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| Change management – making transformation happen |
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| Written by Jason Kiely | |
| Tuesday, 19 February 2008 | |
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Change management, a highly under-rated and often neglected part of a project or programme for implementing ERP technology. This blog will look at why the activities of change management are often ignored, and what the term “change management” means in the context of an organisation moving forward through the acquisition of new ERP technology. Change management is common sense. Words used all too often whilst removing the services and associated costs of change management activities at the first opportunity in a Technology procurement process. The cost to the project of these services is often at a premium and the consulting skills required to successfully complete objectives certainly not a commodity. Therefore the overall estimate for a project is considerably reduced by the removal, something which often helps with the procurement process and getting the 'project through.' A tactic often employed and one which can prove ultimately to be very much a false economy. However this attitude to such consulting services stems fundamentally from a lack of project experience and/or ignorance of the value that they can bring. It is fair to say that on many occasions consulting organisations can be slightly over eager in providing services in this area and lack the ability to really deliver the value that is required to provide justification for the outlay. And as such an unfortunate result is that cynical views, experiences and opinions can be formed on the client side of such activities and services. Despite the sometimes poor practice by consulting organisations, one of the most frequent comments we experience from clients post implementation is that they wish more account had been taken of the change management activities. Rather than just concentrating all efforts on the technical activities to help their projects achieve success. The Right Approach to Transformation – The Right Mindset for a ProjectTransformation means to change from one state to another. In transforming an organisation in some way a number of activities will have to be undertaken, this can be labelled change management activities. Taking the right approach or 'mindset' (of which change management is a part) is increasingly seen as important in successful implementation projects. In the case of a Technology project, adopting a project mind set, essentially the principles and approach of best practice project management; surprisingly a basic starting point to a project that is quite often lacking. Further mindsets to think about are: Contingent thinking and Systems mindset. Contingent Mindset is about thinking of every organisation as unique – simply applying best practice principles is not enough to achieve success in all cases. A Systems mindset is thinking about the way we bring about change in an organisation with a strong focus on the initial stakeholder management. Stakeholder management essentially means the engagement with the appropriate people in the organisation to move the project forward. More information can be found on this subject area in Reddington, Transforming HR : Creating Value Through People. The acknowledgement that such mindsets are important is very important in making transformation and associated change activities work. Essentially good project management is required, taking a bog standard best practice approach won’t necessarily fit your organisation and that there are clear and key steps to be taken in how to bring about change in any organisation. Once this benchmark of acknowledgement and understanding has been reached it is highly unlikely that change management activities will be ignored as part of the overall implementation of the technical solution. The next level down to understand is the activities and deliverables associated with the actual of provision of change management. If clients can and are able to understand in advance what these activities should be delivering they will be able to have the insight to maximise value and benefit. Key change management activities will of course vary from client to client. But as a standard several clear areas emerge. Change Management Activities
Communication StrategyEstablishing a multi-level communication strategy for your project will help achieve greater levels of success on a technology based project. Again this is the case primarily because of the number of groups in the organisation that you will be affecting. And the engagement and levels of co-operation that is required to make the delivery of technology successful. Benefits & MeasurementThe early identification of benefits for the purpose of justifying the project is required in the early stages of the project. However it is important that the benefits of implementing the chosen technology are not just 'identified' at this early point. It is important that benefits are driven through, being properly measured and base-lined in order that progressive benefits realisation can occur post implementation and benefits can be proved on a statistical basis. Training and EducationAn important distinction exist between training and education. On point training is clearly an important part of a project. However it is the plan regards the ongoing education of those involved that is the most critical. A training programme will ensure that people and user communities can use the solution. An education plan will ensure that those people and user communities continue to use the solution in the most effective and efficient way over time. Support StrategyCoupled with the training and education plan. The Support strategy should be designed to keep the solution technically up to date. To make sure the data is usable, the most appropriate technology is being used. And also of course to ensure the users are continuing to be users in an effective way. In all projects the initial go-live solution will inevitably need some changes or tweaks. The support strategy should be moving forward these changes to ensure that the solution over a period of time not only remains relevant but also usable. To Summarise
All sound like common sense and very pragmatic things to do to progress your project. However often activities such as these are underestimated on a project or re-directed from the external consulting organisation to internal resources that never quite manage to appear. It is very important that this does not happen. Unlike the objective element of Technology, Change Management activities within a Transformation project very much involves the more subjective element of a project, i.e. people and the decisions they make. What can Bluefin do?Please contact Bluefin regards gaining advice and assistance in the delivery of ERP projects. Bluefin acknowledge the importance of both the technical solution and the business requirements of projects to ensure greater success. Reference:
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