ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND
COMMUNICATION: A Necessary Relationship
•A Software Release Story of Woe
•Brief Overview of Prosci© Change Management
•A Simple OCM Checklist
SOFTWARE RELEASE STORY OF WOE
 Real SAP Implementation
 Constrained budget
 Solution!!
 Reduce OCM Communication to a few training sessions!
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FIRST OF THREE DEPLOYMENTS READY!
 Completed checklist:
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The rollout schedule has been compiled.
New users were notified.
Team members had a list of tasks to perform.
Sponsors were in the know.
SHUT DOWN SYSTEM/GET TO WORK
 Hey! Who communicated this change to existing
users?
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Project Manager to the Rescue!
 Light a fire under team
 Team gets message out at last minute
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The Next Day…..
 Call Center phone rings off the hook
 People struggle to make sense of changes in their
software computer screens
 Increased workload
 Lost productivity
 Employee frustration
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Root Cause?
 OCM was eliminated due to budget constraints
 Per Prosci© 2009 benchmark:
“Effective Communication was cited as the number two
contributor to success.”
Solution:
 A simple OCM Checklist of important
communication elements
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BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PROSCI OCM
 World leader in change management best
practices and research
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Ongoing statistical analysis
Maturity Model
Proprietary Methodology
Toolkit
Training
 Methodology widely used for managing the
people side of change in corporations and
government.
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Prosci’s PCT Model (Project Change Triangle)
 Leadership / sponsorship
provides guidance and
governance
 Project Management gives
structure to the technical
side of the change
 Change Management
supports the people side of
the change
Prosci PCT Model
All three elements must be present for project success
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The organization’s future state is actually the
collection of many individual future states
Individuals
Organization
Current
Transition
Future
Current
Transition
Future
Current
Transition
Future
Current
Transition
Future
Current
Transition
Future
Future
Documented and managed processes
One integrated database
Specialists in the call center
Supplier website integrated into supply chain
Merged organization
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ADKAR MODEL
 AWARENESS
 DESIRE
 KNOWLEDGE
 ABILITY
 RE-INFORCEMENT
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COMMUNICATION OVERLOAD@$#%
WEBSITES
EMAIL
IMPERSONAL
PERSONAL
MEMOS
NEWSLETTERS
SOCIAL MEDIA
OCM COMMUNICATION CHECKLIST
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Impacted groups have been segmented
The “why” for this change is thoroughly developed
Spokesperson(s) “preferred sender(s)” identified
Messages customized to each segment
Two-way communication in place (face-to-face
desired)
 Employee Feedback set up in safe, unthreatening
environment
 Message from both leadership and immediate
supervisors
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Impacted groups have been segmented
 Specific, unique audiences are identified
 Tailor your message for various audiences
 Action required by these stakeholders may vary
greatly
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The “why” for this change is thoroughly
developed
 To motivate stakeholders to change
 Clearly articulate from their perspective
 Begin with benefits of change
 Include risk of not changing
 Impact to business
 Impact to employee
 “WIIFM” of audience drives content of message
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Spokesperson(s) “preferred sender(s)”
identified
 Must be motivated to support the change
 Someone the intended audience will listen to
 Consider the message
 Executive Level: Business message, acquisition, mergers
 Functional manager/supervisor directly responsible for
performance reviews: “WIIFM”
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Messages customized to each segment
 Messages have been customized or adapted for
each segmented group
 Designed to meet their specific needs
 Clearly articulated the “5Ws” (Who, What, Why,
When, Where + How)
 Each segment addresses the “WIIFM”
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Two -way communication in place (face-toface is ideal )
According to A. Barbour, author of Louder Than
Words: Nonverbal Communication, the total
impact of a message breaks down like this:
 7 percent verbal (words)
 38 percent vocal (volume, pitch, rhythm, etc)
 55 percent body movements (mostly facial
expressions)
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Two -way communication in place (continued)
 Electronic feedback (blogs, emails, etc)
insufficient (Impersonal)
 Use face-to-face risk free environment to
improve communication (Personal)
 Examples for successful message delivery:
 Working group sessions
 Presentations
 One-on-one discussions
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Employee Feedback set up in safe,
unthreatening environment
 Make available throughout the change
 Employees need opportunity to give feedback
 Effective strategy for
 Minimizing non-compliance or “Malicious” compliance
 Surfacing issues in time to resolve without serious impact
 Giving employees a sense of influence and ownership in the
outcome
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Message from both leadership and immediate
supervisors
 Employees hear same message
 From person they view as “in charge”
 Immediate supervisor
 Key message consistent across organization
 Message supports the Vision, Mission, Objectives
of the organization
 Visibly supported by Executive Management and
Executive Sponsor.
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OCM LEADERSHIP/SPONSORSHIP TEAM
PROJECT/PROGRAM
SUPERVISORS
SPONSOR
Your Project/Program/Change (OCM)
EXECUTIVE
MANAGEMENT
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MANAGERS