Change management within an organization is a challenging, process-driven
exercise, unless your organization has been courageous enough to be enlightened
and multi-inclusive in the decision-making process.
In any event, getting the process right is a vital component. The credibility of
the change managers will be scrutinized closely enough on the issue itself,
with all processes in place. If process is at fault too, then things can get
very messy indeed, regardless of how many charts, maps, or process flows you
have available.
Time Management
Appropriate time management in people-related change management issues will need
to be carefully dealt with as part of the HR overview, but it can be easy to
mess up. A great way to handle this is by using a simple
project management process for the whole set of activities, working for
as far back as twelve weeks ago to twelve weeks in the future, putting this
timeline into spreadsheet, Pert Chart, or a
Gantt chart
.
Legalities
Legalities of how you are dealing with people issues must be resolved first with
a clear understanding of HR technicalities, which requires the right level of
expertise. Within this are elements of fairness, consistency and honesty.
Although subsets of the well-researched HR framework, they save a lot of time,
energy and emotion if considered in advance and protocols carefully positioned.
Check and Check Again
This will give everyone a clear view of how the process will work and what needs
to be done when. Time taken in this planning stage cannot be overdone and the
change management team will need to work in a focused way, to deliver a
credible plan. Double-check that everything has been thought of, because it
probably still won’t have been.
Coordination
If the project plan spans multiple sites, this all needs to be coordinated on a
macro level with each site working to the same plan.
Purpose
The point of delivering a coherent and researched project plan is not simply to
protect the organization. It is also far more efficient and enables the company
to quickly recover after significant imparting such significant has happened.
The people within the company, too, are protected. It's possible to
maintain good relationships or even foster improved relationships with the
individuals affected, assuming you deal with then openly and fairly.
Change management should involve your people, treating them as well as
possible. It is the role of management and leadership to manage and leadand
get it right first time - it's what they are paid for. The successful results
will be attained and the company can move on from this particularly challenging
time.
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