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Vesa Purho
Research Analyst, Information Design, Nokia
Our work seems to be changing at an ever-increasing speed,
to the extent that we could say that we work in constant
change. However, change should not happen without good
planning and prework, so I thought that we should be
reminded of what a good change management process is. Note
that this process applies only to revolutionary changes, not
to gradual improvements that can be managed just by setting
objectives.
1. State the Reasons for Change
You should never make changes for change's sake. There
always must be some reasons why the change is needed. Are
the customers complaining about the quality of
documentation? Is the management, or are you, unhappy with
the efficiency of the documentation department? Or are there
new technologies available that you think would increase the
usability of documentation and the product? Whatever the
reason, state it clearly and, above all, communicate it
clearly to all parties who will be affected by the change,
both documentation personnel and all interfaces (research
and development, marketing, training, and so on).
2. Analyse the Current Situation
Before you know what to change, you have to know where you
are now. Conduct interviews, surveys, and measurements to
analyse the current situation. Involve the personnel as well
as the interfaces who will be directly affected by the
change to find out their opinions of the current situation.
In the interviews, you may discover solutions for your
problem that you have not thought of yourself. The
interviews will also help you to decrease the resistance to
change that will inevitably occur.
3. Define Clear, Measurable Goals
The goals have to be something you can measure to know when
you have achieved them. You should not set goals like "the
documentation department will work more efficiently" or
"customer satisfaction will increase." With goals like that,
you never know when you should stop making the change. Goals
like "customer satisfaction with documentation will increase
by one point" or "production costs will decrease by
10% in one year" are much better. Naturally, you have to
know the current situation so that you can set reasonable
goals (see step 2). Involve the personnel in setting the
goals, and when you are faced with the resistance to change,
you can even use their participation to your benefit by
asking your team to come up with solutions to your problem if they are not
happy with your suggestions. Naturally, they first have to know and understand
the reason for the change (see step 1). Also, check that your goals are in line
with the company's general goals so that you don't, for example, set a goal to
lower the costs if the company's goal is to improve quality.
Naturally, the goals have to be connected to the groups' and
the individuals' personal targets.
4. Manage the Change
During the change process, you have to manage the change,
people, environment, and yourself. You have to know the
current situation, the problem, and the goal of the change.
Only then can you answer all the questions related to the
change and make the needed decisions. Leadership skills are
really needed to manage the change because the change may
mean that some people get laid off and others feel
threatened, and you must understand that
- resistance towards change is natural and will always occur
- different people react differently to change and need to be managed in different ways
- if you are faced with a lot of resistance, you may have left something unnoticed and you have
to go back to step 2
All interfaces have to be kept informed about the change and
how it affects them so that they can be sure that everything
works well. You must also think about your own management
style and commitment to the change. Successfully managing a
change one does not believe in is extremely difficult.
5. Analysing the Result
After the change has been made, you have to analyse the
situation again. Is the change enough or should you make
another change? Sometimes the change process takes so long
that the original goal for the change is not enough and
another change is required.
Without a good change management process, making changes
becomes very difficult because you don't know where you are to start
so you don't know how much change is required or when you
are done. In such situations, people feel insecure and spend
time questioning the need for the change and wondering what
will happen to them instead of working to make the change
happen. In extreme cases, people change jobs in fear of
losing the current one. You are in real trouble then because
you have fewer people doing the current work and making the
change.
The process described above is only an overview of change
management. There is literature available on managing change
that you should take a look at, at least if you are making a
very significant change.
This article is the personal opinion of the author and does
not necessarily reflect the opinion or practice of Nokia.
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