Perfecting Change Management

Efforts to change how a vital process works in business often fail — whether due to project mismanagement, miscommunication, too few resources, a reordering of priorities. But the key factor may be a lack of expertise in change management, according to Forrester analyst Connie Moore, who writes on the topic in, “Peer Practices: An Interview With A Business Change Management Practitioner.”

Whether we’re talking about how to reduce the number of days in the accounts receivable process or the process for keeping servers patched, according to Moore, process projects can be sabotaged from within. Workers fear loss of their jobs, having to learn new skills and/or working with new systems. Managers fear losing their power, control and authority.

So what can we web workers — who thrive on new ways of doing our jobs — do to help our companies and colleagues through the hiccups of change?


Moore shares best practices offered by a long-time organization change management expert Carol Fletcher. (Although the guidelines are hers, the interpretations are mine.)

Make it easy for workers to describe the current business process. Don’t assume that because you live online, everybody else does too. Your efforts to create the perfect browser-based application to capture the details of a process in its present state is probably misplaced energy. Likewise, forget about remote whiteboarding unless you know the group you’re working with has ample experience in using the technology. Instead, figure out how you can get complete descriptions of the process through plain ol’ in-person conversation and note-taking.

Tackle the existing process through interviews, modeling and quick wins. Sometimes, those of us who work remotely try to squeeze everything we can into our on-office visits. If you’re in charge of a project that involves corporate change and you’ve scheduled an office visit to perform the aforementioned in-person work, don’t expect to get everything you need in a single session. Moore and Fletcher advise keeping as-is-process interviews separate from the to-be interviews, whether by a day or a week or longer.

It’s possible that the practice of describing a process as it currently runs may help those who do it see where weaknesses are. If so, use those for quick wins — improvements that can be made to the process without the intervention of technology changes. Besides, getting participants engaged in the fix can help them emotionally and mentally prepare for the overall transition.

After the talking has stopped, consider using online process mapping services like Lombardi Blueprint or Appian Anywhere to show co-workers what their current process looks like conceptually and in detail. This can also nudge them into identifying obvious rapid fixes.

Think creatively and iteratively about the new process. We’re talking about thinking people following business processes. Get them to be creative in how the process is done. Here, your comfort with web tools can come in handy — you may be able to introduce new widgets to speed up the process.

Also, use an iterative approach in implementing and introducing changes — with weekly talks among participants about the changes. This allows them gradually to release the “old ways” and adopt the new.

Weed out non-issues. Writes Moore, “Managers or colleagues may think certain individuals need to sit near them, or they feel the need to actually see what other employees are doing.” We know otherwise. “Sometimes this is a trust issue,” she says, “but in other situations they haven’t thought about alternative approaches for staying informed, such as getting an email notification instead of a verbal or visual confirmation.” Hardly revolutionary, but when you’re dealing with Web 1.0 mindsets, take what you can get.

Watch for hidden issues that impair change management progress. These include generational issues: Millennials might resist training and be overly-confident in their abilities to understand the new system, whereas baby boomers might embrace training and become masters over time of new technology. Another issue may revolve around terminology differences, where, for instance, the term “customer” might refer to end users, alliance partners or some other entity that also buys from the business. Use the change management discovery process to flush out these differences.

What change management techniques do you apply to the processes your company relies on?

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