Do you ever wonder why so few organisations succeed in successfully going live with their new business application? Why so few users truly accept their new application once it has been implemented, even when a lot of time and money has been invested in the development process? In this presentation you can read how to make your own implementations more successful by efficiently tailoring your change management to your end users’ needs.

1. Change management in an IT Project:
10 ways to make it work !

2. 1. Analyze till you drop

3.  Step 1: Make sure you know whom you’re
targeting
 age, gender, experience, tasks,…
Analyze till you drop 1/3

4.  Step 2: Define the change and its impact
 use strategic information by management
 talk to the users
 compare available information on the change to what
users are actually doing
Analyze till you drop 2/3

5.  Step 3: Draw up a neat matrix, list,…
 what different user groups are there?
 what is the impact of the change on each group?
Analyze till you drop 3/3

6. 2. Plan, schedule, and plan some
more

7.  Start thinking about the best strategy for
implementing the change
 Make sure that you have a plan for:
 communicating about the change
 training the people involved
 providing support after the go-live
Plan, schedule, and plan some more 1/3

8.  Blend all these aspects into one change
management plan
Plan, schedule, and plan some more 2/3

9.  It is the change manager’s responsibility to
involve the IT, communication, training, …
departments
 Remember: everything is subject to change,
also planning
Plan, schedule, and plan some more 3/3

10. 3. Start… and never stop
communicating

11.  Rule nr. 1 - Start communicating as soon as the
word about the change gets out
 What will change?
 Why will it change?
 What will be the consequences for me?
 When will this happen?
Start… and never stop communicating 1/3

12.  Rule nr. 2 – Target your communications
 Don’t send out only general communications that can
be read by anyone
 Some of the user groups that you defined may need
more detailed info than others. E.g. middle
management vs. average employee.
Start… and never stop communicating 2/3

13.  Rule nr. 3 – Never lie
 Only communicate information that is correct
 Be honest. Respect your employee.
 Create realistic expectations about what the change
will or will not imply
Start… and never stop communicating 3/3

14. 4. Timing is everything: get it right

15.  Draw up a timeline
Timing is everything: get it right 1/2
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4

16.  Follow these basic rules:
 Put communication initiatives first on your timeline
 Communication, training and support initiatives
should at all times be nicely tuned to each other
 Make sure that your employees do not have their
most important training moment more than 2 weeks
before the go-live
 Define a specific timeline for specific user groups like
help desk, trainers, etc.
 Have a plan B ready in case things go wrong...
Timing is everything: get it right 2/2

17. 5. Get EVERYONE involved

18.  Make sure that top management provides you
with the organizational strategy for
implementing the change
 Involve middle management for all sorts of
practical and strategic reasons
Get EVERYONE involved 1/3

19.  Make sure there’s a platform that end users or
employees can use to share questions and
concerns
 Performing observations, interviews, … with
employees can give you very valuable input when
defining the impact of the change
 Involving end users or employees will generate
support for the introduction of the change in the long
run
Get EVERYONE involved 2/3

20.  Appoint change agents
 Change agents should:
 Have the right position in the company – Make a mix
of various levels (end user, middle management…) in
the company
 Be enthusiastic – Their enthusiasm will motivate more
moderate employees later on
 Be prepared to go the extra mile – Introducing a
change is never easy. You need to be able to appeal
to change agents who are very motivated to take
your company to the next level
Get EVERYONE involved 3/3

21. 6. Sell your change

22.  Make sure that you have a well-considered list
of advantages for your end users
 Don’t try to fool people by not talking about the
strategic considerations for introducing the
change
 Explain these strategic considerations in an easy-to-
understand way
 Cut down on the management talk and keep it simple
Sell your change 1/2

23.  Make people understand why they need to
change.
 As people start understanding the strategic
considerations for change – and the personal
advantages that might be in it for them – they will
also start getting motivated to change.
 Motivate people
by being motivated!
Sell your change 1/2

24. 7. Don’t ignore resistance

25.  Detect the signs that indicate resistance
 Show people that you care about how they feel
and that you are motivated to share
information with them!
 Deal with the reactions and questions that you
detect
Don’t ignore resistance 1/2

26. 8. Learn from your mistakes

27.  Things will go wrong at some point
 Set up the necessary mechanisms for gathering
feedback:
 Set clear goals that can be measured
 Evaluate training
 Evaluate the effect of training
 Set up a communication channel
 Learn from your mistakes
while solving these
problems!
Learn from your mistakes 1/2

28. 9. Make changing fun!

29.  Make sure your users WANT to change. Make
changing fun!
Making changing fun! 1/2

30.  Organize a contest in which several groups of
users compete in displaying their knowledge of
the new system.
 Right after the go-live, have users of the new
system compete to realize well-defined targets.
Of course, you will need to reward the winners.
 Use your imagination!
Making changing fun! 2/2

31. 10. Accept that managing change is a
never-ending story

32.  Change is not a one-time effort
 Even when your new tool, application or
technology is live, you need to keep on making
it work
 It’s never too late to change… But you cannot
start preparing for change too soon!
Managing change is a never-ending story 1/2

33.  Contact Human Interface Group if you want to
receive custom advice on how to make your
change work!
Managing change is a never-ending story 2/2

34. See also our white paper “The People Factor in Change Management”
http://www.higroup.com/wp-request-changemgmt
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