Changes can come at an organization in a fast and furious way that forces change practitioners to be fast and furious with their planning.  When this happens, it’s easy to get ahead of yourself and just start developing a list of things you need to do, but your list is just a guess unless you take the time to get to know your audience and what is in it for them.

Stakeholder analysis is one of the most important tools in a change practitioner’s toolkit.  I spend more time on this part of the process than most of my colleagues because I find having a thorough stakeholder analysis in my pocket helps build a much more solid change strategy. 

In a recent article I discussed how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are mandating the use of the International Classification of Disease’s code set upgrade from the current ICD9 version to the ICD10 version. Here are some key elements of achieving success in the ICD10 project: 

1)       First and foremost, there should be a significant amount of time where there is parallel processing of using both ICD9 versus ICD10. By maintaining an implementation timeline of Oct 1 2013, processing in parallel for a year should not be considered a long extended project warranty phase, but time for direct comparison.

Human Resource (HR) Analytics strike the balance between leading and lagging indicators as they enhance more traditional metrics.  Tying these analytics with financial analysis takes human capital management to the next level by empowering business leaders with the workforce information required to attract, develop, and retain the best people. 

The three critical categories of HR Analytics that make up Talent Management: 1. Recruiting, 2. Development, and 3. Separation will be the focus of this post. While Talent Management is an ongoing activity for HR professionals in an organization, its importance to sustainable change management strategy is critical and often overlooked.

1. Recruiting:

By monitoring workforce analytics to ensure that they coordinate with recruitment and retention objectives, employers can minimize the drivers of employee turnover while maximizing those of talent and performance.

Can technical training be energizing, interactive and stimulating?  Absolutely. 

As a management consultant focused on Organizational Change Management, I have conducted countless training sessions in order to equip those undergoing a change with the tools necessary to be productive in their newly changed environment. Often times, the change being faced is a technical one.  Whether it’s a new manufacturing system application, a new time and attendance software, a new mortgage origination website or a new claims processing tool, below are a few tips for ensuring your training is stimulating and interactive while utilizing best practices for adult learning. 

Get up and move

Are Lessons Learned a project management tool or a change management tool?  The answer is: both.  Especially when collected periodically, rather than just at the end of a project. 

As our primary tool for evaluating the successes and shortcomings of a project, Lessons Learned are traditionally categorized under project management – a categorization that makes a lot of sense.  Project management tends to be about managing the tasks and processes around a project so that the product comes in on time, on budget and meets all the requirements.  Lessons Learned helps identify improvements that can be made, kicks off improvement processes and documents them so that future projects can benefit.  This is project management.

It was a full day of learning and sharing expertise at the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Conference! No matter for how many years or in how many industries one has led change initiatives, we can always learn from each other. Today was a great reminder of that! I have tried to capture a few treasures from the jam packed sessions.

Speakers from Cisco, IKEA and Qantas shared lessons learned from their respective change journeys. Key takeaways included:

The first full day of the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) conference (#acmp2012) kicked off with a spectacular keynote address by Chip Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard.  Heath summarized the results of his book and the key elements of an individual’s Elephant and the Rider and how they enable (or prevent) a change. Simply put, the Elephant refers to the emotional side of an individual and the Rider is the thinker; in order to make sustainable change, both the Elephant and the Rider need to be engaged.

At the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Conference pre-workshop, I had the great pleasure of participating in a conversation regarding the challenge of addressing culture, or changing culture in an organization. The insights from many colleagues in this dynamic field is invaluable and I would like to share some of it here.

Culture changes are more challenging primarily because they are less finite, less defined, and therefore may make leaders uncomfortable in addressing them.

Traditional change management approaches focus on the individual’s transition from a current to a future state. The individuals’ transition in aggregate enables an organizational shift to the future state.  This approach may not be enough to support a culture change.

Why?

Sitting in my home office, working on some training materials, I noticed a book on my shelf.  The book was Dr. Robert Cialdini’s Influence.  I had read Influence in a college consumer behavior course as a reference for the psychology behind consumer purchasing decisions.  There is a very strong relevance between the principles in the book and gaining buy-in when managing change.

According to Dr. Robert Cialdini, there are six principles of influence.  There is a significant advantage in leveraging these principles in change management initiatives because they can help ensure getting the buy-in necessary to support the change.

The Six Principles of Influence:

Reciprocity

A process analysts’ role, like many others, is rarely limited to its title and often bleeds into other practices, such as Change Management.  When a process consultant appears at a client, sometimes they are told directly “I want to improve process X’s throughput, process Y’s turnover rate, and process z’s cost”.  More often than not though, they are told “I want to improve all my processes”.  The consultant is then forced to ask, “Well, have you identified what your processes are?  What do you want to improve about them?”  The answers here are usually “No”, and “Everything”.