Chapter 2. Establishing the Framework for Change

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Apply two different frameworks to your Change Management program

• Make a plan to work with other teams and departments in your organization

• Develop a high-level organizational design strategy

We could spend days talking about Change Management and still not have time to cover every topic in detail. In this chapter, we'll look at three strategic areas of Change Management. For each area, we will cover the main concepts that you should keep in mind throughout your project to ensure that they form an integral part of your Change Management program.

As you read through the rest of the chapters in this book, keep these ideas in mind and apply them to each of the exercises.

Remembering the emotional side of change

Over the years, Change Management developed a reputation of being "fluffy". Many technical and business people thought of Change Management as being all about rainbows and unicorns, holding hands, and singing happy songs.

In an effort to combat this perspective, the process of Change Management became more organized. Consulting firms developed methodologies, processes, and tools. Companies conducted research about the importance of Change Management to achieve project success. New organizations were formed that provided Change Management training and certifications.

All of these activities greatly improved the reputation of Change Management and added rigor and credibility to the profession. Along the way though, many people lost sight of the fact that at its core, Change Management is all about people and people aren't just intellectual beings. They're emotional, as well. Therefore, a well-rounded Change Management program must focus on the emotional...

Integrating beyond your project team

Just as the Change Management team is not a silo and must integrate with the other project teams, it's important to remember that your project is not a silo and must integrate with other teams and departments across your organization. While it might be tempting to charge full steam ahead with absolute focus on the change you are trying to implement, you will have much greater success if you keep in mind the needs of other teams and work together to find mutually beneficial solutions to cross-team issues.

Note

Tip

The exact teams and departments you need to integrate with will change depending on your organization's structure and the change you are implementing.

As a starting point, we'll look at three groups that you are likely to need to work with throughout the project.

Corporate Communications

If your organization has a Corporate Communications team; be sure to talk to them early and often. First, they can provide valuable insight into the organization...

Organization design

As mentioned in Chapter 1, What is Change Management?, organization design focuses on how the structure of your organization needs to adapt to support the change you are implementing.

Organization design is unique among the Pillars of Change because many organizations wait until after the change has been implemented to address it. The problem with this approach is that by the time the project is complete, the team is often disbanded before they are able to come back and address this topic.

I strongly recommend that you incorporate organization design into your project. To get you started, we will walk through a number of extremely important concepts that you should keep in mind throughout your project. We will look at these ideas now so you can think about how to apply them to your change program as you read the rest of the chapters.

By thinking through the following questions, you will be able to develop a high-level organization design strategy that will address the basic...

Who is your Human Resources partner?

Before you do any organization design work, it is important that you know who your Human Resources partner is. Depending on how your organization is structured, you may have one Human Resources partner who will work with all impacted stakeholders, or you may have multiple Human Resources and business partners who support the various business units.

There are a lot of rules and regulations when it comes to employment, and if you're not familiar with them, it's easy to make mistakes. Become friends with your HR partner and talk to them often. If your project doesn't have a HR partner, arrange for one before you read any of the other questions in this section.

My Human Resources partner is: _________________________________________________

Are job descriptions going to change?

There are two kinds of job descriptions you need to think about: descriptions of new jobs you are in the process of hiring for, and descriptions of existing jobs. If you have open job postings that need to be filled, it's a good idea to review them. Will the description of the job still be accurate once the change is implemented? Do you need to change the job description to ensure you are attracting applicants with the skills required to work in the new organization, rather than the old one? Updating job descriptions for positions you are in the process of filling helps you build an organization with the skill sets necessary to successfully adopt the change.

You also need to think about the job descriptions of people who are currently in the organization. The greater the change you are implementing, the more likely it is that peoples' jobs will change. In the example of our case study, implementing a new purchasing system is likely to change the jobs...

Exercise – updating job descriptions

Think about the change you are implementing. Are there any jobs in your organization that will change significantly as a result? List these jobs in the following chart. Explain what activities they are doing today, versus the activities they will be responsible for in the future.

Keep in mind that this should be an ongoing exercise. As you get further in the project, you may discover new jobs that are impacted by the change. Continue to add them to the chart and discuss them with your HR partner:

Job title	Current activities	Future activities

Sample solution

Do you have the right number of people with the skills of the future?

As you look at how the change will impact the business, ask yourself if you have enough people to do the work. Although changes such as new technology and improved business processes are typically designed to make processes more efficient and reduce work, this isn't always the actual outcome. Sometimes the amount of work increases, or steps are added that make an activity take longer. At times, responsibilities are shifted from one department to another, increasing one team's workload.

In these situations, you need to think about whether you need to hire more people to compensate for the additional work. When you decide to hire additional people, remember to hire for the skills they will need after the change is implemented, not the skills people need to do the job today.

It is also possible that entirely new sets of activities will need to be completed as a result of the change. In this situation, you may not have anyone...

How will your run team be structured?

While you are implementing the project, you will have a project team that is responsible for planning, developing, and rolling out the change. What happens when the project is over? Who becomes the ongoing owner of the new processes and tools?

The ongoing owner is known as your run team, and the earlier you begin planning for this team, the better. If you're implementing a new computer system, your run team will be responsible for things such as system maintenance, deciding when to put in place upgrades, and reviewing the need for customizations as the organization's needs change. The run team can also be responsible for non-technical activities such as updating business processes, standard operating procedures, and training documentation if the system changes. Other responsibilities might include maintaining ongoing relations with the software vendor and regulating system access and security.

You may choose to build your run team from existing employees...

What will your support organization look like?

Your support organization is responsible for handling ongoing questions, comments, and concerns from the organization. These responsibilities might be handled by your run team, your IT team, or a dedicated help desk. As with the run team, it is important to identify the members of this team early in the project so that they can be involved from the initial phases and learn about the new tools and processes as they are developed.

Exercise – designing your ideal organization

Consider everything we discussed in the organization design section. With that in mind, if you could work with the business to create the ideal organization to provide ongoing support for the change, what would it look like?

Start by drawing the current organization structure. Next, draw the ideal new organization structure.

Note

Make a note

If you're doing this at the office, I recommend that you don't put people's actual names on the charts. Use the following headings for this...

Summary

In this chapter, we covered three main strategic areas that you should keep in mind throughout your project: Change Management frameworks, integrating with other teams, and organization design. By applying these concepts to your Change Management program, you will improve your ability to successfully implement the change.

Keep these checklists somewhere visible to remind yourself of the key activities and questions for each area.

Change Management frameworks: Have you remembered to use data and facts to appeal to your stakeholders' intellectual side? Give their rider motivation to exert the will power necessary to adopt the change.

• Use visual demonstrations to appeal to your stakeholders' emotional side? Give their rider a break from exercising their will power by directly motivating their elephant.

• Smooth the path? Remove obstacles that make it difficult to adopt the change, and put in place incentives that make the adoption of change easier.

Integrating with other teams: Have you...

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Authors (1)

Emily Carr

Emily Carr has been working as a Change Management consultant for over a decade. As a consultant, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies to develop and execute successful Change Management, communications, and training programs for large-scale business and IT projects. These programs have had global reach across the United States, Australia, India, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Emily is also the author of the popular Change Management blog, Practical Change Management.

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Job title	Current activities	Future activities
Purchaser	Purchasers are currently responsible for receiving purchasing requests from everyone in the organization, then buying the requested goods. They then log the information about the purchase into UBuy.	Their job will become more strategic. Purchasers will no longer buy items for other people in We Shop. Instead, they will negotiate payment schedules and bulk purchasing discounts. They will compare vendor prices and select the best vendors to include in We Shop.
IT Analyst	IT Analysts were responsible for maintaining UBuy and making customizations to the software based on requests from other departments.	IT Analysts will still be responsible for maintaining We Shop, but they will no longer make on-demand customizations. They will now focus more time on end user support.
All positions	Currently, when people want to buy something, they submit a request to the Purchasing department and wait for their items to arrive...

Do you have the right number of people with the skills of the future?

As you look at how the change will impact the business, ask yourself if you have enough people to do the work. Although changes such as new technology and improved business processes are typically designed to make processes more efficient and reduce work, this isn't always the actual outcome. Sometimes the amount of work increases, or steps are added that make an activity take longer. At times, responsibilities are shifted from one department to another, increasing one team's workload.

In these situations, you need to think about whether you need to hire more people to compensate for the additional work. When you decide to hire additional people, remember to hire for the skills they will need after the change is implemented, not the skills people need to do the job today.

It is also possible that entirely new sets of activities will need to be completed as a result of the change. In this situation, you may not have anyone...

How will your run team be structured?

While you are implementing the project, you will have a project team that is responsible for planning, developing, and rolling out the change. What happens when the project is over? Who becomes the ongoing owner of the new processes and tools?

The ongoing owner is known as your run team, and the earlier you begin planning for this team, the better. If you're implementing a new computer system, your run team will be responsible for things such as system maintenance, deciding when to put in place upgrades, and reviewing the need for customizations as the organization's needs change. The run team can also be responsible for non-technical activities such as updating business processes, standard operating procedures, and training documentation if the system changes. Other responsibilities might include maintaining ongoing relations with the software vendor and regulating system access and security.

You may choose to build your run team from existing employees...

What will your support organization look like?

Your support organization is responsible for handling ongoing questions, comments, and concerns from the organization. These responsibilities might be handled by your run team, your IT team, or a dedicated help desk. As with the run team, it is important to identify the members of this team early in the project so that they can be involved from the initial phases and learn about the new tools and processes as they are developed.

Exercise – designing your ideal organization

Consider everything we discussed in the organization design section. With that in mind, if you could work with the business to create the ideal organization to provide ongoing support for the change, what would it look like?

Start by drawing the current organization structure. Next, draw the ideal new organization structure.

Note

Make a note

If you're doing this at the office, I recommend that you don't put people's actual names on the charts. Use the following headings for this...

Summary

In this chapter, we covered three main strategic areas that you should keep in mind throughout your project: Change Management frameworks, integrating with other teams, and organization design. By applying these concepts to your Change Management program, you will improve your ability to successfully implement the change.

Keep these checklists somewhere visible to remind yourself of the key activities and questions for each area.

Change Management frameworks: Have you remembered to use data and facts to appeal to your stakeholders' intellectual side? Give their rider motivation to exert the will power necessary to adopt the change.

• Use visual demonstrations to appeal to your stakeholders' emotional side? Give their rider a break from exercising their will power by directly motivating their elephant.

• Smooth the path? Remove obstacles that make it difficult to adopt the change, and put in place incentives that make the adoption of change easier.

Integrating with other teams: Have you...