The agile way of implementing changes has been popular for quite several years among a range of companies, from small startups to large corporations. Most agile methodologies do not address the role of change management explicitly as a function. However, at the same time, most project practitioners agree that managing change is a critical skill set. Surveys conducted by the Project Management Institute consistently found that change management is rated as one of the top skills for a project manager.
In this article, we will delve into a variety of toolkits that support agile methodologies, providing not only an overview but also in-depth explanations and practical examples to help change managers implement change effectively. Gone at the days when the change manager needs to work on large presentations and slides detailing every aspect of the plan. It was not uncommon to see more than 100 slides for a change plan. In the agile world, documentation is important but more important is the conversation and working with stakeholders.
Toolkit 1: Change Canvas: A Summarized Approach to Change Planning
The Change Canvas, also known as ‘change-on-a-page,’ serves as a condensed version of the change plan. While previous iterations leaned towards a project plan format, the current version focuses on key questions that change practitioners must answer. Previous versions of the change canvas are often designed with more of a project plan slant. In the current version, we focus on a core set of questions that the change practitioner needs to answer in creating a change plan. To download the canvas click here.
Example: “Imagine a technology company undergoing a major software upgrade. The Change Canvas was employed to create a concise summary of the change plan. This one-page document effectively communicated the essence of the software upgrade, outlining key aspects such as the purpose, stakeholders involved, and the approach to implementation. This simplified overview became a valuable reference point during stakeholder meetings, fostering clearer communication and understanding.”
Toolkit 2: Change Experiment Card: Iterative Approaches for Effective Change
A core part of agile is about experimenting and iterating through a series of changes, versus planning one change. The idea is that each small change is an experiment with a hypothesis that can be tested and proven to be true or false using data. When the overall change becomes a series of smaller changes, each change iterates on the previous change. The overall risk of failure is reduced and each change is one step closer to the ultimate successful end state.
Applying this concept in change management – The change experiment card is a template to help you design, plan, and test your change experiment. To download the template please click here.
Change experiments can range from:
Project message positioning to stakeholders
Learning design effectiveness
Effectiveness of a communications channel in engaging with stakeholders
Change readiness tactic
Effectiveness of the change vision artifact
Example: “In an educational institution implementing a new learning management system, the Change Experiment Card was utilized to plan and test various change experiments. One experiment focused on refining the messaging strategy to engage faculty members effectively. By treating each adjustment as an experiment, the change team gathered valuable data on the impact of messaging changes, allowing for continuous refinement and ultimately ensuring a smoother adoption of the new system.”
Toolkit 3: Behavior Over Time Graph: Anticipating and Tracking Stakeholder Experience
The Behavior Over Time Graph is a powerful tool for anticipating and tracking stakeholder behavior throughout the change process. Explore a specific case where stakeholders’ reactions were plotted over time, providing significant insights into the need for additional interventions, obstacles faced, and alignment with anticipated timelines.
Here is an example of a behavior over time graph.
Change readiness over time plotted against change milestones
Example: “During the rollout of a new performance management system in a corporate setting, the Behavior Over Time Graph was employed to track employee sentiments. As the system was implemented, the graph revealed an initial dip in engagement, prompting the change team to introduce targeted communication and training interventions. The subsequent rise in positive sentiments demonstrated the effectiveness of these interventions, showcasing the power of anticipating and responding to stakeholder behavior over time.”
The Connected Circles Analysis chart is indispensable for understanding the influencing powers of various stakeholders in an agile project. Through a practical example, discover how this analysis unveiled power dynamics, aiding the change manager in resolving relationship issues, mitigating risks, and leveraging the network for improved outcomes within the stakeholder group. A range of stakeholders are thrown together within the same project from the beginning and there is a high expectation of successful collaboration and teamwork across the board. This analysis helps you to visualise the power dynamism and influence mechanisms amongst different stakeholders.
With the insight gained from this, the change manager can better focus on how to resolve any relationship issues, risks, and leverage the network to achieve better relationships and outcomes within the group.
Project stakeholder influence dynamics
Example: “In a cross-functional agile project within a large organization, the Connected Circles Analysis chart was used to understand the influencing powers of various stakeholders. By visualizing the dynamics, the change manager identified potential conflicts and areas of collaboration. This insight facilitated proactive measures to enhance relationships, resolve conflicts, and leverage the collective influence of stakeholders for a more cohesive and collaborative project environment.”
Toolkit 5: Causal Loop Diagram: Systems Thinking for Agile Projects
Systems thinking is critical in agile projects, emphasizing the need to understand how different components interact. The Causal Loop Diagram helps analyze key factors and their causal relationships within the system.
The below example shows employee sentiments toward a system change. This is a very simplified version of what happens since in real scenarios there could be various factors that are reinforcing each other, leading to lots of arrows pointing at different directions. At a more sophisticated level, you may assign points in terms of the strength of the causal relationship. At a basic level even plotting the causal relationship between a few key factors may generate key insight into the ‘why’ of the dynamics of a situation.
Causal loop diagram of the rationale of stakeholder sentiments
Example:
“In a manufacturing company implementing agile practices across departments, the Causal Loop Diagram was applied to understand the dynamics of employee sentiments toward process changes. By mapping out the causal relationships between factors such as training effectiveness, leadership communication, and workflow adjustments, the change team gained a holistic view. This enabled them to address root causes, leading to a more systemic and sustainable improvement in employee sentiments over time.”
In the dynamic landscape of organizations undergoing numerous agile changes, the ability to capture and visualize these transformations becomes paramount for informed decision-making. Data visualization emerges as a powerful tool, offering stakeholders a comprehensive understanding of the organizational change landscape. It enables them to navigate through various changes, identify key capacity challenges, recognize crunch periods, understand the velocity of changes over time, and pinpoint areas requiring additional support.
To effectively navigate this complex terrain, organizations can leverage advanced tools such as The Change Compass. This tool provides a consolidated view of change, facilitating improved planning and implementation strategies. By integrating operational routines that consistently focus on change data alongside other business and project information, organizations can systematically enhance their change capability. This process involves regular reviews, engaging stakeholder discussions, iterative refinement of change tactics, and adaptive adjustments to plans in anticipation of evolving change dynamics.
In adopting such a holistic approach, organizations not only streamline their change management processes but also foster a culture of constant improvement and adaptability. The use of tools like The Change Compass becomes instrumental in creating a unified vision of change, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring that the organization remains agile and responsive in the face of ongoing transformations.
Change Management is full of concepts and frameworks that are outdated and not based on empirical research. It seems that in the business world, we are very comfortable with concepts that sound like they make sense intuitively. If the concept is simple and interesting then we’re in. We don’t require them to have any scientific proof and research is often not required.
Let’s take one example. The Kubler-Ross model is one of the most popular models that outlines the 5 stages of grief a psychiatrist in the book ‘On Death and Dying’. The 5 stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. However, there is a lack of empirical research supporting these 5 stages, and in fact, research suggests other expressions of grief.
Moreover, we’ve somehow applied this model to change management assuming that it is relevant. Whilst dying is a change process, this context cannot be generalised across all other changes such as implementing a new system, a new product, or a new policy. Moreover, there is no research supporting this. We all know that there are lots of people who do not go through these phases during lots of change processes. And certainly, it would be hard to imagine someone going through these phases after buying a new desirable iPhone from a previous older model.
Now, if there are so many popular concepts that are not backed up by research what should we use that is based on proven evidence? Self-determination theory (SDT) by Edward Deci and Richard Bryan should be one that the change management community adopts. It is a broad-based theory about human motivation that focuses on people’s inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. There has been significant research supporting this theory since the 1970s and more research is underway.
What is the self-determination theory about motivation?
The theory states that there are 3 innate human needs that if met will provide motivation, motivation to undertake tasks, to develop, and to undergo change. These 3 elements are:
1) Competence
The experience of mastery and being effective at one’s activity. When people feel that they have the skills required to be successful they are much more likely to take on tasks that will help them achieve their goals
2) Relatedness
The need to feel belonging and connectedness to others.
3) Autonomy
The feeling of choice and control over one’s focus.
Each of the three elements contributes to motivation, by having the right level of skills and confidence, by wanting to be connected to others, and by feeling in control over one’s focus or task.
Some implications of these 3 elements on how we manage change include:
1) Simply conducting training may not address someone’s level of competence. The outcome is that they need to feel confident. This means that there should be a holistic focus on a range of learning interventions to promote and support confidence, such as managerial acknowledgment, catering to individual learning styles, supportive learning environment/community after training sessions, etc.
2) Change activities should not be implemented for individuals in isolation from others. For example, if learning is utilized, the change approach should be designed to provide visibility on how others are undergoing the change process, and where they are sharing their experiences. This is why change champions are so important since effective champions promote and build a supportive community
3) Especially for more significant changes, it is important to design into the change process a sense of autonomy for those impacted. This may seem contradictory to how most companies implement change, i.e. one that is characterized by one common set of activities for all employees. What this important to emphasise according to SDT is to build in employee involvement so that they feel that they are shaping and developing the change versus being negatively impacted by it with no choice whatsoever.
There are 2 types of motivations:
1) Controlled Motivation
• “The carrot and the stick” approach to motivating someone • Seduced into the behaviour • Coerced into the behavior, often with the threat of punishment • Experience of tension and anxiety
Employees who work in a controlled motivation environment usually have negative emotions and their confidence and well-being also suffer. Also, in this environment, employees usually take the shortest path to reach the desired outcome. This may or may not have the best consequences for the company. If the company is trying to stipulate a set of behaviors, these may be avoided or blind-sighted to get to the ultimate ‘measure’.
2) Autonomous motivation:
• Experience of volition and choice about the work that one is doing • If the person enjoys the work and finds it interesting, then the autonomous motivation level increases • If the values of the work are consistent with the values of the individual this also increases motivation • If the person endorses the work, then he or she will also be more motivated to undertake the work
Organisations want more autonomous individuals that are aligned their work. Why?
Because research has found that autonomous workers are:
• More creative • Better problem solvers and be able to think outside of the box • Better performance • More positive emotions • Better psychological and physical wellbeing
So how do we promote a change environment that develops autonomous workers?
• Take the perspectives of the workers and their mindset, and be clear about what moves them, what bugs them, what they get excited or bored about, their core values and interests, etc.
• Providing them with choice and the ability to participate in the change and the decision-making process where possible. This will encourage their buy-in and engagement.
• Support them with exploring different ideas and trying new ways of approaching the work differently. This approach is also very consistent with agile ways of working, encouraging innovation, and a ‘safe to fail’ environment.
• Encouraging them to be self-starters and self-initiated.
• Provide them with a strong and meaningful rationale of the ‘why’ of the purpose of the change so that they understand the reasons behind the change.
Edward Deci goes on further to state “Don’t ask how you can motivate others, ask how you can create the conditions for them to motivate themselves”.
From activity-driven to design-driven
One of the biggest implications of SDT is that next time you design your change intervention you should focus away from key standard change management activities such as communications and training. Instead, focus on creating and designing an environment from which people can motivate themselves.
This is a fundamental shift for a lot of change practitioners and requires a depth of understanding about how the organisation functions and what will move its dial. It is not about implementing 1 or 2 core activities, it is about implementing a range of interventions to shape the environment to support change.
Some practical ways in which you can design an environment to promote change motivation:
1) Workshops for participants to brainstorm and discuss ways in which they can undergo the change journey;
2) Share stories of how other employees have experienced change personally; Use different mediums in which to communicate the change, to appeal to different people preferences (e.g. video, online, face-to-face, posters, etc.);
3) Leverage key influencers to influence the community. Provide a sandbox or other platforms (such as an online platform, showcase room, etc.) from which employees may experience and play with the new environment;
4) Break up the change journey into small steps and milestones and acknowledge each progression;
5) Encourage community discussions about the change;
The challenge in building change environments
When we start to design a holistic environment for change, more often than not we are designing this for a set of changes and not just one initiative. In this complex, continuously changing environment, we need to be able to keep tabs on what the changing environment looks like and how it is evolving amongst the various change initiatives.
As different change environment interventions ramp up, we need to be able to visualise how these interventions and activities are impacting the employees and their environment. This includes being able to visualise the pace, scale, nature, and multiplicity of the changes across various parts of the organisation. Using data visualisation tools such as The Change Compass is valuable for organisations within agile environments.
Using the insights and core concepts from the self-determination theory will serve significant value for the change management community. Not only are its concepts well-researched and proven by research but there is a range of directly applicable implications for the change practitioner. No longer do we have to work with frameworks that are fashionable but lack the rigor of empirical research. The challenge now is how we adopt this within our change approach and ‘change the way we approach to change’.
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Move over older concepts and frameworks such as Lewin’s, Bridges and Kubler-Ross models that are dated and not based on years of rigorous research….. It’s time we started to focus on well-researched and evidence-backed models that explain people’s behaviours in change.
Change management practitioners often grapple with the challenge of motivating individuals to embrace change. A powerful framework that can guide this process is Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation and the fulfillment of basic psychological needs. By understanding and applying SDT, practitioners can create environments that foster genuine motivation for change.
Understanding Self-Determination Theory
SDT identifies three core psychological needs essential for motivation:
Autonomy: The need to feel in control of one’s actions and decisions. When individuals perceive they have a choice, they are more likely to engage willingly in change initiatives.
Competence: This refers to the desire to feel effective and capable. Providing opportunities for skill development and positive feedback can enhance individuals’ sense of competence, making them more motivated to pursue change.
Relatedness: The need to feel connected and understood by others. Building supportive relationships fosters a sense of belonging, which can significantly enhance motivation.
By addressing these needs, change management practitioners can cultivate an environment where individuals are intrinsically motivated to engage in and sustain change.
Applications in Change Management
Foster Autonomy: Encourage team members to take ownership of their roles in the change process. Allow them to set personal goals related to the change initiative and choose how they want to achieve those goals. This autonomy can lead to greater commitment and enthusiasm.
Build Competence: Offer training sessions and resources that help individuals develop the skills necessary for the change. Celebrate small wins to reinforce their capabilities, which boosts confidence and motivation.
Enhance Relatedness: Create opportunities for collaboration and open communication among team members. Establishing peer support systems or mentorship programs can help individuals feel connected, fostering a supportive environment conducive to change.
Linking SDT with Agile Teams
In Agile environments, where adaptability and collaboration are crucial, SDT aligns perfectly with team dynamics:
Empowered Teams: Agile practices emphasize self-organizing teams, which inherently supports autonomy. Team members are encouraged to make decisions collectively, enhancing their sense of ownership over the process.
Continuous Feedback: Agile methodologies promote regular feedback loops, which not only help build competence but also reinforce a culture of learning and growth.
Collaboration: Agile teams thrive on collaboration, fulfilling the need for relatedness. Daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and pair programming foster connections among team members, enhancing their commitment to shared goals.
Motivating change is not just about implementing new processes; it’s about understanding what drives people. By leveraging Self-Determination Theory, change management practitioners can create an environment that nurtures autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This approach not only facilitates smoother transitions but also cultivates a culture of intrinsic motivation—essential for sustaining long-term change. Embracing these principles within Agile frameworks further enhances team dynamics, making the journey toward change both effective and empowering.
Click here to download the infographic on ‘Self-Determination Theory’ of motivation. Stay tuned for our up-coming article on this.
There are many facets of driving agile changes. Agile changes are featured by such as developing minimum viable product and not investing too much initially, developing a series of iterations to gradually improve the product, engaging stakeholders early and frequently to ensure the outcomes meet business needs, developing working product/solutions from which feedback may be sought to feed iterative improvements prior to final release.
With so many facets of implementing agile changes, what is
the most important part of driving agile changes? What is the core concept that must be done right
without which the change would not be considered ‘agile’?
One of the most critical parts of agile change is the
concept of developing a hypothesis that can be tested. The outcome must be clear in terms of whether
the solution developed meets the business needs or not.
Why hypothesis?
In waterfall methods of delivering projects, the focus is on
spending significant focus understanding and detailing features and ‘requirements’
from the business. From these, the
solution is then designed and developed.
The problem with this approach is:
Significant resources and investment may be
required to sufficiently develop the solution depending on the complexity
involved
It may also take a long period of time to
involve various stakeholders and investigate solution design options before a final
product can be developed. A series of
design decisions also need to be made, each step taking time to undergo
The business may not know what they want and
they would need to provide ‘requirement’s that may or may not meet their
needs. For example, prior to the launch
of iphones, touch screen phones were not popular and were not seen as the
design of future phones
The risk can be significant if the solution developed
does not meet business needs. Millions
of dollars of project investment could have been wasted if this is the case.
On the other hand, what is the advantage of a hypothesis based approach?
Does not spend a lot of time creating a
sophisticated solution or product.
Instead, a simplified version is developed which captures the core of
business need. This is then tested, and then
the results can then feed into further improvements required. In this way, the process allows organisations
to fail early and cheaply in order to eventually come up with the winning
solution
Instead of focusing on detailed planning which
is based on a series of assumptions which may not have been tested to be valid,
the focus is on deriving a solution that CAN be tested and validated or
invalidated. This is especially important
when the solution is new and has not been implemented previously in the
organisation
The hypothesis approach is a scientific approach
where the focus is on proven results based on data. In the same way a laboratory technician would
conduct a series of experiments to test the properties of a chemical solution to
further understand it, in the same way the project team would conduct a series
of ‘experiments’ (or iterations) to gradually test and from testing results,
improve the solution
Tests are always based on ‘real’ data and real
scenarios therefore there is a much greater chance that the final solution will
meet business needs
The importance of a hypothesis-approach for organisational agility
The survival and growth of a company are dependent on its ability to go into different products, different territories or different customer groups to expand its offering. In order to do this, the company needs to ultimately launch various products or services that do not exist currently or that have not been launched in certain new areas/segments.
Therefore, the ability of the organisation to continuously develop, launch and learn from new products and services is critical for its success. Each product launch is a new hypothesis that is to be tested. And with each testing, a set of learning is achieved which will improve its next product launch. In this way, this is how companies become agile and develop the ability to flex and change based on its ability to generate hypotheses.
For digital businesses developing hypothesis is a core way of operating. A hypothesis can be as small as testing the wording of the website using A/B Testing to see which wording is more engaging for website visitors. A/B Testing is where a certain number of visitor traffic is channeled into one version of the website versus another version. And the results of visitor interactions can be used to validate which version is more engaging.
Change management hypothesis testing
To truly adopt a hypothesis-based approach to change management one needs to adopt change hypothesis testing. What is change hypothesis testing I hear you ask? It is basically developing a series of small change experiments to test assumptions. Change experiments are important because they help to inform what change tactics or approaches work or do not work.
Some examples of change experiments include:
Wording of campaign phrases or positioning
Email click-through rate based on details such
as who email is from, time of delivery, etc.
Effectiveness of training exercises
Employee awareness after town hall messages
Website effectiveness
Impact assessment approach effectiveness
Campaign medium effectiveness such as freebies,
posters, etc.
However, it is critical to ensure that hypothesis to be tested is not time nor resource intensive. The experiment must also be tested using feedback data. The hypothesis cannot be proven or disproved unless it is backed by hard data and not just opinions.
Change management is a broad and diverse discipline with many facets. Just like other essential business domains such as Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, or Management, it encompasses a variety of sub-components. In Finance, for instance, there are sub-disciplines like accounting, tax, budgeting, and investment. Similarly, Human Resources boasts sub-disciplines like employee relations, remuneration, organizational development, business partnering, and learning and development.
Within the vast landscape of change management, various sub-disciplines unfold, each playing a crucial role in orchestrating successful transformations. These include change leadership, learning and development, change impact assessment, organizational design, communications, and change portfolio management. Furthermore, multiple functions across the organizational spectrum claim proficiency in change management, including Human Resources, Project Management, Strategy, and Operations Management.
Navigating this complexity requires a keen understanding of the interconnected nature of these sub-disciplines and the functions that contribute to change management. It’s akin to the intricate workings of Finance, Marketing, and Human Resources, where each component plays a vital role in the overall success of the discipline.
So, where do we begin in this expansive landscape? Let’s unveil the secrets to understanding the core of change management, starting with the often-overlooked, yet crucial, aspect of change impact. To delve deeper into this topic, access our infographic ‘Why lots of functions think they are all experts in managing change’.
Change impact
With so many components to grasp, where does one start in the expansive landscape of change management? And which component holds greater significance? While it’s tempting to label all components as important depending on the nature and context of the change, effective change management begins with a crystal-clear understanding of what is changing. To achieve this understanding, one must unravel the intricate web of change impact on various stakeholder groups, both internal and external to the organization. It is only after a deep understanding of the impact that planning for effective change management can take place.
In many instances, generic change approaches such as training and communications are employed without a detailed understanding of the nature of the change’s impact on stakeholders. The result? Change interventions that miss the mark, leading to resistance and a lack of support.
But how do we gauge this elusive concept of change ‘impact’? How do we understand change ‘impact’? There are many ways to do this.
1. Perception of the change
How does the impacted stakeholder group perceive the change’s impact on them? For example, if implementing a new system in an environment where users are comfortable with the existing one, the perception may be one of skepticism and negativity. Imagine introducing a new project management tool to a team accustomed to their existing system. If the current tool meets their needs seamlessly, the perception of the new system may be met with skepticism, especially if the ‘why’ behind the change isn’t effectively communicated.
The perception of the change is about the mindsets, attitudes, and expectations of people. These are not easily quantifiable and will require a deep understanding of that particular stakeholder group and the history of how they have transitioned through different changes.
The perception of the change can also be positive or negative. Positive perceptions of change could be the result of a perception or expectation of benefit, for example, the system may be easier to use, saves time, or accomplish significant tasks that are not possible with the existing system. Negative perception could result if the benefit case is not clear or, worse, perceived to be adding more time, more complexity, and providing less value.
Typical ways to understand the perception of stakeholders may involve surveys, interviews, and focus groups.
2. Severity of impact
Another dimension crucial in understanding change is the severity of its impact. Does the change demand significant investment and resources, akin to a major restructuring exercise? Or is the impact more modest, involving minor process tweaks and requiring only email notifications for those affected?
Measuring the severity of impact is often done using a Likert scale, with 1 denoting a small impact, 3 indicating a medium impact, and 5 signifying a very high impact.
It’s important to note that when employing a scale to assess change impact, a 5-point scale is recommended over a 10-point or 3-point scale. A 10-point scale might be too intricate for individuals to navigate, leading to challenges in distinguishing between, for instance, 6/10 and 7/10, where the material difference may be minimal. Conversely, a 3-point scale tends to oversimplify the analysis, as organizations typically contend with multiple changes, and categorizing all impacts into three broad categories may lack the necessary granularity to differentiate impact levels meaningfully.
3. Capacity of impact
Another crucial aspect of understanding change is assessing how it impacts the capacity of stakeholders to digest and transition through the change. Consider, for instance, the effort and activities required for managers of a business unit to be sufficiently briefed about a new system, enabling them to guide their teams through the process. What are the learning requirements, and what support is necessary?
For changes that are more complex, and demanding significant effort and involvement in the change process, it’s essential to identify these activities and evaluate their impact on the stakeholder group. Common change and transition activities influencing stakeholder capacity include:
Town halls or briefing sessions
Workshops and focus groups
Involvement of subject-matter-experts
Watching videos or reading emails about the initiative
Team meetings to discuss the change
Learning and development sessions
Practice and gradual familiarity required
Providing feedback about the change
Attending any celebration or other events related to the initiative
Additionally, assessing the capacity of impacted stakeholders involves considering what else is happening during the change implementation period. Are there other changes or notable work tasks occurring concurrently? For example, is the change happening during a peak customer period or a major annual work cycle, such as the end of the financial year or audit? Understanding these contextual factors is crucial, as they can significantly impact the capacity of stakeholders.
In large organizations, where multiple changes are often underway simultaneously, navigating these capacity and bandwidth challenges is a skill in itself. Anticipating these challenges ahead of time and planning strategically is key. Explore our suite of articles on change portfolio management to gain insights into effectively managing multiple changes.
4. Time Impact
Considering the impact of change on stakeholder capacity extends to the element of time. Every aspect of change, from shifts in mindset to learning a new system, digesting emails and information packs, attending sessions and meetings, to practicing how to operate the new system, contributes to the temporal dimension of change impact.
Quantifying the time impact of various change aspects on different stakeholder groups allows for estimating the time ranges of impact. This quantification is especially valuable for teams that are highly time-sensitive, such as call centre teams or Finance teams during month-end or year-end periods, when they are deeply engaged in consolidating finances. Similarly, teams like Customer Complaints and Resolutions may experience heightened activity during end-of-year periods with increased customer volumes.
How do we put these into use?
How do we translate these insights into action? Change impact assessment is the critical process of evaluating the nature of change impacts on various stakeholder groups. By utilizing the methods outlined above to assess the impact of change, the change impact assessment generates a detailed set of information from which we can formulate the change approach. It is only after understanding the ‘what’ of the change that we can design the ‘how’ to transition stakeholders through the change.
The completed change impact assessment should be socialized and verified with those impacted. Without this verification process, there’s a risk that those affected may not agree with the captured change impacts, or there could be other impacts missed in the assessment.
At The Change Compass, we offer a cloud-based tool where organizations can input and visualize change impact information. By visualizing the data, we can assess risks and opportunities, including:
Identifying groups that may need additional support due to the complexity or volume of the change
Comparing different stakeholder groups to determine the most critical to the initiative’s success and the extent of their capacity impact, especially in terms of time
Plotting change saturation points for different parts of the business, assessing the extent to which changes exceed these points. Based on this assessment, we determine risk mitigation strategies such as re-prioritization, providing additional resources, or adjusting the change implementation timeline
Evaluating the extent to which impacts (across initiatives) on different parts of the business align with strategic goals. Are the largest impacts on parts of the business as expected according to the strategy? Is the organization’s implementation more focused on operational efficiency or growth, and does this align with the strategic intent?
In conclusion, understanding the core of change management requires a nuanced exploration of change impact, encompassing perception, severity, capacity, and time. By delving into these facets, organizations can chart a path to successful change, avoiding generic approaches that lead to resistance. The Change Compass provides the tools to unlock the full potential of change, ensuring that initiatives align with strategic goals and receive the support they need.
