Course - Managing IT: Organizational Change Management
Posted by Kevin Miller
Updated: May 24, 2019
Released: December 5, 2017
Full Course: View on Pluralsight
At the core of organizational change management is a thorough knowledge of how to successfully introduce change to people. In this course, Managing IT: Organizational Change Management, you'll learn how to clearly define roles and responsibilities and handle resistance to change. First, you'll explore the impact of organizational change management. Then, you'll gain the knowledge to help people transition through change. Finally, you'll learn key activities for effective organizational change management. When you’re finished with this course, you'll have strong knowledge of how to effectively introduce change that will help you as you move forward in your career.
This course was published via Pluralsight.
Free Clips
Sources of Resistance to Change
Almost all major changes are met with some sort of resistance. You see, resistance to change is normal. It's important to point this out because, after you've completed this course and rated it five stars, of course, you might think change management is as easy as flicking on a light switch. I'll be the first to tell you that it's not that simple. Here are 10 sources of resistance. If you think of more, add them to the discussion board for this course.
The first one is easy. There was no commitment from management. If this is missing, it's easy for the troops on the ground to resist. Management needs to lead by example and show they are committed to the change. Change managers need to be aware of people saying yes but meaning no. Sometimes it is intentional, and other times people just revert to doing things the old way. Both of these are detrimental to the positive change you are trying to introduce. When others on the fence see resistance, it's usually enough to get them to resist, too. Managers acting without authority will almost always meet resistance. Executives need to clearly state who is in charge of process changes and back them up. They cannot expect project managers to just get it done. And speaking of support, it needs to be seen early and often to help everyone understand that the change is happening for real this time.
Once things get going, they need to keep going. Losing momentum will lead to new resistance. Once management commits to a change, they need to stay committed so this and future changes are respected and turn out successful. Making and keeping the change urgent will certainly help. Management can accomplish this by communicating often and including everyone. If someone's role is going to change, you need to talk to them to reduce anxiety and build excitement for their new role. Don't just thrust them into it, or you will certainly meet resistance. Of course, if the change is not valuable, those implementing it will wonder why they are wasting their time, thus resistance. And finally, my personal favorite, too many top priorities. Someone once told me that if you have more than one number-one priority, you have no number-one priorities. Nothing can deflate a team like the feeling of being buried in work and being surrounded by chaotic firefighting. You need to have one number-one priority. Now that you know the sources of resistance, let's review how you can tell if your organization is open or resistant to change.
What is RACI?
Now that we've got the boring definitions out of the way, let's talk about RACI. Each letter in RACI represents a participation type for a role.
R stands for responsible. The roles that are assigned in R are the ones that will directly work on the task. At least one role needs to be responsible for completing each task; otherwise, nothing is getting done. For large tasks, you could assign an R to multiple roles to lighten the burden.
A stands for accountable. The role that is assigned the A is the person who is held accountable for the roles assigned the R. In other words, when something goes wrong, the A answers for it. You can only have one A for each task, so there's no confusion and no finger pointing.
C represents consulted. The roles assigned to C will be kept in the loop, and their input will be sought and considered. For IT projects, think about the person or people providing the requirements for a project. You could have one C, many Cs, or no Cs, depending on the task. Lastly, I will be informed of the roles that are assigned. They'll be kept in the loop, but their opinions and ideas will not be requested. Is are usually people who are impacted by a change but are not part of the change, or they are higher‑ups just wanting to keep their ear to the ground without having to dedicate the time and effort to the details. As with the Cs, you could have one I, many Is, or no Is, depending on the task. Now that you know what RACI stands for, let's take a look at a RACI matrix. RACI matrices are a simple way of seeing what level of responsibility each role has. Here is a blank RACI matrix. In the green header row, you should list all of the roles for the project. The first column is used to list all of the tasks. These charts can grow quite large and span many pages vertically as well as horizontally. Let's take a look at an example. Here you go, an example of a small RACI matrix, which we're going to fill out together. You can see I've listed all of the roles for the project in the header row. I then added all of the tasks in the first column and even grouped them to make it easy to read. Sometimes, adding tasks will uncover roles that you previously didn't realize you needed. Once all of the roles and tasks are entered, I start filling in the matrix, beginning with the As. The As are the accountable roles, and there must only be one per task. I then move on to the Rs to indicate those roles responsible for the work. Sometimes, an R has the same role as an A. I then fill in the Cs and the Is. Not every box needs a letter. I have six boxes in this example that don't have a letter. Project sponsors do not care about technical documentation and don't even need to know when it is done. You'll need to review your completed RACI matrix with your team. This is an important project artifact, but it is worthless if the only person who sees it is you. A team meeting with this as one of the main agenda items, usually a project kickoff meeting, will help everyone understand their role and everyone else's role. This will eliminate or at least reduce confusion, which leads to frustration. Considering how many people will be included in the meeting (a lot), you should probably take the time to confirm your RACI matrix with most, if not all, of the participants one-on-one prior to the meeting. This should avoid surprises and potentially embarrassing situations and confrontations in a group setting. Once everyone understands the roles and who is filling them, you can hold the meeting and review the RACI matrix together. It should be a pretty quick meeting since you invested all of that time upfront prior to the meeting. New questions may arise, and that's okay. Your goal for the meeting is to ensure everyone understands and is comfortable with their role in front of the group, which will put indirect pressure on even the laziest of team members. Once the project starts, new tasks and roles will be uncovered. Be sure to update the document and send around the changes to the entire team. If there are a lot of changes, hold another team meeting to ensure everyone is on the same page and answer any new questions. The RACI matrix alone doesn't guarantee success, but not having one almost always guarantees the project starts off poorly. Next, we'll review the change curve and the hype cycle, two of my favorite topics for this course.
Key Activities for Effective Change Management
Let's first talk about some problems caused by not implementing organizational change management. A lack of vision leads to confusion, since no one knows the end goal or why they are making the change. Without leadership alignment, you end up with division between your departments, since everyone is marching to different orders. If there are no incentives, you will face resistance. Don't forget, people want to know what is in it for them, and they don't want empty promises. If your team does not have the skills needed to implement the change, they will have anxiety. This will ultimately lead to turnover. Your team will think they are being set up to fail, and without an action plan, you'll have multiple false starts, as people will naturally revert to their old way of doing things. Now let's talk about how we can avoid these problems with OCM.
The following need to be present for OCM to be successful. To get commitment from your team, you need to have clear and relevant objectives. Your team needs to understand the details of what is changing and why it is changing. You also need to ensure your objectives are based on what the customer determines is of value. Strong and committed leadership is a must. Leadership needs to set an example of commitment by showing frequent active support to those trying to implement the change. When the project manager or a team leader runs into a roadblock, they need to step in. Weak leaders will blame the project manager or team leader for not taking care of the problem. But the truth is, their hands are tied on certain issues, and they're going to need support from above. In order for any change to be successful in the long term, you need to have willing participants. This is a tricky one because not everyone will be on board. Some will disagree with what should be done or why it is being done, and some people just don't like any kind of change. Regardless of the reason, you need to get them on board. Over 50% of this course is based on this topic alone. Of course, even if everyone on your team is willing, they need to be able to do so, and that means you need prepared participants. Most major changes require some sort of training. Later in this module, I'll share with you a training plan template for you to use to ensure your team is ready to hit the ground running when the time comes. Training is an investment that will show the resisters that you want to set them up for success. Finally, you'll need sustained improvement to keep people from reverting back to their old ways of doing things. People are going to run into speed bumps, and you'll need to continually reinforce and remind people of the value. No change is perfect. You can obtain these five essentials for successful improvement through seven key activities. The first is to create a sense of urgency. This will help deliver clear and relevant objectives and willing participants. The next key activity is stakeholder management, which will help deliver strong and committed leadership. Sponsor management also helps to deliver strong, committed leadership. Communication is the most important key activity, and it helps to deliver willing and prepared participants. Next, we have empowerment, which helps to deliver prepared participants as well. Managing resistance will help to deliver willing participants. And finally, reinforcement helps to deliver sustained improvement.