Transformational initiatives like platform modernization will have varying impacts on your organization, depending on the maturity of the organization and the number of systems impacted. The organization’s operational models will be impacted, resulting in changed roles/responsibilities, changes in processes, and changes in governance structure.
As leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure that our transformational projects impact the business in a positive manner, and we can prevent adoption and alignment issues by including OCM activities into our project.
OCM is a framework for managing the impact of new processes, changes in organizational structure, or cultural changes within an enterprise. OCM activities help prepare and support people through change and help ensure the achievement of the desired business objectives. A project is not successful if it does not meet the business goals and objectives expected. All it takes is some basic organizational change management components to get you started and if executed properly – will make a big difference in your project’s success:
- Align digital initiative goals with the organization’s goals: Review an organization’s business case, including specific drivers. This helps in value definition and focuses change activities on key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Educate and manage stakeholders: As a leader, you will need to ensure you have the strongest sponsor possible. You should communicate to and educate your sponsors and stakeholders regularly and ensure they are all champions of your project. You will need them when things go off the rails – and they will.
- Redesign and align business processes: A transformational initiative will impact IT and business processes across the board so ensure you complete a thorough review of current processes and map them to the new processes and then prepare to communicate and train all impacted personnel.
- Train users: Train, train, train, and then train some more. Deliver this training in multiple ways so that users can attend the training that best aligns with the way they learn. There should be in-person training sessions, recorded webinars, blogs, videos, etc. Collect feedback and enhance your training regularly.
- Communicate project goals and objectives: Get the Marketing team involved in internal marketing and strong communication. Fun contests and newsletters with the latest project updates and go-live information keep everyone up to date and excited for the changes.
In conclusion, all transformational initiatives need an OCM strategy. The basic checklist listed above will ensure you think of the overall project in terms of what the organization is trying to accomplish and what the users need instead of just focusing on implementation. This will ensure your organization achieves the return on investment they expected and make you an integral part of business change at your company!
For more information on digitally transforming your organization through an OCM strategy, get started with 3Cloud.