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When I was little, my mom told me something that has stuck to me like glue.  She said, “Honey, the only thing that is constant in this life is change. You can’t stop it, but you certainly can control how you react to it.” So, throughout my life, I have tried to heed her advice, which has become especially important in this stage of my career.

I was recently on a project where an organization was forced to go through an enterprise transformation by changing people, process and technologies to accommodate a partner. There was no choice; the change was coming, and it was coming in only six months. The partner had given no warning, so the organization certainly didn’t have the resources to manage the effort.  So, they asked Kenway to help.

I recall thinking to myself, the only thing this organization can do right now is manage how they react to the change.  So, my early childhood instincts kicked in (well, that and the methodology Kenway uses for Change Management).  Here are a few things that we did to ensure the success of the initiative.

Plan and Analyze

• Within the first few weeks of the project, we conducted a change impact analysis to understand the total impact for all areas of the organization, specifically from a people, process and technology standpoint. The impact analysis was done at several key points in the project to ensure that we had a constant grasp of the effects of change throughout the project lifecycle.
• At project inception, we defined key audiences and documented the impact of change to each group in a stakeholder identification and management plan.
• We then created a comprehensive communication plan outlining the communication objectives and an approach for each audience. We defined the key overarching messages and outlined when and to whom they would be delivered.
• We put together a training strategy plan based on what was learned in the impact analysis, and iterated throughout the project

Communicate and Execute

• Throughout the project, a bi-monthly newsletter to keep all stakeholders abreast of the transformation.
• We worked closely with the key stakeholders to create training materials that were simple but effective, and were aligned with the overarching messages defined in the communications plan.
• We used the client’s in-house tools at our disposal to deliver training to a 7,000-person organization.

Deploy

• Lastly, we conducted an organizational readiness assessment based on the critical success factors defined at the onset of the project.

The project was a huge success. We delivered on time, the organization provided feedback on the quality and effectiveness of the training and communication throughout, the systems were updated successfully with little to no disruption to the business, and overall, the organization agreed that all objectives were met.  Kenway helped the organization react to the change as best as possible.  I get a kick out of helping organizations through large and small transformations through our Change Management service. It gives me the opportunity to stop and reflect on that small piece of advice that has helped me in more ways than my mom will ever know.

For more information about our Change Management Service, please email info@kenwayconsulting.com.