Getting Started with Organizational Change Management

The first activity Sandra and Paul conduct together is the change assessment. The change assessment is part of the change strategy dimension. It targets systematically collecting information to set-up change management for BriscoBikes’ 4S project.

Usually, a change assessment covers topics like:

• The company’s change management capabilities
• Previous experience with business transformations
• The change culture
• The cloud project’s vision and expected benefits
• The stakeholder landscape
• The expected change impacts
• The current and future communication around the project
• Project risks and success factors to be tackled by change management

Carlos Olmeda has already captured valuable information about the 4S project, indicating the need for change management. So, Sandra and Paul build on these results. They focus the change assessment on a better understanding of the three different companies, their respective needs and challenges from the SAP Cloud implementation, and specific topics the change managers should be aware of.

Conducting a change assessment requires some preparation. Paul has many questions on how to proceed. What do you recommend? Step into Sandra’s shoes and decide how to set up the change assessment at BriscoBikes.

Take five minutes to complete exercise 10 in your workbook.

Based on her professional experience, Sandra has a clear picture of how to set up the change assessment for the 4S project.

After having successfully conducted the interviews, Sandra and Paul analyze the collected data and create a result report, combining quantitative and qualitative information.

The following chart visualizes results of quantitative rating questions regarding BriscoBikes change culture. Contrasting the mean values of the three companies provides a fast overview of the key insights. This helps to get a good understanding of the cultural differences between the three companies belonging to the BriscoBikes Holding.

Sandra and Paul add the following comments on the chart:

• The interviewees perceive huge differences regarding the current cloud mindset of the three companies.
• Due to the start-up company culture, veloREBELZ! has already established a comparably strong, agile way of working.
• The employees are generally open towards change, which is an asset for the 4S project.
• Overall, the cultural differences between the subsidiaries have to be considered in the change management support.

The next chart summarizes additional information on the differences between BriscoBikes, THE URBAN CYLIST and veloREBELZ!. The slide provides an example of how to report qualitative information by aggregating them into categories.

In general, the results of the change assessment reveal huge differences between the three companies that need to be addressed with specific change management activities. The following chart depicts key implications for organizational change management in the 4S project.

After developing a draft version of the change assessment result report, Sandra and Paul align the document with the three project managers. Usually, the final document is sent to all interviewees. Overall, the change assessment is a useful tool that provides Sandra and Paul with valuable insights about the required change management support for the 4S project.

During the prepare phase, it is important for Sandra and Paul to develop a change plan for the 4S project. The change plan gives an overview of the change management activities required to achieve user adoption. Typically, it is organized into distinct sections, each addressing a specific area of action that the BriscoBikes change management team manages, such as change communication.

The change plan closely aligns with the overall project plan for the 4S project, ensuring synchronization. Change management activities are scheduled in accordance with the project milestones, reflecting the specific requirements of different project phases.

The change plan helps Sandra and Paul to steer and coordinate all change management activities. Assigning responsibilities to defined tasks helps to identify required change management, project, and business resources and to ensure their availability. In addition, the change plan enables Sandra and Paul to monitor the progress of change management activities during the project. Therefore, it also serves as a basis for project reporting to the project leadership team. Of course, whenever the project plan is adapted, the change plan must be adjusted accordingly.

Ron Williams, the IT project lead, has developed an initial project plan for the 4S project together with Carlos Olmeda. This project plan has then been discussed and aligned with the project leadership team. The following chart gives you an overview of the approach and the timeline.

The overall project plan is the basis for the detailed planning of all project activities. Therefore, Ron Williams informs the project team about the key milestones and activities of the 4S project. Watch the video of Ron’s presentation.

Sandra has already started preparing a first high-level change plan, based on the 4S project plan. Her focus is on wave one for BriscoBikes Holding and the BriscoBikes subsidiary. The rollout waves for THE URBAN CYCLIST and veloREBELZ! are currently not in her planning scope.

Sandra has assigned key change management activities to the different SAP Activate phases. These project phases set the time frame for the execution of the specific change management activities. For example, all activities scheduled for the prepare phase must be terminated by April 15th.

Sandra’s high-level change plan is shown in the following chart.

Planning change management activities for a cloud project is an important task for a change manager. The exercise in the workbook helps you

Take 10 minutes to complete exercise 11 in your workbook.

Creating a change plan is a challenging activity. Let’s have a look at Sandra’s change plan to see the activities of the prepare phase and her overall recommendations.