ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘change-management’ CATEGORY

Welcome to the latest edition of the Field Service News podcast. This month we are joined by Tom Oates, Senior Project Manager with service management software provider Solarvista and we are discussing the importance of getting the implementation of any software right if you are to see the expected efficiency and productivity improvements you are expecting.

You can listen to this edited snippet here for free and if you want to hear the full podcast which includes Tom's advice on how best to implement the software and manage the transition from one system and set of processes to another both in terms of the technology in place as well as from a change management perspective, you can get instant access by simply clicking the link below and completing the brief registration process.

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To download the full podcast just click here and complete the brief registration form!

 

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Pete Sharpe, Managing Consultant, Leadent Solutions looks at how the role of IT Management is beginning to evolve into something far more sophisticated than turning it off and on again... 

I recently read that 60% of IT projects fail to deliver on time and on budget. It’s not hard to see why - in the last decade new technologies have changed the way a business works considerably. Information technology has reached every last corner of industry moving at break-neck speed.

IT projects are no longer confined to implementing one system in one area of the business and with larger IT projects becoming far more complex with tightly integrated solutions, IT Project Managers need to move beyond the comfort of the IT department to interact with others such as Operations, Finance and Shared Services, which means that they will have to lead the organisational change required to meet their project goals.

 

IT Project Managers used to be safe in the knowledge that they were called upon for their technical skills alone, it wasn’t imperative that they think strategically or have to communicate complex plans to anyone outside of their immediate project team and sponsor.

Today however, IT Project Managers are not only required to deliver complex projects on time and on budget, they are also expected to address the impact on the business, align technology strategy to the business objectives and consider the approach to change required to ensure the project is a success. In short, to succeed IT Project Managers must think like business professionals not just technical ones.

A new set of skills

In order for IT Project Managers to succeed in their new roles it is essential that they build their Communication, Leadership and Business Change skills.

In every project there is a demand from the relevant business areas for subject matter experts to advise and facilitate the business impact and change management. Whilst this is critical to all project deliveries, the impact on the day-to-day business operation is often underestimated and not planned as well as it could be.

By enabling and empowering IT Project Managers to manage and influence relationships across the business, whilst simultaneously championing the new technology they are implementing, businesses can avoid the sudden pull on key resources.

 

These core skills will allow Project Managers to look at the broader context of the project across the organisation and understand the impact that this will have on people and culture, and importantly allow them to create joint IT and business plans to pre-empt the resource requirement.

IT Project Managers need to be equipped to deal with the human side of IT projects, ensuring that change is embraced, adopted and utilised and in turn this will allow them to be more aware of the impact upon people, process and technology across the organisation.

Business Transformation is no longer an event, it is a method for continuous improvement. By embracing the change in concept and through robust succession planning the IT Project Managers of tomorrow can help businesses to avoid the associated cost spike of a business-wide transformation programme, provide accurate capital investment plans that align to the business strategy and manage the change as though it were business as usual.

A unified approach

The most effective projects will take a unified approach, implementing change on both technical and people fronts. By enabling IT Project Managers to look at both the technical and human side of projects, the efforts become focussed toward a singular objective. The flow of information is integrated so that at the front-end employees are receiving timely information and appropriate messages whilst at the back-end, the project team is receiving effective feedback on usage and adoption.

This allows a fluid and dynamic approach, a blend of the traditional ‘Agile’ and ‘Waterfall’ without the rigidity and restrictions but inclusive of the appropriate methodology required to ensure that the right steps can be taken at the right time in the project lifecycle, engaging employees and allowing them to embrace the changes being made.

IT Project Managers need to be held accountable for the success of the project as a whole – not just hitting the go-live date. After all, the success of an IT project should be measureable through results and outcomes – not just time and budget, but by tangible, realised business benefits, a reduction in ‘run-the-business’ costs and how the solution has been embraced, adopted and utilised by the organisation.

 

IT Project Management and Business Change are complementary disciplines with a common objective. If IT Project Managers of the future are enabled to deliver a unified approach then far more IT projects will be successful.

The next Autumn edition of Field Service News is now out. For those who aren't subscribed to our print circulation you can download the digital edition here...

Well Change is certainly a major theme in this edition of Field Service News. In fact it seems to be permeating every inch of the industry right now.

So let’s start at the obvious point. Managing Change (or change management). All too often in our industry we talk about the benefits of implementing a new field service management system or a new mobile workforce management solution or an enterprise mobility management system or whatever we want to call it today.

We get caught up in new technologies, new acronyms and new promises of even greater productivity improvements, efficiency savings, happy staff, happy customers and a generally all round better life experience for anyone within touching distance.

How excited we all are to get away from our spread sheets and post it notes and boldly step into the twenty first century with both feet.

Yet we rarely talk about how we are going to make that leap from a to b. It’s not just a case of handing out a bunch of new devices and switching all the old ones off. Do that and you may as well have invested a fortune in a bunch of really nice looking paperweights, because without proper roll out amongst your team you can bet a pretty penny or three that at the first hurdle a huge majority of your workforce, will turn their backs on their new tools and revert back to how things were before.

[quote]I actually know of one example where an engineer who when he was given a shiny new iPad to do his work on he would still do everything on paper and then spend an extra half an hour to an hour in his van evry night completing the administration on his iPad.

Try and stop them and they will find ingenious ways of working around the new tools. Why? Despite what it may sometimes feel like it is not because they are desperately trying to make your life harder. In fact in most cases they are probably working that little bit harder themselves. Staying extra to upload the information onto the new ‘thingy’ at the end of the day.  I actually know of one example where an engineer who when he was given a shiny new iPad to do his work on he would still do everything on paper and then spend an extra half an hour to an hour in his van evry night completing the administration on his iPad. In his mind his priority was to get the job done first and then deal with the admin.

 

Had this particular organisation gone through a more thorough Change Management program then perhaps our earnest engineer could have seen that this device was as much an investment in him and making his life easier throughout the day rather than an additional duty to attend to and the poor chap could have got home for his supper on time!

One company whop absolutely got it right when it comes to Change Management is Tyco led admirably by the highly impressive Sharon Moura, VP of IT Transformation and Strategy. I’ve had the pleasure of writing a series of articles based around her work in rolling out the ServiceMax field service management solution and she has an uncanny knack of being able to translate things into very simple concepts yet simultaneously covering every inch of ground so no stone is unturned and their are minimal hiccups along the way to a successful IT implementation. You can read more about this in our feature ‘Are you ready for change’ which begins on page 18.

A different type of change is also on the cards for a number of companies including manufacturing giant Siemems. This time however the change is a looming spectre over an ageing workforce that needs a succession plan for somebody to come and taker over otherwise there could be some very serious crises as we begin to enter the second decade of this new millennium.

Siemens who predict they need to increase their existing workforce by an additional 50 field engineers by 2020 to meet current demands, yet face losing up to 100 engineers through retirement are certainly not alone in this predicament. However, they are certainly being both pro-active and innovative about finding the solutions. Having heard the excellent Martin Hotass speaking at the most recent Service Community event on this topic it is clear that they are doing everything they can to remedy the situation and in our interview with Graeme Coyne we look a little closer at what those remedies are. It is certainly an issue you should be aware of today because it will bite you hard when tomorrow comes if you don’t have plans in place like the good folk at Siemens do.

Finally as we continue to stay with the theme of Change there are plenty of changes required in some of the field service organisations that completed our recent survey into field service management standards.

Whilst there were some positives that came out of the research, especially around actually validating the benefits of real-time telematics and other elements of field service management system through some hard and fast data, there were some really quite worrying trends highlighted that suggest a real disconnect between how we judge our standards and how our customers perceive us.

In today’s world of smart phones and sat navs it’s almost impossible to not know where you are at any given time yet unbelievably 43% of companies still have staff getting lost on a regular basis. Even more unbelievable is that 5% have staff turn up at the wrong address every week! Occasionally is forgivable perhaps but a weekly occurrence is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed when your workforce are field professionals. You can find out more about this research in our main feature, which begins on page 23.

Finally if your in Amsterdam this month at either the Field Service Europe or AfterMarket conferences do come and say hello!

Download the digital edition here...

We end our exclusive series on Change Management with a look at the final stage of Sharon Moura’s five step approach to change management leading through the adoption cycle…

Across this six part series we have looked at change management in depth, beginning with a look at the key principals of change management, before looking in detail at how Sharon Moura, VP of IT Transformation and Strategy with Tyco approached the change management process when implementing ServiceMax’s field service management system.

In doing so Moura applied five key steps which we have looked at in depth in this series. These were “assessing the change”, “engaging the head and the heart”, “creating a change agent network”, “leading through resistance” and here we look at the last of these steps “leading through the adoption cycle”

There is also a white paper that accompanies this series which you can access by clicking here

Looking at the adoption lifecycle Moura identifies four key segments that we should be aware of as the full adoption cycle of our change management program is completed.

These are:

• Early Adopters
• Majority
• Laggards
• Naysayers

Lets have a look at each of these in a little more detail.

Early Adopters

Moura is a clear believer in the power of utilising a core peer group of field engineers as early adopters when deploying technology as it offers a great opportunity to further improve adoption further down the line too.

“If there is any opportunity to bring early adopters in using the technology or even if it is just getting them in and seeing it you should do so” she explains “They can share their excitement at the deployment out amongst their peers”

Indeed early adopters are likely to give your change management program that ‘buzz’ amongst the staff that will see you move rapidly along the adoption lifecycle.

As Moura comments “What we can do here is we can highlight what the adoption will get them. The “what’s in it for me” and we can communicate the rationalisation of the change, “the why” and then we can build on the excitement generated by the change”

“Its great to have early adopters they’ll really help you gain momentum and quickly move to the next step of the adoption lifecycle.”

Majority

The next step is to get the majority of our workforce adopted. Now this isn’t as simple as switching their old systems off and their new systems on, which is a dangerous oversight to make and why many change management projects are either long, arduous processes or ultimately just fail.

If your staff are struggling to use your new solution then it will not be long before they are finding work-rounds. Before you know it spread sheets and post it notes are being used and your new system has become a burden on your field engineers when you it was supposed to improve efficiency.

 

Remember that your workers are generally focussed on doing their job and doing it well – this is why you employ them, so it’s not a case of them deliberately not using the new system for any other reason than they do not understand how to use it as part of their workflow.

To avoid this is therefore important that support continues throughout the adoption lifecycle. It is absolutely crucial that you are constantly reinforcing the benefits of the new system and perhaps one of the best ways of doing this is to highlight every win that comes as a result of the new solution.

Moura comments “Communicate the early adopter stories to the majority. Who’s using the system, what type of insight did they gain, where they able to do something faster? Keep a customer happier?”

Another tip Moura suggests is to ask each of the early adopters to tell at least two of their peers about the new system. “Get them to tell them what they learnt, what you know and your excitement around this initiative. That will help you to get the majority of employees adopting the new solution”

Laggards

It’s just a fact of life that some people will only make a switch at the very end of the cycle. Whether they don’t feel they have the time to pay attention to the switch or whether it’s just that they are reliant on seeing demonstrable benefit before they can commit to change it is certain there will be some laggards in your change management program, regardless of the change.

However, for your change management program to be successfully completed to achieve its maximum effect then you must give this group close attention.

 

“This is really where managers need to be front and centre going one on one with these empoyees” comments Moura

“It’s also a great opportunity for some of the early adopters to act as peer coaches. Assign a coach to these groups of laggards either one on one or in small groups to help them through the change” she added.

It’s also important to continue the work you began in the previous stage in the adoption lifecycle (Majority) in championing ach and every win and to remember to continue using multiple channels, whether it be company memo, social media or coffee room notice boards.

Nay Sayers

And finally we come to the last category in the adoption lifecycle, the Nay Sayers. These are those that just won’t be swayed. Unfortunately there comes a time in all change management programs when the effort put in begins to vastly outweigh the value you are getting out of it. At this point we need to evaluate the benefit of convincing these die-hard naysayers.

“My recommendation is to ignore the naysayers,” advises Moura. “Recognise when the pursuit is not worth the effort and make alternate plans”

This series of features on Change Management are accompanied by a white paper in the subject, which is available by clicking here and completing the brief registration form.

 
Click here to download the accompanying white paper

This series is sponsored by:

 

As Field Service News Editor, Kris Oldland continues our exclusive series looking at Change Management we move onto the third major consideration when undertaking a change management program, establishing a change agent network...

There is also a corresponding white paper on this subject, which you can access by clicking this link and completing the brief registration form.

First of all lets have a quick recap. This series is focussed on managing change within your organisation and is based around the approach Sharon Moura, VP of IT Transformation and Strategy with Tyco took when the fire and safety giant moved to the ServiceMax field service management system.

Part one of the series explored some of the key principals of Change Management, including a look at some of the well-known approaches such as Kotter, Prosci and Lewin as well as looking at the five step approach which Moura took and which we are looking at in more detail in this series. In the following features we looked firstly at “Assessing the Change” and then the third feature of this Change Management series looked at “Engaging the Head & Heart”.

Now in this fourth instalment in our Change Management series we look at an area, which personally I believe to be perhaps, the most integral element to ensuring any change management program you undertake is a success. This is what Moura defines as building a change agent network. So lets look at this concept in a little more detail…

Understanding what a Change Agent is and why they are key to Change Management:

Well another term for a Change Agents would be Peer advocates and Gartner’s Elise Olding neatly sums up the approach stating,

“Change resistance is a myth. Employees support enterprise goals when they understand what needs to be done. Peer advocates put a face on change and leverage trusted informal leaders to create understanding among employees and influence organisational change”

In simplest terms when we are facing a change to our daily working lives, it’s not some distant figure from the boardroom that will convince us that this change has our interest at heart, it’s the people sat around us, those who we work with on a daily basis, our colleagues, our direct supervisors, our peers.

Indeed studies undertaken by change management specialists Prosci identified that the most effective communicators of change by a hefty margin were an employee’s immediate supervisor. However it is often the case that this tier of middle management is often left out of the change management process, more often than not because their primary role within the company absorbs of all their time. However. This is definitely not the way a successful change management program should flow.

 

These middle managers are absolutely key to establishing your change agent network and enabling the success of your change management program.

As Moura herself comments “If you are going to bring that level of middle management into the change management process at all, which of course you need to do, then they need to make sure change management is their number one area they should be spending their time on”

However, it is not just those in middle management that can form part of your change agent network. We touched on an example in the last feature within this series on change management to highlight some of the tools of persuasion that can be used to engage with employees on an emotional level. That example was for us to take a selection of end user employees such as field engineers and to bring them into the decision making process when selecting the new hardware to roll out to the field.

This is in effect building a change network in itself as you can almost guarantee if this group will feel both empowered and obligated to push through the change amongst their peers. Some of them may be supervisors and mid-level management; however, they could equally be regular employees.

What is important for your change management project is that they are (or have the potential to be) leaders and influencers amongst their peers. Active mouthpieces for why the change is a benefit to their peers on the individual level, so these are the audience you need to convince first. Show them that they will see and feel the benefit of your change management program and they will help spread the gospel amongst the wider staff.

Another key aspect of this approach is that by creating a change agent network your are opening up additional layers of information to assess how your change management program is being accepted and adopted as you move through the roll out. Feedback from your project team as to how you are progressing is of course important and expected. However, feedback from the employees is equally important as you can amend and adapt your strategy where necessary in response to what’s being well received and what is not.

 

As we mentioned in a previous feature within this series Change Management is an on-going process of evaluation and alteration, not a one shot effort. Similarly you must remember that change management is not about hard and fast rules that will work every time. Change management is about people and therefore different factions of your workforce, may adapt quicker than others. Certainly there is no “one-size-fits-all’ approach to either change management itself or the way you communicate it.

What makes a good Change Agent:

So who in your organisation would make a good change agent? A few suggestions as to what makes a good change agent are:

• A willingness to embrace change
• The desire to participate
• Good team players
• Mature responsible attitude
• Effective communicators
• Credible at grass roots level[/unordered_list]

Deploying your Change agent network:

Finally it’s worth taking time to consider how you will structure your change agent network. One of the most efficient means of doing so would likely be to distribute your change agent network within streams that each relate to a specific division within the business. For example, field engineers, dispatch, sales etc. In fact this is the approach that Moura took when rolling out ServiceMax to her team at Tyco.

“We created change agents by work streams” she explains “then we put change agent leaders in place in those work streams.”

“The responsibilities of those leaders was to anticipate issues, act as a sounding board for the organisation, provide suggestions and recommendations as to how we address the change, and of course communicating the change to the end users.”

This last point i.e. communicating the change is of course the primary reason for their endeavours and where they truly come into their own.

Simply ‘translating’ the reason your organisation is going through this change management process from corporate speak and into the workers language and outlining what is in it for them will take you a long way towards a successful change management project. Having that translation come from trusted and respected members of their work force will take it even farther.

Remember the lesson from the previous feature… change management is about people and people like people like them.

Therefore establishing a change agent network is absolutely integral to the success of your change management program. 

Download the white paper that accompanies this series

This series on Change Management is sponsored by:

Our exclusive series looking at Change Management written by Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland continues as we look at engaging with individuals on the emotional level to help reduce their fear of change... 

There is also a corresponding white paper on this subject, which you can access by clicking this link and completing the brief registration form.

In part one of this series we looked at understanding what is change management and what steps should be taken to achieve a successful change management process, referring to the 5 step approach taken by Sharon Moura when global safety and security firm Tycho implemented ServiceMax’s field service management platform.

Part two looked at the first of these steps i.e. assessing the change. Now in part three of this exclusive series we look at the second of these steps, which Moura defines as “Engaging the head and the heart”

As we mentioned in the opening feature of this series the key to implementing a successful Change Management project lies in understanding the simple maxim that Change Management is all about people and managing individual responses to change.

For a change management program to be successful it is absolutely vital we acknowledge that change is about individuals, not organisations. Yes, the change will be driven by organisational needs and requirements, but individuals will implement it, individuals will determine its success.

Given this notion we must next consider how individuals will react to change. Successful change management is as much about feeling as it is about thinking. This is one of the key principals in the Kotter Change Management philosophy and is one that Moura also believes is an important step.

 

“People change when they see a truth that influences their feelings, a picture of the opportunities ahead, that can connect to the head and the heart” Moura explained in a recent webinar hosted by ServiceMax.

“It’s less about what they read, it’s less about analysis. That informs their thinking but it doesn’t inform their feelings” So how can we tap into each individual’s feelings, to help them take the emotional leap of faith that change requires? (Remember our natural instinct is usually to shy way from change as it is often feels like the less riskier option).

Well at least some if not all of Robert Cialdini’s six principals of influence are worth considering. In his famous best selling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Cialdini identified 6 principals that can be used to influence the decision making process of others. Each of which tap into emotional responses, rather than intellectual responses.

These principals are:

Reciprocity:

In layman’s terms the desire to pay back a favour. Let’s take an example here. A field service company decides that they need to roll out new mobile devices to their field engineers.

By involving a group of field engineers in the selection process on which devices the company will purchase, the company is showing these engineers that they are valued members of the team, that both they and their opinions are respected.

The engineers will likely feel a sense of gratification that the company sees them as such and in return for this show of respect, they will almost certainly reciprocate, becoming champions of the new technology amongst their peers when it is rolled out.

Commitment and consistency:

Cialdini believes we all have a deep desire to be consistent. So how does this sit with change when surely change is the antithesis of consistency? Well this doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.

In fact the reason for change is often likely to be to uphold a core consistency of your organisation. For example – “our company has prided itself on being the market leader for over 25 years, and to help us continue to be the leading organisation in our sector we will be implementing a new system that will enable us to be more efficient in how we deliver and manage our field service operations”

Whilst effective change management will result in new cultures and processes being established, holding onto core company values isn’t mutually exclusive and this can be a powerful tool in negating the perception of change.

Social Proof:

Perhaps one of the most widely known of Cialdini’s principals, largely because it is the most evident in our day to day lives, is social proof. If we see others enjoying the benefit of change, it will make our decision to buy-in to the change so much easier on an emotional level.

Our natural herd mentality of ‘if it’s OK for them I guess it’s OK for me’ kicks in.

Remember that group of field engineers who are reciprocating the company’s faith in them by championing the change…

Liking:

The next of Cialdini’s principals is again one that we all inherently know. We do things for and agree with people we like more than we do for people we don’t like. While it’s not the most ground-breaking statement in the world, it is undeniably true.

What is perhaps less obvious but still inherently true is that as a rule of thumb we tend to like people who are like us. Our peers are important influencers on us. Oh there’s that group of peer led champions again…

Authority:

Cialdini asserts that we feel a sense of obligation to people in positions of authority. So we should bring the top bosses into the equation? But doesn’t that contradict points 3 and 4?

Well yes it does if we look at authority in the traditional manner. However, what is authority? More to the point who can speak with authority – continuing our example, perhaps someone who understands both the requirements and processes of the field engineers and someone who has already had actual hands on experience with the new devices?

Authority comes in many guises and our group of peer-based champions are on the horizon once more.

Scarcity:

This final principal is perhaps the least likely to be incorporated into a traditional change management program as of course the end goal is to minimise the period of change as effectively and quickly as possible.

However, perhaps in the initial wave of roll out it could be good to promote the benefits so those that aren’t part of wave one are eagerly anticipating when they can be upgraded?

What we do see from the above example is that having a group of field engineers within the intial decision making process led to opportunities to meet at least five of Cialdini’s six principals. This group became champions for the Change Management program and what Moura refers to as a Change Agent Network something we will explore in the next feature in this series.

However, before we get to that point, lets explore just a little further how we can effectively engage with this group on the individual level, in both the head and the heart.

 In Moura’s own words:

“Think about using story telling as a way to engage the head and the heart, producing report after report or communication after communication will not help here at all.” [quote float="right"]Producing report after report or communication after communication will not help here at all.

“Individual conversations are effective, small group conversations are effective and you should be topping and tailing all communications with  - why is this changing and what is in it for me”

 

And it is in this last sentence that we find perhaps the ultimate persuasive tool i.e. “What’s in it for me” If we can understand the pain points of our employees, whether it be field based or office based staff, if we can show them a picture of how this Change Management program will help them eliminate these problems in their daily lives, if we can show them that this change is as much about investing in them and making their lives easier as it is about increasing efficiency etc, then they are almost certainly going to be feel more open to the change.

If we get there, then we are on the right track for getting the emotional buy-in we need from these individuals to make this whole change management project a success.

Download the white paper that accompanies this series

This series is sponsored by:

This is page two of this feature. If you arrived here first then click here to go to the beginning of the feature.

There is also a corresponding white paper on this subject, which you can access by clicking this link and completing the brief registration form.  

Process

The next area of consideration is process. What is the level of process change? Once again we look to the above points to be able to begin to what we will need to change in terms of processes in our business, how these changes will impact our business and ultimately how we can best manage these changes.

As with structure the key to managing change in processes is to be able to see the full picture and understand how each interaction within your company may be affected. [quote float="left"]As you assess the impact of your change management program it is essential to look across each and every process that is undertaken to understand if it is subject to change

 

Whether it is between office and field based staff, differing divisions within your company (service operations and sales for example) or even between your company and other third party organisations (either client or provider) you need to understand how your change management program will impact these interactions.

What changes will need to be made to your internal processes in order to accommodate these alterations? As you assess the impact of your change management program it is essential to look across each and every process that is undertaken to understand if it is subject to change and if so what those changes will be.  Then as with structure it is imperative that these changes are identified with all stakeholders informed and where required, new lines of responsibility clearly demarcated.

Tools

Finally we come to the point where perhaps many of us may have thought we should start –the actual tools that we will be bringing in, indeed those very tools that are the driving force of the whole change management project itself. Depending on where you are in the process of selecting your new system you may well have already chosen your new solution/configuration etc.

However, if you are still in the early stages perhaps you should consider bringing in representatives from various divisions of the workforce including managers, as well as field and office based operatives, as part of the selection process.

Not only will they give you great insight into how the tool will be implemented, but also they will form a core of your change agent network – a topic we will look at in further detail later in this series.

Yet if the decision has already been made in terms of selecting the tools you will be using then this may not be an option. You can however certainly turn to your technology provider to ask for their guidance at this point – they should be prepared to be share with you their experience of previous implementations and any good technology provider should be offering their full assistance throughout the implementation process and can be an invaluable partner as you tackle your change management program.

 

It is important to explore each of the above areas, assessing how they will be impacted by your change management program and planning how to best manage each of the steps of change. It is also important to remember that Change Management is not a one hit procedure and you should be continuously reviewing the impact of change on each of the above areas as you continue through to full adoption and beyond.

In the next feature in this series we will look at the importance of engaging both the head and the heart as you go through the Change Management Process.

In the meantime we recommend you download a copy of the white paper “5 principals of change management in field service click here and complete the brief registration form.

Our exclusive series looking at Change Management written by Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland continues with a focus on assessing the change as the first step towards a successful change management program. This series is sponsored by ServiceMax

There is also a corresponding white paper on this subject, which you can access by clicking this link and completing the brief registration form.

In part one of this series we looked at understanding what is change management and what steps should be taken to achieve a successful change management process.

We took a brief look at some of the better-known change management approaches including the Prosci, Kotter and Lewin models. We also referred to the 5-step approach that Sharon Moura applied when global safety and security firm Tycho implemented ServiceMax’s field service management platform.

These five steps were; assessing the change, engaging the head and the heart, creating a change agent network, leading through the resistance and finally leading through the adoption cycle. Today we will examine the first of these steps… assessing the change. First we must understand exactly what will be changing. At first glance this may seem like stating the obvious, however this question runs far deeper than the initial surface change of implementing a new technology. What else will be changing in your organisation as a result?

It is absolutely vital that you take a holistic approach to understanding the level of impact that the Change Management project you are undertaking will have. You must consider how the culture, people, structure, process and tools are all set to change as a result of your project, in order to minimise the disruption on your business and accelerate adoption times. 

Culture:

First up how will the culture in your organisation be affected? This is perhaps the hardest and most complex of the considerations you will have to face as often the impact of change is subtle or even invisible at first. However, it is also perhaps the most important as the culture of a business, i.e. how the employees, management and even the business as a whole pull together, is key to on-going business success.

If there is a negative change in the culture of your organisation, its effect will be deeply felt and will have an adverse effect on company wide performance if left unchecked. Therefore it is imperative that you consider the impact on culture your change management project will have in your organisation. Will there be new behaviours within your workforce? Will these be felt amongst workers based in the office, field based workers or both? Will expectations change – from both employee and management perspectives?

 

Will these expectations be in-line with the actual reality and how will these change the dynamic between senior and middle management, and between middle management and employees? Will the change lead to greater transparency in how field engineers spend their day?

How will they react to that change? Will they feel your trust in them is diminished (big-brother is always watching) or will they feel more valued as you invest in the tools required to make their jobs easier? All of these questions and many more relate to the culture of a business, which is an often-overlooked yet crucial element in Change Management and where you must start, when assessing the impact of change to your business as a whole

People

Leading very much on from cultural change we must next consider the people change also. For example will there be any changes to the way teams are laid out? Will there be new management structures needed to be put in place? Of course one of the flip sides of implementing any technology to improve productivity will be that if the implementation is successful you may need less people to achieve the same workload.

Will staff need to be reallocated to different divisions of your organisation or will you need to explore the possibility of redundancies? Similarly when we look specifically at field service management one of the greatest benefits of implementing modern field service management solutions is that we can open up new streams of revenue directly from the field. Will this change the way we reward our people? Also will it mean that new divisions will be in closer contact? Again a people consideration when we think of how to employ best communication practices.

Structure

Once again structure leads on very much from people. As we can see the considerations for assessing the full impact of a Change Management project are wholly integrated. This is an important fact to comprehend as whilst understanding one facet can lead to greater comprehension of the whole, similarly overlooking one element can equally lead to overlooking other challenges that could rear their heads further down the line.

So how will your structure change? In the point above we looked at the impact on people of potentially creating new teams and adding or removing management layers but what will this mean from a business perspective? New reporting lines may need to be considered for example and new responsibilities may need to be clearly outlined.

It is important to understand how these changes will be shaped and to communicate any new responsibilities early with clear delineation and definition.

Also what about relationships with providers and vendors? Will the change in structure mean that there will be closer ties between field staff and your providers perhaps?

Again a much-vaunted benefit of modern field service systems is the ability for field service staff to see inventory in real time and order relevant parts when needed. Whilst this is of course an excellent benefit it will alter the structure of your business and therefore how your organisation adapts to accommodate this change must also be considered.

Click here to read page two of this feature...

We also suggest you download a copy of the corresponding white paper “5 principals of change management in field service" Click here for the white paper.

 
This series is sponsored by:

 

The case for implementing a modern field service solution is well documented, the benefits clear and tangible. However the road to a successful implementation is fraught with challenges. Over the next few weeks we will be exploring this topic across a number of features which are sponsored by ServiceMax

There is also a corresponding white paper on this subject which you can access by clicking this link and completing the brief registration form

There is no hiding from the reality that the implementation of a modern service management solution involves a major change within business, including shifts in both processes and culture, driven by the technology. Change is hard, and without proper understanding of your goals and the challenges you face, successfully managing it can be at best a complicated and drawn out process, at worst an abject failure.

In fact according to Change Management guru John Kotter, 70% of change management efforts fail and this is largely due to a lack of preparation, a lack of understanding of best practices or more often than not a combination of both.

However, at the heart of every successful change management exercise there is one maxim that holds absolutely true. Change Management is always about people.

Despite often being mistakenly pigeon holed amongst Project Management, which is more focussed on business protocol and processes, the key to good Change Management is understanding and confront the emotional and personal impact change can have on your workforce both on the individual as well as the company at large.

It is widely quoted that on average two thirds of employees are resistant to using a new system. So before we even begin to plan for change we must consider some of the fundamental reasons why our workforce would be so anti-change, if we are to succeed.

For a start we must remember our workforce is made up a human beings, whilst this may seem like an obvious even condescending point to make, it is all to easy, especially in larger organisations to dehumanise the workforce, replacing names and personalities with numbers and statistics.

 

When focussing on the human aspect we can begin to understand the resistance we will face. It is our natural tendency to maximise reward and to minimise threat.

Sociology teaches us that there are five domains of social experience; status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness and when these are threatened we naturally resist change.

Inevitably an extensive change management exercise is going to impact on all five of these domains amongst your workforce so our goal cannot be to completely eliminate resistance, this would be an unrealistic and impossible task. Instead the intention should be to reduce the gap between introducing the change and full adoption of the change, thereby minimising the level of resistance faced and the duration that resistance lasts.

 

Research from McKenzie suggests organisations that utilise good change management best practices are likely to achieve 100% better business results through high employee adoption rates.

When it comes to implementing a new system across the workforce the stakes are absolutely huge, success can see significant improvements in productivity, efficiency and of course in the bottom line.

Failure can see value leakage resulting in a far longer time to see R.o.I (if at all) whilst simultaneously causing severe disruptions to the business as a whole. Put very simply there is an incredibly strong business case for making sure you get Change Management right.

Fortunately there are a number of differing resources that can be turned to, to help guide those who are undertaking such an operation. Some of which include:

Prosci

Prosci, whose name comes from a combination of professional and science, is one of the leading Change Management organisations in the world and their methods are cited as being used by more than three quarters of the Fortune 100.

Founded in 1994 they offer both benchmarking research and change management products.

 

The tools implemented in Prosci’s methodology are based on research into best practice of over 3400 international organisations.

The Prosci methodology has become one of the most widely used approaches to managing the people side of change in business and government. At the heart of their methodology is the ADKAR model which first appeared in 1999 as an outcome-oriented approach to facilitate individual change.

The model has taken hold as a simple and effective Change Management method, which has become one of the most widely used models of its kind in the world.

Kotter International

Headed up by a New York Times best-selling author, business entrepreneur and Harvard Professor, Dr. John P. Kotter, Kotter International is another of the world’s leading Change Management firms.

Their 8-step change management process is based upon thirty years worth of work by Kotter and aims to offer a holistic approach to Change Management and incorporates eight overlapping steps.

The first three are all about creating a climate for change. The next on engaging and enabling the organisation and the last implementing and sustaining change.

It has been noted that successful change occurs when there is commitment, a sense of urgency or momentum, stakeholder engagement, openness, clear vision, good and clear communication, strong leadership, and a well executed plan and Kotter’s 8 Step plan utilises each of these.

Lewin’s Un-Freeze, Change, Refreeze model

Developed by physicist and social scientist Kurt Lewin in the 1950’s this model became a fundamental building block for organisational change management, The name of the model refers to the three stage process of change. The concept uses the analogy of a block of ice and transforming its shape from a block to a cone. First you must make the ice amenable to change (unfreezing it), then the ice must be moulded to the shape you desire (change). Finally you must solidify the the new shape (refreeze)

Therefore the first step in any successful change process must be to understand the reason for change. In Lewin’s own words "Motivation for change must be generated before change can occur. One must be helped to re-examine many cherished assumptions about oneself and one's relations to others."

Across the next few weeks we will be exploring the stages of change management in more detail looking at 5 specific stages as defined and implemented by Tycho’s Sharon Moura when they recently implemented ServiceMax’s field service management platform.

To download a copy of the white paper “5 principals of change management in field service click here and complete the brief registration form.

 
This series is sponsored by: