Creating a Change Management Plan

The change management plan combines aspects of both strategic and tactical planning. Step 1 and 2 help prepare for change. Step 3 creates the change management strategy and step 4, 5 and 6 guide the creation of the tactical plan, its implementation and learning;

• STEP 1; Prepare to change
• Communicate sense of urgency and need for change
• Assess readiness for change
• STEP 2; Create vision and build commitment
• Design the desired end-state
• Build stakeholder  commitment
• STEP 3; Create the change strategy
• Assess the impact
• Identify common themes
• Create the change strategy
• STEP 4; Design the Tactical Plan
• Identify specific change initiatives
• Create a tactical plan for implementation change
• STEP 5; Implement the Tactical Plan
• Implement the tactical plan
• Monitor the status of plan implementation
• STEP 6; Learn and Adjust
• Gather feedback on plan implementation
• Modify the change plan as needed, including time frame.

CHANGE has 3 elements... Content, Process and People

Strategic Plan = What to do?
Tactical Plan = How to do?

Change Management Skills

It is important to understand each of these change management skills and the behaviors and attitudes that are part of each one:

1. Adaptability
• Takes a positive approach to change
• Open to new ideas
• Willing to change course, as needed
2. Strategic focus
• Seeks to understand the big picture
• Understands the big impact of business factors on the organization
• Able to translate business strategy into change outcomes
3. Results focus
• Works for measurable change
• Takes a goal-oriented approach to change
• keeps others focused on the change goals
4. Foster a collaborative approach
• Works to partner with others
• Seeks to involve others in decisions that impact them
• Seeks to build consensus
5. Facilitates openness and understanding
• Wants to hear what others say
• Helps others speak with candor
• Tests assumptions to understand deeper issues
6. Encourage learning
• Responds quickly to changes in direction
• Helps others recover from failure and get back on track
• Extracts lessons learned from change

Managing the scope and speed of change - illustration

In a case where an organization needs to do a drastic change on the followings;

• Business strategy - develop state-of-the-art technologies that support customer's need.
• Organizational capabilities - Upgrade employee skills and change skill mix
• Culture - become our customers most valued competitive technology resource

The Change Leader may need to identify the following activities as part of their change management plan;

1. Work with customers to understand their strategic goals and how technology can support their accomplishment.
2. Change the mission of the technology departments by expanding it to reflect the pursuit of the state-of-the-art technologies
3. Reorganize several technology department
4. Outplace engineers with limited technical skills
5. Reengineer key R&D processes to reduce the time it takes to deliver a technology solution to the customer.
6. Assign cross functional technology teams to work on specific customer solutions

The above change initiatives might probably takes 18 months to implement these change...

Strategic Pressure Points (Pressure to Change)

Change Leaders identify the strategic pressure points that are driving the need for change. Strategic Pressure Points require an organization to change some aspect of the way it is doing business. Change drivers that create strategic pressure points include:

• Environmental factors
• Marketplace factors
• Technology
• Customer needs
• Business diversification
• Expansion
• Need for increased profitability
• Acquisition of new capability
• Retention or acquisition of intellectual capital

Partners in Change

1. Line Managers
The line manager's role begins with setting the strategic direction and helping the organization understand the business case for change. The line manager's role also includes:

• Communicating the reasons for change
• Leading the way in shifting attitudes and behaviors
• Helping employees shift attitudes, behaviors and habits
• Monitoring how well the change is being implemented
• Working with human resources to design the change management strategy and plan
• Helping human resource clarify and sequence change initiatives

2. Human Resource Manager
The HR Managers play a major role in change management facilitation at all phases of the change process, from inception and implementation. HR roles also includes:

• Assessing change readiness
• Helping diagnose the impact of change
• Helping employees shift attitudes and behaviors
• Working with line managers to develop a change management plan and sequence change initiatives
• Helping to keep change focused and on track
• Monitoring how well the change is being implemented.

In summary, Organizations experience 5 types of change:

1. Evolutionary Adaptation = incremental and slow
2. Developmental change =  an improvement on current ways of doing things
3. Transitional change = the creation and implementation of something completely new
4. Drastic action = change that is forced on the organization
5. TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE = change that requires the organization to completely change how it does business

Line managers and HR managers need to partner in planning ad leading organizational change activities
Line managers play a critical roles in designing the direction and scope of change. They ensure that change initiatives will address the competitive force driving change,
HR Managers help manage the cultural, behavioral and infrastructural issues that are important to successful change.

The Role of the Change Leader

Change leaders make sure they do certain things in planning and managing organizational change. Successful change leaders take responsibility for:

• Understanding the need for change
• Assessing the organization's readiness for change
• Designing strategies for increasing change readiness
• Managing the scope and speed of change
• Understanding stakeholders needs and their intellectual and emotional responses to change
• Communicating the purpose and direction of change
• Using communication to build commitment to change
• Understanding and dealing with resistance to change
• Creating a change management strategy and plan
• Demonstrating sound change management skills
• Making sure change initiatives are aligned with strategic direction
• Helping the organization learn from change
• Keeping change initiatives on track.