According to Brandee Bible, change means to transform. Change management is a structured and intentional plan to support people through change as part of a transformation journey. And finally, a change management plan transforms your people.
Brandee provided these three keys to Change Management:
1) It prepares, equips, and supports individuals through the changes to their jobs.
2) It focuses on ensuring employees adopt, use, and optimize the change being introduced.
3) You should identify critical milestones, incentivize adoption and celebrate success to maintain momentum.
An integrated change management plan supports a transformation plan to optimize BlackLine utilization and employee adoption. But change isn’t easy, and it always brings challenges.
You’re changing the way people work every day, and that’s exciting—but it’s essential to articulate what’s in it for your teams and be specific about how this change will positively impact their professional lives when implemented.
It’s also important to prepare for the delta dip in order to manage expectations. Change can cause a dip in employees’ key measures, productivity, or quality. Staying committed to letting your people know that this change matters will result in a more successful and sustainable change.
Continually ask these three questions:
Mandy Strider, Director of Accounting, BlackLine, Interstate Hotels & Resorts talked about the importance of getting buy in early and often and communicating the risk of not changing—for them, it was losing their competitive advantage.
Find effective ways to reach your audience, using face-to-face communication whenever possible because this creates opportunities for two-way communications. Take the time to ask how your teams are feeling about the change and listen to how they think their jobs are going to change. This will also give you great insight and information throughout your transformation journey.
Management should send out communication about the change to show their support and ensure the emails will be read.
Mandy encourages using multiple forms of communication to accommodate the different ways people prefer to receive information. One example of this is the three bullet Thursday that Interstate Hotels & Resorts sends out to their accounting and finance teams, with three tips and tricks that are quick to read and easily digestible.
Finally, evaluate what you’re doing today before implementing technology, designing your systems solutions and building a road map to get off Excel spreadsheets. Engage the business to find your champions and give them a voice to help you get buy in and support.