The online
revolution and its effect on corporate America has proved that you
can teach an old dog new tricks, but don't expect that old dog to
just roll over; it's going to bark and whine and chase its tail
plenty before it gives you its paw.
That's where change management comes into play. It's one of those
abstract topics that people pay a lot of money to attend seminars
on, or get paid a lot of money to write weighty books about, but
can't put their fingers on.
When it's finally boiled down, it's really about how to get users
to accept a new business process -- and the technology that enables
it. Change management is something project leaders, business
analysts, applications developers, help desk staffers, trainers,
managers and executives should understand and practice.
"It really is human beings that make companies work, not
technology," says Gabriel Cooper, a consultant in Santa Rosa, Calif.
"Technology is just a tool, and users have to be excited about it,
believe in it, (be) trained in it and supported in it. And change
management is about making sure all of those things are included
from the beginning as part of a project."
Services in High Demand
Although the notion of change management has been around a long
time, companies are now putting more stock in the methodologies
because of the increasing Webifying of business. Research firm
International Data Corp. (IDC) in Framingham, Mass., estimates that
the U.S. market for change management services will exceed $6
billion by 2003.
But not every information technology project requires formal
change management techniques. Upgrading from Windows NT 4.0 to
Windows 2000 or switching to a new voice-mail system isn't likely to
create tremendous angst among users. But new applications that
fundamentally alter the way a group of people operate, both as
individuals and as a whole, and the way they relate to suppliers,
customers and one another will create a lot of anxiety.
Face it: An SAP implementation, the introduction of an extranet
to deal with suppliers or the creation of an e-commerce site are
going to change the routines for everyone from top executives to
administrative assistants.
Not only will they have to master a new technology, but their
roles in the corporate universe may also become drastically
different. At the very least, they will have to acclimate to doing
their daily work in a completely new way.
In some cases, that's not just anxiety-provoking; it's downright
terrifying. And change-management advocates say IT professionals who
may feel invigorated by a new technology often fail to consider the
ramifications of users' distress.
"When humans confront rapid change, they get frustrated, freeze
up, get rigid and rebel against the changes. They aren't as
adaptable as IT expects them to be," says Marianne Hedin, research
manager at IDC's Consulting Services Research Program and author of
the report, "Change Management: An Analysis of Market Trends,
Growth, and the Competitive Landscape," published in November. "IT
professionals tend to see things in black and white, and in change
management, there's a lot of gray area. It's about emotions --
anger, anxiety and frustration."
Walk the Walk
The best way for an IT professional to get his mind around change
management, Cooper says, is to walk a mile in the user's shoes. What
if you're a hands-on programmer accustomed to inventing applications
from scratch, and your department decides to convert to libraries of
reusable code?
"There may be perfectly good reasons for the change, and you will
still feel frustrated, powerless, like your skills aren't as sharp,"
Cooper says. "All of those are natural responses, which result in
the diminished performance of the new system if they aren't
managed."
What role can you play in reducing user stress and increasing
acceptance of change? The keys, consultants say, are finding
business champions for the IT project, including line workers in the
development and design of the new system, constant communication
about progress, reiteration of the case for implementing the new
business process and education and training.
Finally, remember that you can't separate the three components
critical to the project's success: people, processes and technology,
says Gary Kissler, a partner at Deloitte Consulting's Change
Leadership practice in Dallas: "The statistics bear out that the
cause of the large failures we have seen is a lack of attention to
the abstract, touchy-feely things."
Whether IT can lead change management or simply be a partner is
up for debate. Since a big IT project such as an enterprise resource
planning implementation is likely to be driven by business
objectives, some say IT must assist with, but not spearhead,
measures to garner acceptance of the new system.
On the other hand, "If you get an IT person to imagine what this
process will look like a year after the system implementation and
work back from there, there's no reason why IT can't lead change
management as much as anyone else," says Dan Cohen, another partner
at Deloitte's Change Leadership practice, who is co-authoring a book
on change management. "Think about how the system will be used in
the future, because then you're not just thinking of the technology,
but how the technology is interfacing with people and processes."
Building Blocks to Managing Change
In tandem with creating the business case for a project, identify
key end users who will champion the new system and processes. Ally
with executives and department heads who see the need and who are
strong communicators respected by both peers and line workers. Put
them on a steering committee. Select people whose future success at
the company is linked to the success of the project.
In the requirements phase, seek input for functionality and
user-interface design from line workers, not from just the project
champions. Put together a separate team composed exclusively of
workers, and meet with them to understand current business
processes, how they could be improved, system requirements and
requests and the look and feel of the new system. These team
members, in turn, become "minichampions" who take the message into
the workforce and become your most eager beta testers.
Maintain regular, frequent and honest communication about the
progress of the project. Reiterate the business case for the changes
often enough so that it stays on people's minds. Be honest even when
it's painful and keep users apprised of delays and failures -- let
them know when 80% of the solution worked, but 20% still needs more
work.
Think of your communication efforts in terms of a political or
marketing campaign that aims to persuade, not merely inform. Use
whatever means are most appropriate to reach each of the
constituencies, from hard-copy executive briefings to e-mail
newsletters for department heads, to coffee cups sporting an
official project logo for line workers.
As you are developing the system, keep asking yourself: "What are
the implications for the people who are using this system? How will
they use it and relate to it?" Stay focused on the integration of
the IT component with the people who will be using it and the
business processes that will change because of it; if you
compartmentalize the three, acceptance of the fundamental changes
will take so long that the project will be perceived as a failure.
Sources: Gabriel Cooper, independent consultant, Santa Rosa,
Calif.; and Dan Cohen and Gary Kissler, partners, Deloitte
Consulting's Change Leadership practice, Dallas.
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