These are some of the things I picked up at a change management course today:
Define the problem
Define the scope
Know the current situation in detail as it stands today
void making assumptions on what other people think
involve others in the process to give back a feeling of control, where applicable / relevant / suitable
Know ALL the stakeholders, and if any are potential ‘wreckers’ to the change
Know the people (willingness to change, level of skill, level of regard held by others), optionally by knowing their Belbin profile (www.belbin.com)
Use more than one communication mediums e.g. some people may not be present at the time, which used and how many depending on the type of change
Define the Vision for each stakeholder e.g. what they want from it, what the benefits will be etc (with input from stakeholder, but not under certain circumstances)
Target communication & interaction differently for different types of people and different stakeholder requirements
Some people don’t like any change, most accept some change, some readily accept change and some live for change, try and target the communication so that the change is minimal for the lower group, but advertise that the base simple functionality can be extended with exciting new methods to the groups that like change
Define the S.M.A.R.T. actions (e.g. by using methods such as forcefield analysis or a have / don’t have table) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_(project_management)
Monitor and maintain after the change has been made
Different changes require different amounts of effort, starting with knowledge only, attitude, behavioural (individual), behavioural (group) and organisational culture change (attitude change is critical for any change apart from knowledge only, e.g. skippping attitude change and going straight to behavioural change can cause problems)
Avoid negatives and turn them into positive messages
Reward success
Ensure your communication is sufficient for people not to have to rely on the grapevine to find out information and make up rumours etc.
The above isn’t the complete list of what was covered in the course, and lacks the detail - one of the books used by the trainer (but not in the course), which so happens to be the most popular book on ‘change management’ at Amazon uk, is:
‘Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models, Tools and Techniques of Organizational Change’, ISBN-13: 978-0749440879
