If you’re implementing any sort of enterprise-wide change at your company, an organizational change management (OCM) plan is a must. It helps you stay on track as it clearly defines the steps you plan to take, the people who will lead the charge, and the timeline for each deliverable.
There are a variety of change management deliverables that an OCM plan might include. We’ve outlined a few of the most common ones here so you can ensure you’re covering all the essential items and setting your teams up for success.
6 Change Management Deliverables to Include in Your OCM Plan
1. Change Readiness Assessment
An effective change management strategy starts with a change readiness assessment. In this initial step, you’ll analyze where your company currently stands and the degree of resistance you might experience if you initiate a change.
While it’s important to analyze the business as a whole, it’s also smart to make your assessment more granular. Can you identify individual employees who might not willingly accept new ERP software? What about project sponsors and stakeholders who may be resistant to new business processes?
By having an open and honest conversation with your project team, you can identify potential outliers who could veer your project off-track. Then, you can put steps in place to address their concerns and curb their resistance before it begins.
Change Management Case Study
The client recognized their need for more comprehensive change management, so they asked us to fill in the gaps. We developed a robust communication plan to supplement the vendor’s communication approach.
2. Change Management Strategy
Every step of an ERP implementation involves some degree of change. After all, you’re retiring your current systems and moving to new technology, while making major adjustments to your existing business practices.
Many organizations assume that employees will eventually get on board with the new workflows and use the new tools at their fingertips.
However, the reality is that many employees will hold tightly to their current ways of working, even if they’re outdated and inefficient. That’s because they’re familiar with them, and learning new methods can be overwhelming.
In light of this, you need a clearly-defined change management strategy that outlines exactly how you’ll address the change with your employees. What will you say, and when will you say it? How will you address naysayers and detractors?
You need to get a strategy in writing and create a centralized plan that every member of your change team can access at any time.
3. Sponsor Roadmap
Project sponsorship is a key change management deliverable. It ensures you have enough time, money, and resources available to complete the project. If you can secure the active, ongoing support from executive leaders, your project will be on track from the beginning.
It’s important to make sure these sponsors are fully engaged. Passive support can only get you so far, and you need sponsors’ presence and authority to motivate the rest of your workforce.
Once your primary stakeholders are on board, they can help you create a wider network of support that includes other authorities and decision-makers. A sponsor roadmap outlines how you will approach these leaders and how they’ll communicate with other stakeholders within your organization.
4. Communication Plan
Change management solutions start with effective communication. If your employees feel left in the dark about the change, they’re more likely to resist it and encourage others to join them.
By clearly explaining why the change is necessary and what it will include, you can prevent most of this chatter.
Instead of communicating with everyone in the same manner, take the time to tailor your communication style for each audience. The way you explain the change to your department leaders will vary from the verbiage you use with your C-suite. While the overall message will be the same, you will need to emphasize different talking points and different aspects of the project.
Keep your messages simple in the beginning and elaborate more as the project progresses. Take timing and environment into account as you plan your communication approach, brainstorming how and when to meet with each functional group.
5. Resistance Management Plan
Despite your best efforts, you may still experience some resistance surrounding the organizational change. If this happens, you need to know how to isolate the issue and address it before it snowballs into a bigger problem.
A resistance management plan will lay out the corrective actions your project team will take once it identifies the source of resistance.
Instead of taking a punitive approach, it’s more effective to understand what’s at the root of each person’s defiance. Are they worried about the new ERP system taking the place of their job? Do they find the technology too difficult to grasp? Talk to them to determine the cause of their concerns and then address them in a transparent manner.
Often, these simple conversations can be enough to calm any instances of resistance and encourage team members to stay the course. If this approach is not effective, you may need to take other measures to prevent the individual from affecting the outcome of the entire project.
6. Training Plan
A common reason for change resistance is an unfamiliarity with new processes and technology, whether you’re implementing a manufacturing ERP system, supply chain management system, or EPM system.
Robust end-user training can help your employees understand how the software works and how to apply it to their own job functions.
Make sure to assign plenty of time and resources to this step because you’ll need to create a customized training plan that addresses the unique needs of each group.
Prepare training materials ahead of time, developing content that addresses common questions and thoroughly explains the steps involved in each process.
Managing the People Side of Change is More Important Than Getting the Technology Right
A solid OCM plan can make all the difference in the outcome of your digital transformation.
Now that you know the main change management deliverables to include in this plan, you can set up your workforce for long-term system adoption.
Our change management consultants can help you navigate these next steps. Contact us below for a free consultation.
