Creating project ambassadors through internal communication
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A communication program to complement an SAP implementation is only a small part in the overall project, but it can make all the difference. Some simple guidelines on how to turn everyone into an ambassador of your projects.
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Creating project ambassadors through internal communication
- 1. CREATING PROJECT AMBASSADORS THROUGH INTERNAL COMMUNICATION Caroline Hillaert Delaware Consulting
- 3. “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” Lee Iacocca
- 4. INTERNAL COMMUNICATION Internal communication is about facilitating connections and conversations within your organization to achieve your business goals
- 5. This is the reaction we want “50 to 70% of all change initiatives fail due to a lack of communication.” John Kotter “50 to 70% of all change initiatives fail due to a lack of communication.” John Kotter “Up to 70% of all change initiatives fail (amongst other due to a lack of communication).” John Kotter
- 6. TODAY’S CASE Change communication strategy for key stakeholders and end users
- 7. TARGET GROUPS Steerco + General management (C-level) + Local management Business process owners Key users (super key users) End users Roll outTrainingPreparation and realization
- 8. TARGET GROUPS Steerco + General management (C-level) + Local management Business process owners Key users (super key users) End users Roll outTrainingPreparation and realization
- 9. CHALLENGES › Global SAP implementation in fast growing organization › Huge impact on stakeholders › Transformation of key stakeholders into one project team
- 10. GOALS OF COMMUNICATION › Increase awareness and understanding › Increase support and commitment › Increase user adoption
- 11. GOALS OF COMMUNICATION › Increase awareness and understanding › Increase support and commitment › Increase user adoption
- 12. THIS IS THE REACTION WE WANTED
- 13. BUT TO ACHIEVE THIS WE NEED TO OVERCOME …
- 15. COMMUNICATION APPROACH 1. Environment analysis 2. Stakeholder and risk analysis 3. Concept & messaging 4. Communication plan & channels
- 16. MESSAGE HOUSE TOOL Umbrella statement Core message #1 Core message #2 Core message #3 Evidence, proof points, support
- 17. MESSAGE HOUSE TOOL Umbrella statement Core message #1 Core message #2 Core message #3 Evidence, proof points, support
- 18. COMMUNICATION APPROACH 1. Environment analysis 2. Stakeholder and risk analysis 3. Concept & messaging 4. Communication plan & channels 5. Roll out communication streams 6. Measure Communication Success
- 19. WHAT IS OUR STRATEGY? Frequent communication to key stakeholders Less frequent communi- cation to entire company Detailed communicatio n to impacted end users
- 20. COMMUNICATION KIT KEY STAKEHOLDERS › Global team meeting › SharePoint › BPO newsletter and conference call › Steerco updates
- 21. COMMUNICATION KIT KEY STAKEHOLDERS › Global team meeting › SharePoint › BPO newsletter and conference call › Steerco updates
- 22. COMMUNICATION KIT ALL EMPLOYEES › Word by the CEO › Newsletter with pay slip › Articles in internal magazine › SAP mailbox from the start
- 23. COMMUNICATION KIT END USERS › Information session on site › FAQ › Planning of training sessions › Poster campaign › Contact information sheet › Lunch bag sessions › Celebration information session
- 25. CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN › Change mindset survey and action plan › Mapping new SAP roles and responsibilities to current staff › Build, assist, train and coaching of separate task force › Extended communication plan
- 26. WHAT SHOULD YOU REMEMBER OF THIS STORY?
- 27. SOME OF OUR SUCCESS STORIES
- 28. ABOUT US CONTACT Caroline Hillaert (Change Communication expert) › caroline.hillaert@delawareconsulting.com › 00 32 496 16 43 86 Jan Dooms (Change manager) › jan.dooms@delawareconsulting.com › 00 32 477 51 49 29
Editor's Notes
- Just imagine it is decided to implement SAP and you are involved/ in charge of the successful roll-out If that is the case, how many of you recently heard the following phrases: SAP is not the solution to our problem SAP is too complex IT does not understand what we need It is clear that any change that is poorly communicated, will lack impact and may decrease the user adoption This will ultimately result into a low ‘return on change investment’!
- How many people in your company know why and when you are implementing SAP? Do you think it is important that they know why the company is doing this? Do you think it is important they know how to work with SAP?
- Today internal communication is clearly on your agenda great! I will show you how communication helps to build an engaging climate by creating and supporting project ambassadors
- If you look at this quote from Kotter and you are responsible for a change initiative I can image you get nervous now! I will tell you how we can help you not to be part of the 70% that fail.
- Today I will bring you an anonymous case where you will discover the ins and outs of a change communication strategy of an SAP implementation (in a company) in a production environment across different locations in Europe and US. You will learn how they took control of their core messages and succeeded in creating good project ambassadors.
- Here you see a rough timeline of the project linked to the different impacted target groups. These are the people we are doing it for! Nowadays everyone realises more or less communication towards end-users (who need to adopt the system) is very important. We agree, but also think that key-stakeholders are often neglected. We think you should address 2 main groups: end users and key stakeholders; At our customer, the key stakeholders consisted of the steerco members, global and local management, business process owners and the key users. This was a very diverse stakeholder group, spread internationally, coming from different areas such as production, HR and finance and functioning, sitting in different positions from local administrator to C-level.
- They were heavily involved during the preparation phase. They needed to work closely together during blue print and realisation phase, they did not always know each other did they have the same interest at heart. Still, it was important to make them collaborate more Besides, they also needed to grow from technical and/or business expert into ambassadors. From the start it was clear we needed to invest time in building a real project team, building communication flows and increasing their communication skills ! 2/End-user not very far after the efforts for key-stakeholders (way before the rollout) we started communicating quite early towards the end users.
- Global SAP implementation in fast growing organization in transition. the company used SAP as the first step in standardizing and aligning different sites on different levels (processes, finances). As processes and organisational flows changed The impact on key stakeholders and end-users was tremendous We wanted to transform the key stakeholders into one project team with a clear ambassadors role.
- Together with the customer we determined the following goals for communication: Increase awareness everyone knows about the SAP project … and understanding by positioning the SAP implementation as beneficial to the company but also to all the employees Increase support and commitment
- For all: Increase the adoption of SAP For key stakeholders: Create communication flows between the various key stakeholders: Steerco, BPO, (Super)key users to involve and align them Arm key user and BPO’s to be good ambassadors Create sense of belonging by building one core team
- In a nutshell this is the reaction we wanted
- The biggest risk was that the key stakeholders would become negative ambassador and eventually infect the end-users. SAP comes on top of the daily work. Key users and BPO’s may not have the drive and mindset for change nor the time to train their skills (communication, Sap, change)
- HOW DO WE WORK in general but also in this project? We used the following phased approach First we have we understand the project and how it fits in to the strategy and culture of the company. Secondly we have a look at all the different stakeholders, and try to capture and understand any resistance they could have against the project. Environment and stakeholder analyses are usually based on documents provided by the client as well as a series of interviews / workshops with the project team AND RELEVANT KEY PLAYERS. Thirdly we have to define the core messages of the project. Based on these messages we may decided to develop a separate concept with a separate project name, baseline and brand if relevant.
- During different phases we use different tools. One of the tools we also used in this project is the Message House tool. The main goal of the message house is to ensure consistent messaging in a project: People will talk about projects anyhow If you do not set and take control of your core messages, employees will set theirs! Through a ‘Message House Workshop’, the umbrella statement and sub-messaging of the proposed change are determined and aligned with the different target groups
- For example the umbrella statement for this project was: SAP connect for our success One of the submessages for SAP supports the building of a sustainable company And SAP Strengthens our networked organization Those core messages can also be used as the basis of the story of your change, which is called a case for change. a kind of 2-minute elevator pitch, which everyone involved in the project should be able to tell.
- After understanding the project, setting the communication goals, understanding the target groups and defining the messages we build the communication strategy and tangible communication plan. This plan consists of the right intensity of communication efforts to each type of stakeholder. A communication kit is built and advice is given on a rollout communication plan. At a certain point in time it is very important to measure the success of you plan and to adapt if necessary.
- Let’s get back to our case. Our change communication strategy contained 3 different main communication flows 1/Frequent communication to key stakeholders because they had an extra role as teammember and as ambassador 2/Detailed communication to impacted end users when sites are ready for roll-out 3/Less frequent communication to the entire company, starting quite soon in the preparation phase In those 3 communication flows we reused the same core messages around ‘why implementing SAP, training and support Depending on the target group, the level of detail varied
- Why did we put much effort in the key stakeholders they are the first line ambassadors involved in the project with a big influence in the organization
- Let’s talk about the communication plan and the tactics! For each main target group there were specific communication tactics. To take up the role as embassador we put a lot of effort and time in the key stakeholders. Thogether with the project leads we decided to invest in knowledge and extra information for the stakeholders tangible support and increasing communication skills
- One of the most important tactics was the Global team meeting whole day, cross country meeting, where clear sponsorship of C-level was shown. During this team meeting we focused on collaborations and communication and left a lot of room for interactive 2 way communication. The goal was to get the conversation in the SAP project team started, people felt free to share there concerns with CEO and project leads. SharePoint folder we built a central point of information BPO newsletter (2 weekly) To keep focus on communication, we brought an communication update on every Steerco meeting.
- As end-users in the organization are worried as soon as they hear a new system is coming, we built a communication flow, starting in the preparation phase, up until the rollout. Word by the CEO (oral and article in internal magazine) Printed newsletter with pay slip Every 3 months 2 2/3 paged article on the SAP project was published in the internal magazine From the start onwards we built and shared consistently the SAP contact mailbox. We enriched our FAQ with questions coming in through this channel.
- Moving forward towards every rollout we used another set of tactics. End-users are concerned about 3 things mainly What will change in my job, will I get training and when and how will I get support. On every site an information session was organized before every training. There was a poster campaign before and after go-live to create awareness for the project It is very important to let people know when they will get training and how. We tried to communicate the planning of training session Even more important is the way people will get support CONTACT INFORMATION SHEET, shows the flow how they will get support during and after office hours. Lunch bag sessions after rollout. Again face-to face communication Celebration info session
- One size does not fit all!!! We not only adapted the various materials to the various sites but also adapted communication to white and blue collar workers. During the integration phase it got clear that one site was lagging behind. Together with the client we decided to introduce a change manager to take up specific change actions and intensify the communication at that site. In the team of Strategy and Transformation we have certified change managers, they are also in the room.
- The change manager took care of the following actions: Because of the new processes => new roles and responsibilities needed to be determined but they also needed to be mapped on the skills of the current staff Adapt organization to SAP requirements (R&R is transaction based; org is org chart based) Optimize operational processes to adapt to SAP Change mindset survey and action plan New tasks => demand for new behaviours Build, assist, train and coaching of separate task force We worked very closely with the change manager and made sure to be aligned at all times. Not only within Delaware but also with the corporate plans and directions.
- 1/Stick to the plan Embedding change takes time repetition of messages is key 2/ Create active and visual sponsorship of management 3/ Impact of word of mouth should not be neglected Support of the key stakeholder (key-users) is key. They are your ambassadors. And finally….. 4/ work with communication and change experts internally or externally….
- Here are some of our other stories.
- Thank you all for coming! I hope that everyone in the room, will take something home and get motivated to invest more time in change communication. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an email. Or just grab my arm or the arm of one of my colleagues in the room, during the network drink so we can have a chat on change communication.