Implementing Change

Managing Change
From an IT Perspective

Copyright Batton Consulting Inc. 2006

Change Importance

 IT is in the business of constantly introducing
change
 Many system implementation failures are issues
of change, not technology
 IT is under continual evolutionary change
 IT is generally poor at implementing change

Property of Batton Consulting Inc. 2010. Released under

Change Curriculum

 The change lifecycle
 Change enablers and barriers
 Leading change
 Change Planning
 Preparing yourself
 Set-up continuous change versus event-based


Change Lifecycle


Successful Change Forces


Leading Change

 Culture
 Communication
 Coaching
 Credibility
 Commitment
 Celebration


A Culture for Change

 Assess culture support of change before start
 Understand cultural barriers and how to mitigate
 Try to minimize culture change to what is
required
 May need to isolate initiative into sanctioned
sub-culture to handle change


Change Communication

 Always be truthful with people around what facts you have and what
you can/can't say; without trust you can't communicate
 If you don't know then just listen
 Be empathic to people's fears/concerns; mitigate them when you
can, but, always openly recognize them (just don't feed them)
 If it is important for people to know, repeat it at least three
times to make it sink-in
 Walk around if you can; use the rumor mill to get your message
out; leverage the opinion leaders in your group to spread the message
 The more stressful the change the more frequent the communication;
when people are unsure they want to feel in-touch.


Coaching Through Transition

 Make people aware of stages of grieving
 Listen to what’s being lost
 Expect & accept signs of grieving
 Acknowledge the losses openly &
sympathetically
 Compensate for the losses somehow
 Give people information
 Reintegrate & involve them in getting to the
future


Establish/Maintain Credibility

 Get active support from the very top
 Operate with integrity
 Ensure your clear authority to commit and act
 Enlist formal and informal agents of change


Ensure Commitment

 Confront dissidence and reluctance
 Eliminate saboteurs
 Get your leadership to openly show/express
commitment
 Demonstrate your unwavering commitment
 Enlist commitment from the ranks and put it on
display


Celebration of Progress

 Use positive force of recognition/celebration to
anchor progress and lead to next step
 Use celebration to compensate for loss
 Use celebration to recognize active closure of the
old and acceptance of the new
– “refreeze the mold” by celebratory recognition
– Broadly acknowledge people are part of the new
– Shut the door on going back through a memorable
stake in the ground.


Change Planning

 Change is a complex activity, plan it out
 Formal plan assures consistency in change
related activities
 Plan activity for each phase in change lifecycle
 Put someone in overall coordination of change
 Front-end recognition of enablers and barriers
 Front-end agreement of leadership’s part in
successful change
 Better considered implication of change effort


Preparing Yourself

 You too will resist at
some point
 Understand
– Your capacity for change
– What you will gain & lose
– This change vs. old issues
– How to move forward
 Energize yourself for an
emotional drain
 Take stock of those
around you

Continuous Change vs. Event-based

 Admit to simultaneous on-going change
 Find (or set) the overall pattern of change
 Recognize ‘rate’ of change alone can create transition
(change in pace of change)
 Forego incidental change that adds no value
 Try to anticipate coming change and prepare the
organization
 Transition org from event view to continuous view
 Emphasize vision, trust, response to challeges
 Come clean on old baggage
 Communicate clearly the problems at hand


Further information on this

Contact Mike
BCI provides focused consultation and assistance in
improving IT process & delivery

 IT organization evaluation  Turnaround management/temporary CIO
 Strategy and issue consultation  Project advisory or management
 Architecture direction & rollout

• Quicker and more accurate problem identification and solution
• More dependable delivery of key IT initiatives/projects
• Ideas for IT improvement that are tested & work
• An objective viewpoint that sees the whole picture
• Deep experience delivering business value through technology

Executive IT help & leadership when you need it

Contact: Mike Batton, President, Batton Consulting Inc. | mike@battonconsult.com | 630-443-7735 (O) 630-862-6799 (M)

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