Luncheon Meeting Notes: July 28, 2009

Meeting Recap:

12 attendees. Agreed to slightly modify format for August meeting to include a “report back” component to the discussion process. One topic per team, with time allowed for sharing results with larger group. Additional topics suggested for future sessions. Catherine Angus offered to submit a proposal for a change management simulation event to gauge member interest. Next meeting: August 25 @ Centini’s.

Discussion Topics:

Topic #1 Leader Alignment: What are some change techniques to effectively engage with middle management?

· Pitfalls of an executive-only change leadership strategy:

o Middle management expects to be consulted with vs. merely included in “all employees” messaging

o Strong pull to have middle managers own and explain the change to affected staff

· Cascading leader alignment:

o Leaders onboard / engage / dialog with next level down (need facilitation help at times)

o Opportunity to improve / enhance / make the change more real at all levels of the organization

o Credibility of middle managers vs. C-level leaders enhanced (closer to the workforce)

· How to ensure middle managers buy-in / “walk the talk”?

o Educate leaders on criticality of modeling desired change behaviours

o Executive coaching opportunity for change practitioners

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· Biggest challenge is getting execs to be drivers of change

o Very busy (middle managers also)

o Bring them in early

· LISTEN and act on what they say

· Spend time with them (may have to invent forums to get them to come together)

o Technique depends on type of change (i.e. merger vs. application change)

· Paint a realistic picture for them:

o Give examples

o Draw the future

o WIIFM

o Test your understanding: WIIFM with them first

· Cull the naysayers early – coach, or…

· Get them to articulate the benefits of change – Appreciative Inquiry

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· Key communicator councils – mix of group to champion

· Understand the impact to the middle manager

· Honest answers to pointed questions (one-on-ones)

· Leader alignment could assist here

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· Middle managers’ bosses need to be on board

· Keep managers engaged with regular “lite” reporting

· Expectation management

· Consistently / regularly communicate the value proposition

· Show how initiative will solve problems

· Get right people together @ right time with right information (NOT TOO MUCH!)

Topic #2 Measurement: How can we assess change management effectiveness, including key metrics and reporting?

· Pre/Post employee surveys - Staff retention; turnover

· Focus groups (sometimes you want people to leave…)

· Focus on the drivers for the business change

· Often there is no baseline

· What are the industry metrics / benchmarks?

· Measure via communication vehicles – portal

o Survey Monkey / Zoomerang

· Solicit feedback at department meetings

· Time to Performance: ramp-up time for new hires vs. existing personnel

· Start with audience identification

· Rework and error rates

· Uptake of new technologies

· Application of training knowledge

· Check whether people “got” the message communicated

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· Use technology: keystroke counter

· Ensure baseline is taken prior to impact

· “Be careful what your measure” - quality is not always measured as improvement

· Timing is important – reflect the change curve

· Change Management success is not often included in project measures

· Project & Business both need to sign off on change

· Both qualitative and quantitative

· Change can be “good” and successful or “bad” and successful

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· Prior to measurement, need to work with business customers to define what the measurements are, directly linked to business outcomes

· Metric measurement should be incremental, showing progress towards the target and reporting this broadly

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· Business benefits – articulated in business case / project charter

o Hard metrics ($ savings, operational metrics OK)

o Soft metrics (Perceptions, Attitudes, Behaviours)

o Productivity improvement tougher to measure – consider asking those affected if the change made their work easier

o Learning – Ideas: Requests for support (Help Desk, super user feedback, web hits against toolkits

Topic #3 Development: How can we focus on development of the change management function (barriers, org support, etc.)?

· Suggest separate but equal to the PMO

· Understanding within the organization of the value of the process

· Buy-in at the executive level

· To develop within, you need CM skill set

· Demonstrate value – ROI

· Choose first initiative to set up for success

· Barriers to acceptance could be quantifiable results or measurement

· Barrier to implementation if it isn’t consistently applied

· Org support for a defined formal role & responsibilities and support for a defined process

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· Link to business results

· Make it measurable – need to establish agreement on metrics

· Need to establish clarity in functional skills in order to ensure delivery of expected service

· Link metrics to compensation of change initiative sponsors

· Barrier exists where PM feels threatened by CM resource, which can result in minimizing the effectiveness of the CM function

· Need relationships / trust with “consumers of CM”

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· Clear vision of what CM is…

o Components: Leader Alignment (Sponsorship) and Culture, Communications, Learning, Business Readiness (Metrics + Sustainability)

o Leader Role: Vision, expectation setting, performance monitoring / Rewards & consequences

· CM Function Components:

o Staffing: Right people, potential for growth, flexibility, cross-functional or leadership development assignments

o Methodology: Developed internally (organic) vs. purchased (external) or some hybrid of both

o Rules of Engagement: When / how to deploy people and methodology (i.e. formal vs. informal CM)

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· Risk: Being embedded in an IT project -> not an IT function

· Need perception that this is a professionally skilled role

· Requires enthusiasm – sometimes need a recharge to keep going

Topic #4 Staffing: For organizations wishing to staff devoted CM positions, what are some sizing guidelines to follow?

· Dependency of project size / project volume

· Need to forecast demand to meet requirements

· Need to look @ ROR on projects to industry headcount

· Concern RE: scalability when projects ebb and flow

· Value proposition of services provided

· Link sizing guidelines to org. vision

· Considerations for sizing can depend on the objective of the dept. to deliver robust program in-house vs. advisory services

· Will customers of CM want to be involved?

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· Sometimes initial event / project driven (SAP, etc.)

o Depends on where work is situated (e.g. IT vs. HR)

· Balance between internal / base load work plus supplemental external staffing for peaks

o Plus external resources bring new ideas, if mindful of existing CM framework

· Where Business Partner role exists, CM can support the organization through them (and staff as a multiple or percentage of the BP levels)

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· May depend on the CM process / methodology / philosophy subscribed to (may drive resourcing)

· How static is employee population? Is a portion always in transition? What is employee receptiveness to CM?

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· Baseline of CM in company

o Past CM time estimates

o Past processes & successes

· Knowledge of resistance

· Can CM be a role in a dept. and report to business director?

· CM skillsets vary by function

· Use business directions to understand the sizing parameter

· Cause and effect Pareto diagram for change and risk management \ estimate sizing effort

· 15% of budget for project change and communications

· How mature is the CM methodology in the organization?