearly how they’ll be impacted, what the change will look like for them and to discuss how they feel so that you can support them and they can assimilate and adapt.

It’s highly likely that you’ll be asking for extra effort from your existing team alongside business-as-usual to implement your new system.  Help your people to see it as an opportunity to work closely with their colleagues and gain experience in implementations / data cleansing / process mapping etc, rather than as a negative experience with an increased workload.  To balance the unavoidable increase in workload, you can boost morale and willingness through recognition and appreciation, celebrating successes and then rewarding with a team lunch, an early finish or something similar at the end of the implementation.