Building Change Management Capability

It all started with a phone call from an executive not entirely convinced that the company was approaching the change management process surrounding a strategy shift and IT transformation the “right way.” Having only been with the company a few months, this leader acted fast and invited us to take a look.

Our change readiness assessment confirmed initial suspicions. Internal change management consultants were deployed across the organization, all operating from different “playbooks.” The variances between methodologies and tools were confusing business leaders with limited experience leading large-scale transformation initiatives – and even turning some off to the process and value effective change management can provide.

Nothing was coordinated; the team was hitting the business from the left and the right. The company was overinvesting in change on some projects and underinvesting in others. Our client had a limited number of internal resources with the right depth of Organizational Change Management (OCM) skills and experience required to manage demands for support. It was both a capability and capacity issue. Our client was committed to identifying a sustainable solution, and with our guidance, determined that standardizing and building internal OCM capability was the way to go.

Initially, we provided executive coaching to help our client identify key influencers and stakeholders critical to enabling the vision. We then helped to align leadership around the issues and garner support for the changes and investment required to resolve them.

We worked alongside our client to define the capabilities and experience required to lead change effectively. We developed new role and job descriptions, as well as a structured interview process, helped to identify potential candidates, and even supported the selection process. Some of our team members staffed open positions to build momentum and provide immediate support to initiatives already underway. While on the ground, we created opportunities to transfer knowledge “in the moment,” helping to accelerate the learning curve and ability of team members and new hires to deliver immediate value.

At the same time, we developed a standardized OCM methodology and toolkit, as well as an integrated change plan framework to equip team members with resources to support transformational initiatives across the company. We built a custom OCM training curriculum to ensure they understood how to draw upon these resources to build effective change plans – and more importantly, execute them. Additionally, we designed an OCM training for business partners to expose them to the work of the new OCM team, as well as help them understand when and how to engage them in supporting their specific functions.

Today the demand for support and acknowledgment of the team’s strategic value continues to grow. So too does the team, and their ability to serve the organization. Increased knowledge and capacity have reduced the need for external change management support – saving the company a considerable expense – and bolstered the team’s confidence, engagement, and performance significantly.