The change that we most often refer to in these modern times has a lot to do with our zeal to make things better. Throughout our history there have been leaders of change such as Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and even Barrack Obama. The genesis of this change began with an observation, an idea, methodology, and assembling a team to plan and implement this change. The same can be said for organizational change in this very same sense.

Firms that are resistent to change will find the future a lot less manageable as competitors embrace the challenges to enhance efficiencies, stream-line processes, and position staff and resources for a more effective effort to met the goals and objectives of an organization. In order for this to occur astute leaders must empower, encourage, and foster a confidence in his or her Enterprise Change Management Team (ECMT). One of the fundamental mistakes that managers make in this transition is the failure to appreciate the change as an essential project with the same urgency as that of any other operational requirement.

The second challenge for managers is to retain team focus on the implementing this change with the understanding that comfort-zones may have to be forfeited or compromised from C-Level executives down through entry-level employees. Included in this change management plan should be measures to abate resistance to these changes in a comprehensive adjustment or training platform that minimizes concerns and distractions. Another common mistake among organizations is the simultaneous implementation of staff-reduction in the midst of this change process. Depending on the circumstances, a wise ECMT would coordinate with senior management on a schedule that is recommended after the required staff reduction has taken place before implementing the changes if a component of this project involves such a measure. The rationale for this approach is to minimize the distraction of the participants in this process which commonly includes all personnel in some way.

The ECMT must have a common mission that is focused to assist the organization in its commitment to pursue the mission of the organization without favor to a certain department, branch, or facility. The purpose of the team should be designated for the sole purpose of serving the organization internally and not the external customers or venders. The creation of others teams to address those other areas may be developed to specifically focus on their transitions in processes or policies in dealing with your organization. By making the ECMT too broad, managers run the risk of team-members losing focus and allocating resources for abstract objectives. The ECMT project team should be viewed as an internal service-based group similar to Information Technology Services (ITS) or any other aspect of the firm that has internal customers.

In order to ensure continuity and confidentiality of vital internal operational functions and proprietary information, it is best that the ECMT create and develop the project in-house. This establishes that the firm actually owns the project and marginalize the risk of competitors being afforded the opportunity to have access or knowledge of the procedural or system modifications.

The key ingredients for success with the ECMT are information, mission, vision, integrity, zeal, and the capacity to train learn and develop the concept.

As with any project magnitude does have an impact on the scheduling and resources which can then impact the implementation of the project and therefore this may vary in respect to how the project progresses. The ECMT Team will need some of the following resources to successfully master the project of change within the organization.

1) Knowledge of the Industry and competition and where the organization is and where it would like to be after the completion of the project. The period of time when the results can be accurately measured for the prescribed benefits for the change.

2) Each member of the team must develop ot possess the skills to become the leader in his or her own discipline as it relates to the project.

3) A comprehensive strategy must be established to foster inter-departmental relationships that can endure the duration of the project and facilitate a dialogue for continued growth among disciplines after the project is completed.

4) Members of the team will need to enhance and improve their comprehension of the technologies used in the project along with those that will be required for the internal customers to use. This includes learning software applications and business processing in a way that can be taught to those personnel yet to comprehend the changes.

5) The team will need to be responsible for documentation and developing a problem-solving and definitions library that correlate the changes for the potential of manuals and other training instruments. In this case the Information Technology department may assist in the development of such a resource through a LAN-based system.

6) The team will need systems analysts and developers that can think through flow-charts and functional procedures with managers to ensure that all departments are serviced by these changes.

7) All members of the team must have an understanding of the expected performance of the changes and deliverables required for management. Also, they must be aware of the challenges they face in respect to the feasibility of the project workarounds and obstacles.

All aspects of the business requirements and technical requirements must correlate with the organizational requirements without exception. Many technical firms ran into difficulty when some managers encouraged programmers to create applications in the 1990′s just to keep their jobs instead of actually producing results that benefited the organization.

9) The ECMT leaders must have the clarity to incorporate outside expertise for certain aspects of the project that cannot be fulfilled in-house due to fiscal constraints, contracts, or some other reason. In many cases a contract and confidentiality agreement is signed by the contractor to ensure the privacy of the project.

10) All team-members must develop an advocacy strategy to promote this change or sell it to others who are not immediately affected by it. Most often firms will pre-sell an idea with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or other stake-holder to foster compliance and confidence in the development of the project and implementation of the change. The benefits of the change are conveyed. These will be the very aspects that gave the project legs in the first place.

11) The ECMT will need to develop the coping skills of dealing with resistance among legacy employees who are not convinced that the change makes a difference. This challenge can come from a senior executive down to a janitor in an organization and the team must develop a strategy for handling such adversity in compliance without using threats or creating hostility.

12) And finally the team must have an idea of what the final project will look like, the big picture of things. This can be used as a selling point throughout the process as incentive for others to embrace and for motivation for the team to continue.

One motivating factor for ECMT leaders is to develop a theme for the project and in some cases a mascot to keep moral high and to include a sense of solidarity among members. A good example of this was the Skunk Works when the Stealth Fighter was being developed. The goal for the ECMT manager is to create a team that includes management, executives, supervisors, employees, technical staff, and even accounting and finance so that your project is successful.

James L. Adams Jr. | November 19, 2010 ©

By: James L Adams

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