change management

Topic Summary

Change management and communications

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The Topic Summary covers: Page

• Change management and communications (Topic Summary) 1

• What does ‘Change management and communications ’ mean? 2

• What is ‘Change management and communications ’? 3

• Change management and communications methodology 4

• Change and communications management key activities 5

• Change management and communications sample tools 6

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Topic summary – Change management and communications

Change management and communications

The purpose of this document is to give you an overview of what change management and communications is all about and what it involves

Once you have read this topic summary, please read through the following documents to further learning and development:

• Transform, Making Change Stick and how these help us to deliver a best fit change approach

• Change management and communications methodology, which will introduce you to change impact assessment, stakeholder engagement and best fit change approach

• Change management and communications tools quick reference guides, which introduce you to the two most common approaches that we use; the change curve and know/think/feel/do

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What does change management and communications mean?

Change management relates to the activities involved in :

1. Defining and instilling new values, attitudes, norms, and behaviours within an organisation that support new ways of doing work

2. Building consensus among customers and stakeholders on specific changes designed to better meet their needs

3. Planning, testing, and implementing all aspects of the transition from one organizational structure or business process to another

Change management is a wide and far reaching area, consideration of which is critical to the success of many of the projects we work on in Consulting and across the other Lines of Service.

When thinking about change management and the people impact of large organisational changes, it’s important to bear in mind the following key principles:

1. People react differently to change

2. Everyone has fundamental needs that have to be met

3. Change often involves a loss, and people go through the "loss curve"

4. Expectations need to be managed realistically

5. Fears have to be dealt with

of change projects fail 9

out of the top 10 reasons are

people related

75%

CEOs identified the ability to adapt to

marketplace change as a vital concern for their companies and

a major source of competitive

advantage

Did you know?...

Did you know?...

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What is change management and communications?

How can organisations successfully manage their change initiatives?

Organisations can achieve financial and operational improvements by supporting the people impacted by their organisational change. This can be done by focusing on several areas, including: • Defining the vision and outcomes of the change • Change diagnostics to inform the planning and

implementation of the change initiative • Communicating the right messages to the right people at

the right time • Transition management

These areas provide the framework for everything an organisation should do to successfully provide its people who are impacted by change with the right skills and knowledge to deliver real and tangible outcomes within their business.

Why is Change Management and Communications Important? Delivering successful change management and communications will help organisations realise business value (financial and operational) from their transformation through sustainable behavioural change. This behavioural change can also support and reinforce process and technology changes to realise even greater value.

What are some typical project characteristics?

• Misalignment in stakeholder vision and understanding for the case for change

• Strong need to engage the business to build buy-in • Resistance to change within a business • Projects within an organisation where the employees

are change weary

What are common client challenges?

In our experience there are a number of areas that prevent tangible outcomes from occurring on large scale transformation programmes:

• Lack of clarity on what successful change will look like on the ‘shop floor’

• The ‘project’ often lacks real qualitative and quantitative evidence reagarding the levels of engagement within the business

• The go-live period is often IT or process led and fails to give enough focus to the people element of change

• Change, training and communications teams operate as separate units and often give conflicting messages to staff

• The system or process changes but the behaviours of the people don’t.

Change management and communications represents a significant challenge to many organisations, as businesses constantly need to change in some way to remain competitive

of CEOs have made up to eight major

kinds of changes in the last three

years

90%

of CEOs say that lack of change

management skills and experience at more

senior levels are serious barriers to

success.

48%

Did you know?...

Did you know?...

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Change management methodology and communications

Change and communications management and Transform

To help us support our clients in the delivery of large change programmes, we use the Transform methodology. A significant part of the methodology focuses on change and communications management and the specific activities steps which need to be undertaken to deliver a successful project.

Making change stick

An important point about Transform is that it is embedded within it are a set of principles under the heading 0f ‘Making Change Stick’. These principles focus on accelerating delivery of benefits long after a programme has been completed so that the change is sustained, long after PwC complete a project with a client. Making Change Stick focuses on benefits, involvement and sustainability and building the best fit change approach to ensure projects have a successful outcome.

Change management and communications is critical in turning the potential failure of a change initiative into success, accelerating the delivery of benefits and helping to ensure the sustainability of the planned changes.

In the Strategy and Assess Stage, the best-fit change approach is diagnosed and an Integrated Change Strategy is developed which describes the change management activities to be undertaken.

In the following stages, the change management activities required to support the achievement of the intended business outcomes and benefits are designed, constructed and implemented.

Change management and communications and the stages of Transform

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Change and communications management key activities (Core X2)

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Change management and communications sample tools

We can use these tools to help us manage and drive change

The Change Curve

This model can be used to help us understand reactions and perceptions to change, of individuals or groups of people, over a period of time.

It is used to plot where specific people sit on the curve so that we, as consultants, can manage their reactions effectively.

The model has been further developed by other researchers to describe 7 stages:

1. Shock

2. Denial

3. Anger

4. Bargaining

5. Depression

6. Testing

7. Acceptance

The model may be used by the Programme Leader or Change Manager, to map key stakeholders and address specific groups in certain ways. The model can help identify both positive and negative behaviours and therefore potential ‘change agents’.

Know/Think/Feel/Do

This model builds on Kolb’s learning cycle and work around learning styles. It is useful when planning stakeholder management and communications to help identify the response that you need from you various stakeholder groups – and what they will need from you to get there. We use the Know/Think/Feel/Do approach to clarify the purpose of our communications to key audiences in order to balance the communications and address the audience’s seemingly incompatible needs around ownership, reassurance and gravity of situation. An example of how this may be used is shown below.

Stakeholder group

Know Think/Feel Do What they need from us

Employees There is going to be a change in organisational structure

Feel well informed, understand how they will fit into the new structure and excited and positive about the change

Continue business as usual and maintain productivity and efficiency, help and support the transition as it progresses

Honest and accurate information about any resulting redundancies, information about new reporting lines

Memory jogger Change Management and Communications

My notes Related resources

• For the change and communications management section of Transform: Go to the Competencies Navigator and look under People and Change.

• Change management and communications topic summary

Change management includes:

1. Defining and instilling new values, attitudes, norms, and behaviours within an organisation that support new ways of doing work and overcoming resistance to change

2. Building consensus among customers and stakeholders on specific changes designed to better meet their needs

3. Planning, testing, and implementing all aspects of the transition from one organizational structure or business process to another

Change management and communications represents a significant challenge to many organisations, as businesses constantly need to change in some way to remain competitive.

5 6 1

of CEOs have made up to eight

major kinds of changes in the

last three years

90%

of change projects fail 9 out

of the top 10 reasons are

people related

75%

How can organisations successfully manage their change initiatives?

Organisations can achieve financial and operational improvements by supporting the people impacted by their organisational change. This can be done by focusing on several areas, including:

• Defining the vision and outcomes of the change

• Change diagnostics to inform the planning and implementation of the change initiative

• Communicating the right messages to the right people at the right time

• Transition management

These areas provide the framework for everything an organisation should do to successfully provide its people (those who are impacted by change ) with the right skills and knowledge to deliver real and tangible outcomes within their business.

2 3 4

Why is Change Management & Communications important?

Effective change management and communications helps an organisation deliver successful outcomes and realise the business value (financial and operational) from their transformation, by creating sustainable behavioural change. This behavioural change can also support and reinforce process and technology changes to realise even greater value.

What are some common barriers to organisational change ?

There are a number of areas that prevent real and tangible outcomes from occurring on large scale transformation programmes. For example:

• Lack of clarity on what successful change will look like on the ‘shop floor’

• The ‘project’ often lacks real qualitative and quantitative evidence regarding the levels of engagement within the business

• The go-live period is often IT or process led and fails to give enough focus to the people element of change

• Change, training and communications teams operate as separate units and often give conflicting messages to staff

• The system or process changes but the behaviours of the people don’t.

To help us support our clients in the delivery of large change programmes, we use a methodology called Transform. A significant part of the methodology focuses on Change Management and Communications and the specific activities steps which need to be undertaken to deliver a successful project.

The activities contained within Transform are organised into a number of Stages and Phases. There is a specific Phase called Change and Communications Management which lists all of the activities required to support a change initiative, through identification and application of a number of change activities and evaluation techniques.

Change and communications management is critical in turning the potential failure of a change initiative into success, accelerating the delivery of benefits and helping to ensure the sustainability of the planned changes. Because the Change and communications management phase cuts across the life cycle of a project, the tasks are not one off or one time only activities. Most of them can be conducted at any time throughout the change initiative.

What are some typical change project characteristics?

• Misalignment in stakeholder vision and understanding of the case for change

• Strong need to engage the business to build buy-in

• Resistance to change within a business

• Projects within an organisation where the employees are change weary

2.10 Change management and communications methodology

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PwC ● 2 Consulting L&D 20130711 1700

To help us support our clients in the delivery of large change programmes, we use the Transform methodology. A significant part of the methodology focuses on change and communications management and the specific activities steps which need to be undertaken to deliver a successful project. It is a cross-lifecycle element – see Core X2.

The activities contained within Transform are organised into a number of Stages and Phases, listing all of the activities required to support a change initiative, through identification and application of a number of change activities and evaluation techniques.

Change and communications management is critical in turning the potential failure of a change initiative into success, accelerating the delivery of benefits and helping to ensure the sustainability of the planned changes. Because the change and communications management phase cuts across the life cycle of a project, the tasks are not one off or one time only activities. Most of them can be conducted at any time throughout the change initiative.

In the Strategy and Assess Stage, the best-fit change approach is diagnosed and an Integrated Change Strategy is developed which describes the change management activities to be undertaken. This can be described the change approach which fits the context and nature of the change in the best possible way, thereby increasing 'stickiness' and sustainability of the change. It describes how benefits, involvement, and sustainability issues should be addressed to deliver the desired business outcomes and benefits.

In the other stages, the change management activities required to support the achievement of the intended business outcomes and benefits are designed, constructed and implemented.

One important point about Transform is that embedded within it are a set of principles under the heading 0f ‘Making Change Stick’. These principles focus on accelerating delivery of benefits long after a programme has been completed so that the change is sustained, long after PwC complete a project with a client. Making Change Stick focuses on benefits, involvement and sustainability and building the best fit change approach to ensure projects have a successful outcome.

The Transform methodology helps to deliver successful change and communications programmes

Link to Transform home page: http://transform.pwc.com/Method/Transform

Link to Core X2:

http://transform.pwc.com/Lifecycle/Module/Transform/CoreX2

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http://transform.pwc.com/Method/Transform

http://transform.pwc.com/Lifecycle/Module/Transform/CoreX2


Change and communications management activities within Transform


Change and communications activities – practical application

Design Construct

Develop the change vision

Change impact and readiness assessment

Assess stakeholder engagement needs &

develop comms & engagement plans

Assess culture alignment with change vision

Activity What How

Best fit change approach and change strategy

Organisation impact assessment

The Change Vision describes why the initiative is being undertaken and what the intended outcomes are. It’s purpose is to increase understanding amongst those that will be impacted by, or make the change happen.

• Research how the business works and why it is that way • Run interviews to understand and define the benefits • Run workshops to build the case for change • Develop the change vision – perhaps using a rich picture

The purpose of this activitiy is to analyse the capacity of an organisation to change by assessing change history, potential risk and readiness issues associated with the change and the ability of the leadership to successfully deliver the change.

It is necessary to assess stakeholder communication and engagement needs to gain commitment and buy in to the change initiative. Once the assessment has been undertaken, a communication and engagement strategy can be developed along with a communications and engagement plan.

The purpose of this activity is to understand whether the organisation’s current culture acts as a barrier or enabler to the change initiative, also to identify change levers that can be pulled to help close the gaps between the current and desired culture to support the organisation’s strategic direction.

The activities here are used to define the most appropriate change management approach and activities required to deliver business outcomes and sustainable benefits. The best fit change approach and change strategy are specific to each engagement and there is no one size fits all solution.

The purpose of this is to examine the effect of the change initiative on the organisation from the perspective of people, process, technology and structure. An organisational impact assessment is undertaken after the target operating model has been developed.

• Complete the change impact and readiness assessment through either interviews, surveys or focus groups

• Document the change impact and readiness findings to summarise the organisations readiness, willingness and capability for change

• Undertake a stakeholder mapping exercise to list and group stakeholders • Review success of current communications mechanisms • Develop communications and engagement strategy • Develop a communications and engagement plan

• Select an appropriate culture diagnostic approach • Run the culture diagnostic and write up the outputs of the diagnostic in a culture

assessment report which summarises findings and the extent that the culture supports/does not support the change vision.

• Identify the type of changeby running a joint exercise between the project team and the key client sponsors

• Define the best fit change approach based on the context and nature of the change • Develop integrated change strategy and identify some quick wins

• Select an appropriate organisational impact assessment approach (e.g. research, 1:1 assessments, workshop or interviews)

• Analyse outputs and use data to support the change plan, as well as training, communications and other plans

Taking the key change and communications management activity groupings which are mentioned on the previous page, the following pages explain what each of these steps involve and how we might undertake them with our clients.


Typical change and communications management project activities

Design Construct

Activity What How

Define culture and behaviours

Deliver change network activities

Implement change leadership activities and

plans

Monitor change and provide ongoing support

and coaching

Assess the success of the change

Complete knowledge handover

This tasks looks at defining the desired culture and behaviours needed to support the change initiative and identify required cultural changes to reinforce future desired behaviours. The outputs of the cultural assessment are used to design future behaviours and assess the gap with current behaviours.

• Identify future desired behaviours by facilitating either a visioning workshop, focus groups or wider workstream activities

• Undertake a gap analysis between the future and current behaviours with interventions required to close the gap

• Identify any unintended consequences of the new culture

The Change Network is a group of people or change agents from the organisation who serve as a two way conduit from the project to the impact stakeholders. The Change Network provides a framework for regularly engaging the organisation and embedded change capabilities.

This task aims to provide leadership with the tools to effectively drive behavioural change and achieve change initiative goals by developing an aligned and compelling vision and sponsoring the change initiative.

This set of activities intend to support the execution of all strategies and plans, coach stakeholders, monitor their collective performance and where necessary refine planned activities.

A post implementation assessment is often undertaken to measure the effectiveness of the transition management and change management activities post ‘go live’. Lessons learnt should be captured and shared with the wider organisation as part of the hand over process.

Knowledge handover is a formal process which should provide the organisation with all the tools and formal documentation used during the project . The handover should comprise sufficient knowledge and capability to continue to operate on a standalone basis once the change initiatives have concluded

• Define Change Network strategy, roles, structure and governance • Agree Change Network participants and engagement principles • Design Change Network toolkit, materials and training • Create a knowledge transfer plan to upskill the network by transferring change

management knowledge

• Obtain commitment from leaders for the role of change leader • Undertake an assessment of leadership competencies required and those

currently available • Undertake action planning to create alignment of leadership and plan for effective

development of individuals/the team

• Continue to execute and monitor all previous change tasks and assess effectiveness by measuring against the indicators set out in the change plan, and base lined against the change impact and readiness assessments.

• Facilitate a lessons learned workshop and write up the agreed outputs • Undertake a formal review of completed change management activities and assess

if they have achieved benefits expectations

• Complete a knowledge handover checklist containing all tools and materials on the project

• Schedule a meeting with key stakeholders to formally handover all key documents and sign off the knowledge transfer process.


Project example where Transform has been applied throughout

PwC (UK and Middle East firms) has supported the design and set up of a new finance function for an international energy company in partnership with a Chinese and a state company in Iraq.

In addition to the instability of the country, there were complications related to cultural differences and language barriers. The partnership did not have legal entity status, which added complexities like people reporting to legacy organisations instead of reporting to the new partnership, vested interests from the legacy entities, etc.

For a change programme to succeed in such a challenging environment it needed to be very simple, scalable & direct. The underlying methodology used was Transform.

The change management aims of this project were to support an effective transition of the people from the legacy entities into the new joint venture organisation. The objectives were to;

• Design and implement simple and scalable finance processes, with clear roles, responsibilities , interdependencies and governance structure to attract and retain the best talent available;

• Provide timely and meaningful communications to key stakeholders and joint venture partners; and

• Build up their capabilities with technical and behavioural training.

The change approach for the Finance organisation was developed to address the following people needs and tailored to fit local needs (tailored for Middle eastern audience, consultation of local respected leaders etc).

1. What is the new partnership and Finance organisation?

2. How do I fit into this new organisation? What am I expected to do?

3. Will I be able to fit into this new organisation? What are the skills required and expected? Do they match my competencies?

4. Will I be trained for this new role? Will the new leaders want to invest in up skilling us?

5. Will my leaders be able to guide us through this? Will they support us?

6. Will I be kept in the loop of information? What is going to happen next?

Design Construct Implement Operate &review

• Share the change approach and detail the individual communication initiatives and training plans with all key stakeholders

• Work closely with the client to define the individual change, communication and training activities;

• Draft the key interventions

• Refine training and communications content, test with stakeholders;

• Review work-shadowing experience and align to formal training

• Align with work-shadowing experience and new roles identified (map roles to training courses

• Deliver the training and communications

• Supervising the end to end processes implementation

• Map out and implement plans for where refinement of the organisation design is required.

Strategy and Assess

• Understand what type of change the organisation would need to go through

• Collect further information from other parts of the business (mainly HR and communications) in order to define the change management risks and issues

• Draft the change approach

The diagram below demonstrates the key activities undertaken during each phase of the project, aligning to the Transform methodology.

For more information about this project and the relevant deliverables, click on the following link or copy and paste into browser: https://knowledgecurve.com/global/gkg/energyutilsmining_gwy.nsf/(search_gkg)/dd642ecda4ee974a8025777c002d60b7?OpenDocument

3 weeks 3 weeks 6-8 weeks 4 weeks Continuous

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Examining some of the key change and communications management activities in detail

Going back to the change and communications management activities listed within Transform, there are a number of these which are really crucial in supporting the delivery of a successful project. We will examine three of these in more detail now.

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1

3


Change management activities

This document summarises 3 key change management activities:

It also links these to Transform where you can see where the change management activities fit within an engagement plan.

2 Stakeholder engagement and communications plan

1 Change impact assessment

3 Define best fit change approach


1. The change impact assessment

4

People (incl. culture & performance): What is the most important impact on the people in your organisation? Approximately how many people are affected by the outcome of the projects ? To what extent will your organisation hire, retain or lay off people? How does the change help to achieve a common winning performance culture?

Processes: What processes are changing and to what extent? How critical are the processes to the day to day running of the organisation? What are the interfaces and handoffs with different parts of the organisation?

1

2

3

5

6

Strategy: What are the most important changes to the strategy? To what extent will the commercial strategy, the customer segmentation and targeting, the product, pricing and channel strategy be changed?

Organisation: What are the most important organisational changes? What main departments/functions will be affected? e.g. structure, roles & responsibilities, competencies, payment structure?

Systems: What are the most important system changes? Are there replacement, modification or building new systems?

Facilities: What are the most important changes in facilities / locations? e.g. centralising, opening new locations, closing locations?

This document helps you to identify what impact a change will have on an organisation.

What?

Impact analysis provides information about the level of impact of the proposed changes. The type and extent of changes in the areas of strategy, the organisation structure, people, processes, systems and facilities (locations) are set out clearly. Based on this information we can determine the necessary interventions to prepare people for the coming changes. A change impact assessment is used at the beginning of a change initiative to capture the impact the change is likely to have on an organisation and offers a relatively quick assessment which can be conducted periodically through the change initiative.

How?

There are six areas where high level impacts of the change are assessed. These are listed below along with examples of the kinds of questions which are posed as part of the change impact assessment.


Example change impact assessment template

The change impact assessment should be completed by facilitating a workshop with the people most affected by the change, subject matter experts of the current processes and the other key stakeholders. The information from the workshop should be tested with specific interviewees, to avoid any misunderstanding. It is important to note that some projects will need particular attention due to the sensitive nature of people impacts (for example, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions).

Once a change impact assessment has been undertaken you will be able to determine the most appropriate change approach and implementation strategy.

Choosing the Right Change Approach Having understood the dynamics of the situation and the impact of the proposed change, it is important to answer the following questions:

• How much ‘buy-in’ do we need to deliver this change? • How complex is the situation? • What resources will we need? • What is the most appropriate communication strategy? • What are leader and sponsor behaviours to support the change? • What training and development will support new behaviours? • How do we make the change stick? Choosing the Right Change Implementation Strategy The change approach will be made up of a number of building blocks demonstrating a ‘clear line of sight’ to the business case. The factors identified in the change strategy need to be developed into actions that can be implemented by the client and PwC team.

Illustrative question Illustrative topis Indicate the most important changes

Impact Description Describe how the listed changes will impact the ways of working

Impact level High =>60% job changes Medium= 30-60% job changes Low=,30% job changes

Impact on department

Impact on function

Strategy change

What are the most important changes to the strategy?

e.g. Change in competitive landscape/ changes to external stakeholders/ change in regulatory environment/ change in degree of innovation?

Organisation change

What are the most important structural changes?

e.g. Changes to department structure, leadership team, number of employees, tasks/ competencies/ responsibilities, payment structure?

People change

What are the most important people changes?

E.g. Cultural changes; extent of hiring, retention and lay-offs?

Process change

What are the most important process changes?

e.g. Modifications to existing processes, implementation of new processes?

System change

What are the most important system changes (replacement, new, interface, changes or removal)?

e.g. Modification of existing systems, implementation of new ones?

Facilities change

What are the most important facility changes?

e.g. Is there a planned relocation/ will activities be centralised?


2. Stakeholder engagement and communication plans

The second key activity relates to the stakeholder

engagement and communications plan. Without

appropriate, tailored and timely communication,

stakeholders are more likely to be disengaged,

unsupportive and resistant to change. Morale tumbles,

behaviours don’t change and objectives are rarely met.

What?

While we know that the involvement of people impacted by a change project is

the key, the scale and approach you take will vary depending on the nature of

the change. How you involve people will vary from project to project,

depending on:

• speed of change required

• complexity of change

• history

• how it will affect them

We need to determine which communication approach is appropriate for the

audience.

Thinking about the best way to engage with your stakeholders is key to

achieving the programme aims. Change communication takes place over a

number of phases and, depending on the complexity of the project, you may

need to go round the cycle a number of times. The scope is likely to change

frequently so you should review your strategy and plan after each phase.

The diagram gives a high level view of the flow of communications and

engagement activities which need to be undertaken on a change progamme.

The Change Programme

Implement

Design

Scope

Review

Define the Comms scope

Develop Comms

Strategy & Plan

Deliver Comms

Plan

Monitor & Review Comms

Plan

Identify & map

stakeholders


What’s in the communication plan? • Firstly, as part of the communications activities, it’s important to clarify

the scope. To do this it is important to understand the business’ strategic intent, outline the communications objectives and clarify key roles and responsibilities

• The communication plan will need to be the umbrella which sits across the change strategy and will be developed using outputs of the change readiness and change impact assessments

• It is important to review existing communications activities and processes to identify what works well and what doesn’t

• Once the scope has been defined there should be a good view of the various stakeholder groups that will be impacted by, or have an impact on the change. It is important to map these stakeholders on a similar template to the example below, to understand where they currently are and where they might need to be

How?

• Some typical steps to take to complete are:

a. Identify an initial list of stakeholders. Think about external as well as internal groups. Useful information might be available in the business case, the change vision and strategy, organisation charts, corporate plans, discussions with senior management, project sponsors and process owners.

b. Assess the stakeholder list. Think about the role each person has to play, their power and influence, the impact of the change on their working lives, the level of support required from each, the scheduling or timing of their involvement and the actions to be taken. You can then begin to group them e.g. senior managers, media, staff, trade.

c. Map the stakeholders. You can do this on a simple chart (shown on the left) which maps their level of influence and power. In this context, influence relates to the level of impact the stakeholders can have on the successful implementation of the change. Power relates to the ability of the stakeholders to shape opinions and make critical decisions within an organisation.

d. Manage the stakeholders. The Communication Strategy maps out what stakeholders will require in terms of communications. You will also need to think about how often you need to update certain people or groups, setting up and conducting update sessions, maintaining such things as stakeholder maps, records and email lists and preparing reports to outline your communication and engagement activities.

Investors/ JVs

Media Retired

members

Trustees

Regulators

Unions

HR leadership

Influence Partners

Inform Involve

HR

Local working groups

Employees

Example of a simple stakeholder map for a change in HR Practices

High

Low High

Po

we

r

Influence

More information can be found on this in Transform Core X2, for example in X2.3 and X2.9.

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Example of communications plan

Below is an illustrative example of a communications plan for a HR change programme that has been completed to show different stakeholder

groups, their role and what communciations they are likely to need. Having undertaken the stakeholder mapping exercise we have an understanding

of the different groups and levels of influence and power. We can then use this to work out what information they will need and the ways to deliver

the messages effectively.

Stakeholder What’s their role?

What will they be interested in?

What will they need? Who else must contribute?

What channels will we use to reach them?

Local working groups

Immediate follow up communications and dialogue

• Ensuring sponsorship for the programme and support to minimal disruption to BAU

• Understanding how to get support with tailoring communications plans and materials in their area

• Regular, consistent direction and support from global leadership

• Core pack of key messages, templates and deliverables that can be easily tailored and rolled out to local audiences

HR Leaderhsip Team (HRLT)

Briefing meetings / calls with Workstream Management Office Tailored briefing pack including FAQs document

Employees (active members, including management roles)

Interested party (recipient)

• Knowing what this means for them as individuals – what will change and their options

• Understanding how this impacts their perception of the employer brand.

• Timely information at the point of announcement and beyond

• Personalised communications about the specific impact, actions required, timescales and next steps

• Full understanding of their choices and the financial education available

• Assurance on communication/consultation process • Reassurance that the third party pension provider is

secure and equally creditworthy

Local working group Approval by VP Corp Comms

Email, posters, intranet, written communications Management or other cascade, townhalls

HR business partners

Local sponsorship • Understanding affected stakeholders and likely impact (on business and HR)

• Understanding the role they’re required to play in the change, how to meet obligations and the support and guidance given to them during activities

• Understanding timescales and tools available

• Regular, consistent direction and support from global leadership

• Detailed briefing from HR leadership and communication network

• Core pack of key messages, templates and deliverables that can be used to equip them for change and to communicate with business

• Mechanism to ask questions and give feedback around process

HRLT and local working groups

Briefing meetings with HRLT (through existing infrastructure) Briefing packs

Unions / works councils

• Working together to ensure they feel change is delivered effectively with a fair deal for union / works council members in consultation process

• Clear union and works council communication strategy with central coordination around approach and messaging, but ability to customise and deploy locally (where relationships lie)

• Briefing statements / calls

Legal, HRLT, local HR Local relationship owners via written and/or verbal briefing


3. Defining the best fit change approach

The final area for us to explore in more detail is how to define the

best fit change approach. Our view is that for every change

situation, there is a ‘best fit’ change approach. Defining this

approach, while challenging, makes it more likely to achieve

successful and sustainable change.

What?

Change initiatives are unique and require different change management

activities to be successful. Determining the most appropriate approach to

develop and implement these activities depends on the type, size and

complexity of the change programme and requires experience and judgement.

But there are some broad approaches that will help you.

The identification of the type of change is a joint exercise between the

programme/project team and the programme's key sponsors. It will be based

upon the Change Vision, the change impact and other assessments so that

they can describe:

• The context of the business and its high level receptiveness and ability to change

• The expected outcomes and benefits of the change, as described in the Change Vision; and the culture of the organisation and its alignment to the Change Vision

The programme sponsors should approve the key change attributes that have

been decided based on:

1. Understanding of the problem. To what degree has the problem been analysed and have root causes been understood by all involved?

2. Level of complexity. How many and to what degree will business units, geographical locations, processes, systems and people be impacted by the change?

3. Predictability of the solution. The type of change may be unpredictable and difficult to define; will changes require different behaviours or depend upon more than one part of the organisation?

4. Leadership capability. Does the leadership team have the skills, capability and experience required to lead the change and operate new ways of working?

5. Cultural context. To what extent will the change impact existing culture and ways of working?

The Best-Fit Change Approach is the approach which best fits the context and

nature of the change and should be a collaborative activity.

The Best-Fit Change Approach should ensure that there is an appropriate

focus on benefits, involvement and sustainability which, in turn, determines

which change activities should be selected over others (e.g., long term vs.

short term, flexible vs. standardised).

Change approaches are predominately directive or inclusive:

Directive change: When change is predominantly directive, the benefits

and requirements of the change are defined from above, before the

programme starts. A directive change approach may be appropriate when the:

• Change is straightforward (e.g., it affects one business area in one geography and has little interdependency with other systems, processes or behaviours)

• Solution and implementation plan are tried and tested in the organisation • Speed of implementation or rapid communication of new procedures

matters more than the benefits of inclusion.

Examples of situations where directive change may be appropriate include

financial rescues or turnarounds, the first 100 days of a post-merger

integration or the implementation of SAP into a single business unit.


Inclusive change: Where the change is more inclusive, those impacted by the

change will help to shape its purpose, direction and implementation. In most changes,

an inclusive approach is better than a directive one. Stakeholders that are included

upfront are more likely to adopt new business-as-usual practices that are required to

make change sustainable. Inclusive change takes two main forms, pre-planned and

enquiring:

• Inclusive, pre-planned change. For this type of change, leaders are able to

diagnose the basic change strategy and plot the course for change but they

recognise that early and ongoing inclusion will accelerate and sustain the delivery

of change. This approach works particularly well on outsourcing, functional

redesign, supply chain and large ERP implementation programmes

• Inclusive, enquiring change. The enquiring approach is taken when

leadership cannot predict at the outset of the programme, the detail of the changes

required. Programmes requiring significant local tailoring e.g., establishing a new

customer experience, organisation-wide complexity reduction or shifts in culture

e.g., moving from silo cultures to a one-firm model, often fall into this category.

For inclusive, enquiring change the main aim is not to gain buy-in (as is the case in an

inclusive, pre-planned approach); but to shape, direct and create the change. Large

group workshops can be used to combine communications which detail the need to

change with 'workout' sessions where local teams can start to identify interrelated

issues with processes, systems and behaviours and create their own change plans.

For non-complex change initiatives, you can use a decision tree (see Figure O6.1) to

define the type of change and draft the Best-Fit Change Approach. This approach can

also be used during early diagnosis of larger programmes or during initial

conversations with the sponsor. More complex change initiatives will require a deeper

level of analysis. For further information, see Transform Core X2.5.

Diagnosing the best fit change approach

Has the problem been fully and

clearly analysed and understood?

Challenge the

definition of the

problem again

Is the solution

predictable?

Yes No

No Is the problem complex?

Complexity increases across Bus, geographies, processes, systems,

and where impact on multiple audiences is high

Predictability reduces where behaviours need to change, there

are external dependencies, or where the problem is new or

challenges the culture

Is the solution predictable?

Yes No No Yes

Take a

directive

approach

Take an

inclusive

approach

Take an

inclusive

approach

Take an

inclusive

approach

Is organisation highly

centralised?

Is change

urgent? Yes

No No No No

Build skills &

commitment

Do leaders have

change skills &

commitment? Yes

Directive

standardised

approach

Directive

localised

approach

Inclusive

pre-planned

approach

Yes

Inclusive

enquiring

approach


Designing the best fit change approach – Commitment or compliance?

“It is difficult to be positive and enthusiastic about something of which you do not feel or believe.”

Below is a diagram which is helpful to explain the two distinct ways to engage employees in a change, either by commitment or

compliance, It is clear that if you engage and involve people in any change being undertaken they are much more likely to accept.

However, do we always need commitment? There are sometimes examples where compliance is a necessary route. Whilst many may

want to do things differently it is essential they comply with the certain standards.

When employees perform out of compliance, rather than commitment, they do it because more often than not they are told to so, not

because they want to. However, it is difficult to be positive and enthusiastic about something which you do not feel or believe.

Compliance

"I have to do it this new way"

Reaction "I will react to this change -if I must"

Testing "I must absorb this change

Negative perception "I feel threatened by this change"

Engagement "I see the implications for me / us"

Understanding "I know why and what will change

Awareness "I am being told about something"

Positive perception "I see the opportunity in this change"

Testing "I will put myself at stake for this change"

Action "I will act to achieve this change"

Commitment "I want to do it this new way"

Quick reference guide Tool: The Change Curve

Explanation

This model can be help us understand reactions and perceptions to change, of individuals or groups of people, over a period of time. The model can be used to plot where specific people sit on the curve so that we, as consultants, can manage their reactions effectively and develop interventions to counteract any feelings of resistance or despair.

The original model described five different stages and some examples of the types of reactions are shown below;

1. Denial – total non-acceptance of the change, ‘proving’ to oneself that it is not happening

2. Anger – frustration that this is happening to them and looking for someone or something to blame. Still not accepting the change

3. Bargaining – looking for some way of avoiding the inevitable, with individuals often verging on panic and trying to find anything to remedy the situation

4. Depression – a feeling that nothing seems to work, responding with apathy and sadness

5. Acceptance – Here the reality of the situation is accepted and individuals tend to decide what works and what doesn’t.

Application

This can be used by a Programme Leader or Change Manager, potentially with a client

Programme Sponsor, to map where key stakeholders or groups of individuals sit on the

curve. The results can then be used to address specific groups in certain ways (e.g.

communications) in order to move them further along the curve and also to develop

quick wins and interventions. The model can help identify positive, pro-active

behaviours to change as well as negative, adverse behaviours, therefore enabling us to

determine potential ‘change agents’.

Demonstration

Select an individual/ group of people to map onto the curve. Consider the traits and behaviours or reactions they have shown to determine which stage on the curve they are at. It is important to take into account that individuals will not move along the curve at the same time nor will they necessarily move through each stage in order. Once it has been determined where key stakeholders sit on the curve, interventions and quick wins should be developed to help move them further along the curve towards acceptance of change.

Notes

This model was developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1969) as part of her work with terminally ill patients to describe the grieving process. The original is shown below. The model has since been developed by other researchers, principally Adams, Hayes and Hopson (1976).

ShockAnger

Denial

Bargaining

Depression

Testing

Acceptance

Holding on Letting Go Moving On

Fighting Disintegration Re-integration

Loss of

focus

Turbulent time

Blame

Self

Others

Denial

Pining

Testing/

Experimenting

Discovery and

learning

Feeling of

satisfaction

Renewed

energy

Feelings of panic, dread,

helplessness, apathy

Integration and

new meaning

Numbness

Daze

Euphoria

Coping

Minimising

Quick reference guide Tool: Know/Think/Feel/Do

Explanation

This model builds on Kolb’s learning cycle and work around learning styles. When

planning stakeholder management and communications, use the Know, Think, Feel,

Do approach to help you to identify the response you need from your various

stakeholder groups – and what they will need from you to get there. The outcome of

this will help to inform the answers to the following key questions:

• What are the objectives of communication and engagement? What response do you want?

• Who needs to be communicated with? Who are your priorities? And what level of involvement is needed from each individual or group?

• What are the key messages and how will they be tailored for each group?

• What is the appropriate vehicle for conveying that message? What characteristics of that audience might drive your choice of media?

• What (significant) communication challenges/risks do you face?

• What are some ways to maintain stakeholder interest in the project / initiative throughout its duration?

• How will you measure whether you are getting the right response?

Application

• If your client wants employees to feel a sense of ownership for the project, what

does that mean for the way you communicate with them?

• Communication is about outcomes, not input. Always think about the response

you want.

Demonstration

This approach was used recently at D.C. Thomson to really understand the objectives of

our communications to stakeholder groups regarding a highly sensitive review of their

loss-making print production operations. The purpose of our review was to help them

identify how to bring their core business back into profit (subtext: = downsizing). The

culture of the company has been one where the private owners (a selection of whom

make up the Board and Senior Management) see themselves as benefactors of the

communities within which they employ people – they are proud of their century-long

track record of never having made anyone redundant. This review has been their first

step towards “thinking the unthinkable” and becoming leaner in their core operations.

In order for us to carry out the review, we needed to involve a senior group in making

key decisions about the future of DCT’s Print Production operations, and another layer

down in providing information to us so we could understand the organisation and its

operations accurately. We also wanted both groups to feel they owned the outcomes of

the review, and – critically – to keep the findings and their implications confidential.

We used the Know/Think/Feel/Do approach to clarify the purpose of our

communications to key audiences in order to balance the communications and address

the audience’s seemingly incompatible needs around ownership, reassurance and

gravity of the situation.

Stakeholder group

Know Think/Feel Do What they need from us

Employees There is going to be a change in organisationalstructure

Feel well informed, understand how they will fit into the new structure and excited and positive about the change

Continue business as usual and maintain productivity and efficiency, help and support the transition as it progresses

Honest and accurate information about any resulting redundancies, information about new reporting lines

Self-check activities 2.10 Change management and communications

Self-check activities: Change management and communications

Page 2 of 3

Core Consulting: Change management and communications Introduction This document contains a series of self-development activities that will allow you to practice

and confirm your knowledge and skills as well as your ability to apply them in the workplace.

The initial activities are simple, easily achievable and mainly self-reflective. The second set of

activities includes generating evidence, which you can discuss with your People Manager.

The final set of activities combines outcomes into more substantial tasks.

These activities will assist you with the application of your knowledge by working with

colleagues and applying what you have learned on the job. They support the 70:20:10

principles - 70% learning on the job, 20% learning from colleagues and 10% formal learning.

Self-check activities The following activities can help you to check your understanding of Change Management

and Communications:

Required outcome and output

Development activity

Describe what kinds of Change Management & Communications activities might feature on a client project and include some typical project characteristics.

Think about and then talk through a 60 second elevator pitch to a collegue summarising the key Change Management and Communications activities that could feature in a client project. You can then ask an experienced change practitioner about further client opportunities that you could support or get involved with.

Describe some of the key Change Management and Communications challenges which client organisations often face

Develop a strong benefits-led statement that demonstrates how Change Management and Communicatons can really make a difference to a current or recent client of yours or a colleague.

Describe the change management and communications activities which are undertaken with our clients on projects.

Explain to a colleague how we use Transform to support the delivery of large change programmes and highlight the key Change Management and Communications related activities which need to be undertaken during the life cycle of a project.

The relevant Transform link is given below: http://transform.pwc.com/Methods/Transform/Cross%20Life%20Cycle/O

Use the change curve to understand the different reactions and emotions people can have in response to change.

Consider a client stakeholder who has just heard that her company is going to be reorganised which means that her role could potentially be relocated 80 miles away. Using the change curve consider what her reactions might be and the stages of the model which are relevant to her over time.

http://transform.pwc.com/Methods/Transform/Cross%20Life%20Cycle/O

http://transform.pwc.com/Methods/Transform/Cross%20Life%20Cycle/O

Self-check activities: Change management and communications

Page 3 of 3

Also consider what interventions you could employ to support this stakeholder to move along the curve towards acceptance.

Print out a version of this model and ‘plot’ or write on what activities or skills PwC could offer to assist with these challenges.

The Change Curve Model can be found in the quick reference guide.

Understand how to undertake a stakeholder mapping exercise to gain an awareness of what information they need and to understand the level of interest and power each has.

Consider a current or recent project you are working on and the main stakeholders you were dealing with. Follow the steps listed in the topic summary to map the stakeholders and agree what actions or next steps you would take after assessing the stakeholders, to ensure they have the information they need.

Explain the outputs of this exercise with a colleague and talk through the outcome of your stakeholder assessment and the actions you would take.

Again, information on stakeholder analysis can be found in the ‘Change Managemement and Communcations’ topic summary pack.

change management

Documents

change change diagnostics

page change management

change curve

change projects

change stick

change initiatives

communications topic

communications methodology