Framework | Aspects covered |
Kübler-Ross Curve | Guide people through change. |
ADKAR | Awareness, Convince, Address knowledge gaps. |
Kotter | Identify roadblocks and address anything causing friction. Create short-term goals to break your change management plan into achievable steps. Keep up the momentum throughout the process of implementation. |
McKinsey | Strategy, Structure, Systems, Skills, Staff, Style, Shared values. |
Let’s get down to business and finally implement our changes. Here, you’ll find out whether the concept fits or needs to be adjusted. You’ll be able to identify knowledge gaps and ways in which the project needs to be adapted.
The IT department has been working hard over the last few weeks to be ready for the first wave to be migrated to the cloud.
Once the employees have been briefed at the kickoff, you take the plan to your team meeting as your team is part of the first wave.
You explain once again how everybody will work in the future with Office 365, the new CRM system, and how success will be measured. At the same time, you present further details and the official training plan.
As you answer questions and address doubts and concerns, you pick up on the general mood among your team and notice some mixed feelings.
Hana is very glad that something is finally happening. She shares that she volunteered to work in the task force to push the project forward.
Peter, on the other hand, feels he won’t get anything out of it and wants nothing to do with the change. He also lacks information since he did not attend the kickoff.
Niklas doesn’t seem to have an opinion about it. He seems to be holding back, perhaps because he’s quite new to the team. You realize that you need to clarify certain details and address your employees’ feelings.
Since Hana is a change agent and is part of the core meeting, you give her the task of informing the team of any project updates on a weekly basis from now on.
You set up a 1:1 meeting with Peter to discuss his concerns. In a personal conversation, it turns out that Peter is experiencing some family problems and is currently unable to take on any additional tasks. In fact, he’d rather reduce his working hours. He’s afraid of losing his job because he’s not doing enough.
You try to reassure him and agree to support him through this period. For the next three months, you team him up with Niklas so they can help each other through the transition. This seems to be a perfect match since both are working side by side as customer service representatives. Also, they have some shared interests, as both seem to be keen on race cars.
It’s your job now to drive the change process forward and help your team adapt to Office 365 and the new CRM tool. You decide to:
regularly discuss benefits and concerns about the change in your team meetings, in order to gain more acceptance.
make sure that everybody attends the Office 365 training, as scheduled.
use Teams yourself, as a role model, to conduct your 1:1s and team meetings to regularly check how your team is getting used to the tool.
Let’s see how this process is going for your team members:
Peter is adapting slowly but surely to the new software. He will obviously need some follow-up training.
Hana, on the other hand, has already familiarized herself very well with the new processes and is giving her colleagues some lessons to make it easier for them to switch to Office 365. She also offers to coach Peter.
During other 1:1s, you notice there are some people in the team who are still using their local drives to save project data.
How do I deal with something like this?
One way to promote collaboration is to initiate a feedback project. You ask everybody to enter ideas and concerns into a central document in the cloud, which you take back to the taskforce for clarification and analysis. This can be valuable input for future waves.
Later that week, the taskforce gets an email announcing that the use of the new CRM has been delayed due to data migration problems. In addition, some work processes were identified that will have to be mapped in the CRM system.
In order to ensure a quick exchange with the task force, you set up a newsletter where employees can subscribe to project updates and ask questions about the new way of working. Of course, there are other ways to do this, like setting up dedicated team meetings, etc. Recruiting more change agents can also help with this.
Let’s Recap!
Communication is key throughout the whole implementation phase.
Respond to each individual employee and consider their feelings while guiding them through change.
Offer training, set goals, and delegate responsibility to keep your team engaged.
Leading people through change can be hard work, don’t you think? Implementation is an intense phase and can often be culture-changing. As long as you stay flexible and are prepared for the unexpected, you’re all set! You can even switch between phases, which will help speed up your progress. In the next and final chapter, we deal with how to ensure continuous change and motivate your team to keep a change mindset.
