Question

Discuss how you communicate the change to the organization and other stakeholders and summarizes how your thinking can be evolved

Answer 1

ANS.

Change communication is the informational component of the change management strategy that helps stakeholders understand what is changing and why, and how it will specifically affect them. It delivers timely messages and materials aligned with key milestones, ensures stakeholders receive consistent information about what is important to them, and provides a mechanism to share feedback and ask questions.

Whether you are changing technology, business practices, leadership or a combination of things, change management communication is essential to helping people move from where they are today to the desired “future state.”

The Standard for Change Management defines a multi-phase process that professional change managers use to think through, plan for and execute organizational change. The approach is informative as you think about creating your communication plan to support a change.

1. Evaluate change impact and organizational readiness – Thoroughly examine what is changing, how it differs from where the organization is today, who will be affected by the change, the desired future state and the plan to achieve it. This assessment step includes:

   a. Clearly define the change and vision for the future – What is changing and when, where will changes take place and why, who needs to change and what do we want the future to look like?

   b. Assess all the factors related to the change – What risks, goals, culture, and other changes are happening, and what other internal and external factors could influence them?

   c. Analyze all the stakeholders affected – Who is accountable, how are different groups and roles affected, who is being impacted the most, and who might be resistant to the change?

   d. Consider how the organization operates – Once a clear vision of the future is developed, how is it different from the way the organization operates today and what risks are there in moving to the future state?

2. Formulate the change management strategy – This includes approaches for resources, communications, sponsorship, stakeholder engagement, learning and development, measurement and sustainability for the change.
3. Develop a detailed change management plan – Spell out action steps and timeline to accomplish the strategy.
4. Execute the change management plan – Monitor the implementation, measure outcomes and adjust ongoing activities as needed to continue reinforcing adoption.
5. Complete the change management effort – Evaluate outcomes against objectives, design and conduct a lessons-learned evaluation, and gain approval to close the project once successful.