One of the main challenges involved in implementing a change management strategy at an organization is how to measure the strategy’s impact and the progress achieved by that impact over time. Unlike other indicators (e.g., a company’s financial performance or a production line’s productivity), change management is not a tangible quantitative (“hard”) concept. Instead it is qualitative (“soft”). In other words, measuring change management requires an analysis of atypical variables to understand how change management is performing.
Since the term “change management” may have different interpretations, it needs to be delimited and explained in more detail. At Sintec, we define a change strategy using the following elements or activity types: Sponsorship, Organization, Communication, Training and Management and Follow-up.
Based on these elements these questions arise:
– Is it important to measure these activities’ performance?
– Is this measurement useful for anything?
– What happens if it does not take place?
To be able to answer these questions, recognition needs to be given to the fact that one of the biggest challenges in implementing and managing change is being able to demonstrate that the actions taking place actually have a tangible impact on the success of a project. Likewise, by not measuring the activities’ impact on change management, the subjectivity of the results is amplified since an evaluation is based on perceptions, each participant’s or observer’s point of view, and assessments based on single or isolated events. A consensus about the impact of good change management and its benefits is not reached. Therefore, change management activities should be measured using indicators for the process and the result. Process indicators measure the performance brought about by executing certain key activities in the process subject to change. Results indicators measure the final result. All process indicators should be tied to a results indicator.
How do you measure this type of qualitative, soft variable? The following text explains the indicators that we have used at Sintec to measure the different activities for these elements: Sponsorship, organization, communication, training, and management.
Sponsorship
According to a study done by PROSCI,[1] the most important factor for a project’s success is visible, active leadership by the organization’s directors. In other words, this is the sponsorship or involvement that the management team provides to a change project. That is why sponsorship should be measured in terms of three main variables:
1. Involvement: The sponsor(s) should be present and actively participate in the project progress meetings. The sponsor’s involvement is measured by:
a) The percentage attendance and participation in progress meetings, board meetings, opening and closing events, etc.
2. Follow-up: The sponsor(s) should ask questions, make decisions, require adjustments and trigger actions for the change project to be successful. The sponsor’s follow-up is measured using the same indicator as involvement.
3. Enabling change: The sponsor(s) is expected to carry out the activities required of the sponsor(s) in a timely fashion, whether it is to explain one issue or expedite others. A record should be kept of these requirements and the type and way the sponsor(s) fulfilled them. Enabling change is measured by:
a) Percentage fulfillment of pledges requested in progress and board meetings (requested vs. provided).
At first glance, the subject of sponsorship indicators may appear trivial. Nevertheless, when these measurements are taken, it is useful to identify the causes behind a delay in some task or why it is not moving forward. In our experience, this commonly occurs for the same task where a sponsor shows low attendance at meetings, does not follow up properly on the sponsor’s requirements or does not satisfactorily fulfill the sponsor’s function as an enabler of change. Based on this, the sponsorship indicator is:
Sponsorship = Involvement + Follow-Up + Change Enablement
Organization
The items included in the organization element include the following:
Organizational Structure: The company should have an organizational chart that includes the hierarchy, reporting lines, and control sections for each position.
Regrettably, despite the fact that the organization oftentimes believes it has a defined structure, the reality is that employees do not have a clear idea of the direct reporting lines, and the correct way to interact with those involved. One of the tools we use to measure how well defined the organization structure is, is the RASCI matrix.[1] This matrix complements the defined organizational chart and how the company communicates to its employees. Given that, the organizational structure is measured by using two indicators: (a) defined structure, i.e., is there a defined organizational chart? and (b) how the structure is communicated to the parties involved and the organization, i.e., are the participants cognizant of this organizational chart?
Roles and Functions: A RASCI matrix is implemented with the hope of providing visibility to the activities, roles, and critical functions in change management. To do so, each person involved in an activity is categorized as follows:
- Responsible Party – Executes the task and is responsible for its execution.
- Approver – Approves the finished work and then becomes responsible for it.
- Support – Supports the role that executes the task and contributes to its happening.
- Consultee – Possesses some piece of information and ability necessary for finishing the work. This person has information reported to him/her and looks up information.
- Reportee – Should be informed about the progress and the results of the work.
Competencies and Skills: The subject of competencies and skills is critical for change management to be successfully implemented. If the people responsible for carrying out the change do not have the right profile, the required competencies and skills, the success of the project or change initiative will be negatively affected, even to the point of failing completely. To measure competencies and skills for the party implementing the change, there are three indicators:
- Percentage alignment of the candidates’ profile with the ideal profile for the role.
- Weekly recording of progress about covering vacancies to be filled for those positions where the current staff members do not match the profile.
- Provide follow-up to the staff “development plan” (training, coaching, etc.). The indicator is visualized as a percentage of planned activities versus the activities that were carried out.
Communications
The communications strategy is an element with different levels of intensity that is used in the different stages in a change process. Two indicators should be considered for the subject of communication:
- Existence of a specific communications plan (binary indicator): A plan should exist that includes identification of audiences, channels, and the parties responsible for executing the plan.
- Plan Execution: Measures the activities contained in the plan that are executed as to time and form.
- Understanding the message: A census should be taken by using random questionnaires about whether what the issuer tried to communicate was understood by the recipients.
- Message permanence: Message permanence is measured by the frequency with which messages are sent. Even if a message is clear, over time it tends to be forgotten or mixed up if it is not reinforced. Experts indicate that the permanency of a message occurs after it has been repeated from five to eight times (ESI International: “Taking Charge of Organizational Change”[1]
Training
Training is one of the more tangible items in relation to measurement, where it is important to evaluate whether the content was transmitted and how well the message was received and its permanence from two perspectives: the trainer’s perspective and the student’s perspective.
On the one hand, to evaluate the trainer, the following should be measured: The training course received by using a binary variable, i.e., whether the course was given or not, (b) the percentage attendance and the course sessions, and (c) trainer certification, e.g., the theoretic and practical ability of the person to provide the training is evaluated (both the trainer’s ability to train and the trainer’s grasp of the subject). On the other hand, to evaluate the student receiving the training, a measurement should be taken of a theoretic and practical evaluation about whether the knowledge transmitted to the student was understood. Likewise, a survey should be taken of the students receiving the training to evaluate the course (content, trainer, frequency, etc.).
Management and Monitoring
Although the indicators mentioned in the four previous sections are useful for managing change, the last indicator attempts to ensure that the processes implemented last over time and are not weakened.
In the management and monitoring area, there are certain indicators that are designed to measure the performance of the new process. For example, performance should be measured in the form of increases in sales, reductions in service costs, reduction in errors in prognostics, increases in productivity, reduction of turnover, quantitative improvement in variables related to organizational climate, etc. Based on this, three items are considered:
- Fulfillment of management routines: The routines should be evaluated (whether based on on-site meetings, remote meetings, information sent, etc.) about whether they have the frequency and duration clearly established. This includes a definition of the content that should be presented, reviewed, or reported, the forms to use, the agenda, and the time to use. In short, the following should be measured: (a) alignment with frequency, (b) punctuality, (c) attendance, (d) fulfillment of commitments, and (e) follow-up on the agenda.
- Fulfillment of results indicators: A control panel and a stop light are needed to publish the status of these indicators for the pertinent audience. These indicators should specify the source where they were obtained, the period of time during which they are evaluated, the real results, the purpose, and any deviation and trends. A key issue for indicators (both process and results) is to link them intelligently (simply and effectively) to compensation for the involved parties. This way, we are sure that the individuals are committed to the defined changes.
- Risk Mitigation: There should be a “Plan B” for those activities that are critically needed to implement the change. For example, if the implementation involves the use of hand held devices to train the sales force on ordering, a risk mitigation plan consists of having a defined plan in case the technology does not work. This way, the sales person will know what to do without the tool so the implementation will not be affected by this type of eventuality. Risk mitigation should be measured by the existence of that plan, the knowledge the relevant stakeholders have of its existence and of its contents and the alignment of the stakeholders with the plan as to time and form in case the contingency occurs.
- Change adoption: We should measure whether the change is permanent by using surveys and audits to be clear about issues such as: whether the people keep operating based on the newly defined processes or whether people are using the new tool, etc.
Conclusion
Using the previously described mechanism casts aside any baseless questioning, opinions based on perceptions, and inappropriate finger pointing when evaluating the performance of the change management activities that were carried out.
Finally, executing change management well is critical to achieving business transformation.
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[1]Matrix that shows the activities that are carried out, either in one area or in diverse areas of an organization, along with the existing interactions between people carrying out the activity (the responsible parties) and the rest of the people involved in it somehow (they provide information, validate it, etc.).