change management guide

1 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Guide to Change Management and CommunicationsGuidance for Project Managers

Matthew ReesRegional Program Manager


Change Management and Communications is necessary for the country projects to succeed

• Program/project communication is an integral part of the change process, aiming at creating awareness, understanding and commitment

• Carefully planned communication is a prerequisite for successful implementation of the change as stakeholders need to know:

– What changes are being made, why they and being made and when they are being made

– What impact this will have on them

– What they need to do both during and after the project

– How they can contribute to the project

• Communication is a dialogue - a continuous two-way information flow is needed throughout the project


Each project needs a local Comms Kit and a Comms Plan to define the project communications

• The Comms Kit contains:– The content of the messages that are to

be communicated

• The Comms Plan contains:– The audience for those message, i.e. the

different groups of stakeholders, each of which may have different needs

– The timing of the communications, which may be once-off or regular, e.g. weekly

– The media, or channels, that will be used for the communications, e.g. email or workshop

– The style that will be used, e.g. the use of NSN branding and the use of English

Content

Timing

Media

Style

Audience


This guide, with supporting documents, helps project managers to deliver their communications

Local Comms

Kit

Global Comms

Kit

Gu

ide

to C

han

ge

Man

agem

ent

and

Co

mm

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icat

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s

Comms Kit Template

Local Comms

Plan

Content

Timing

Media

Style

Audience

Comms Plan

Template

Global Comms

Plan


The first step is to identify what changes are being made in the country

• The Country Plan summarizes the changes that are being made, which may include changes to:

– Fixed telephony, e.g. the availability of fixed lines to staff, allocation of numbers and the facilities offered by the PBX (e.g. group pick-up)

– Mobile telephony, e.g. service provider, telephone numbers, tariffs and call limits

– Ordering, e.g. new processes, new products and services

– Service charging, e.g. monitoring and allocation of costs

– Agreements, e.g.unbundling of calls and handsets

– Support, e.g. arrangements for delivering new SIM cards

– VoIP, e.g. local access numbers and 7 digit dialing

– Products and services used, e.g. voice conferenceing and handsets

– Usage policy, e.g. no barring or call limits

• It is also worth including things that could be expected to change but which are not, e.g. some phone numbers


Each change has stakeholders who are impacted by the change and/or who can influence it

• Stakeholders who are impacted by the changes are usually:– People who have changes to their telephony, e.g. new numbers– People who use the modified processes, e.g. ordering and charging– People responsible for maintaining information relating to voice

services, e.g. inventory management

• Stakeholders who can influence the changes are usually:– <anagement in the country and the program– Suppliers’ management

• Stakeholders who are both impacted by, and can influence the changes, are usually:

– Users who need to change their behavior in order to deliver the benefits

– Managers in the departments undergoing change

• Other stakeholders, such as all staff, need to be kept informed even if they are not directly involved in the changes


The changes and stakeholders are best identified in a small workshop of 2 to 5 people

• Use the Country Plan as the basis for identifying what is and what is not going to change.

• In order to identify all the stakeholders it may be necessary to breakdown one change into a number of smaller ones. e.g. ordering can be broken down into submit order, dispatch order, confirm order and complete order.

• For each change, consider the impact on and the influence of the users, their managers and any other parties involved.

• For each impact on each stakeholder, identify:– The impact, i.e. what will the change be from their perspective

– The benefit, i.e. why will they think that this is a good idea


Stakeholder mapping shows all of the project’s stakeholders and their level of engagement

AwarenessKeep informed

OwnershipActive involvement required*

Commitment Address concerns

Buy-inSome active involvement required

Influence on the project

Impa

ct o

f th

e pr

ojec

t

1 2

32


The Comms Kit documents the targeted messages that are developed for each of the stakeholders

• These messages explain:– What changes are being made, why they and being made

and when they are being made

– What impact this will have on them

– What they need to do both during and after the project

– How they can contribute to the project

• Some of these messages will be copied directly from the Global Comms Kit, e.g. purpose of the program

• Other messages will be specific to the country, e.g. details of any changes to mobile subscriptions

• Further guidance on the content of the messages is in the Comms Kit Template

Content

Timing

Media

Style

Audience


The next step is to build the Comms Plan that shows how these messages will be delivered

• Audience is the different groups of stakeholders, each of which may have different needs

• Timing is the communications schedule

• Media is the channel used to communicate, e.g. email or workshop

• Style covers presentational aspects like the use of NSN branding and the use of English

Content

Timing

Media

Style

Audience


The more involved the stakeholders are the greater their commitments needs to be

Drive things forward

Care and engage

Understand and support

Know or comply

Resist change or disengage

Commitment scale

1

2 4

3 5


Different techniques are needed to get different levels of commitment from stakeholders

Telling

Selling

Consulting

Co-creating

Drive things forward

Care and engage

Understand and support

Know or comply

Resist change or disengage

1

2 4

3 5


These are some common communications channels used in the company currently

• Telling– Email

– Intranet

– Posters

• Selling– Voice and web meetings

– Physical meetings, e.g. site meetings

• Consulting– Meeting a small number of people face-to-face

• Co-creating– Stakeholder workshops

– Joint working, i.e. business staff assigned to work on the project


Care needs to be taken in choosing the appropriate communication channels

• Try to use multiple approaches instead of relying on only one approach

• Select the communication channels so that they are appropriate for reaching the stakeholders in question

• Use existing channels, e.g. newsletters and staff meetings, where appropriate as the process for delivering these is already in place

• Face-to-face communications is the default media, whenever possible. It’s the best way to communicate changes, as it allows interaction

• Relying on written communication, such as email, is a poor way to communicate change messages

• However, written communications are effective at conveying basic information that gives stakeholders awareness


The Comms Plan shows how commitment will be changed for each stakeholder

Stakeholder PlanProgram/Project:Responsible for the Communication Plan:Prepared by: Date:Stakeholder Engagement

(1-3) Currentstate of

commitment (1-5)

Targetstate of

commitment (1-5)

Likely response to this change

(+ / -)

Objective of communication Content of information/

message

Channel(s) Responsible person

(support person)

Schedule Status

CMT 2 2 3 = Get CMT to understand why this soultion has been chosen

Solution description and reason

special meeting

NSN PM 17 Sept


Things to consider when defining the schedule for communication activities

• The need for some stakeholders to receive the messages before others; typically this will be informing stakeholders who influence the outcome before those that are impacted by it

• The schedule for existing communications that may either be used by the project or make other demands of the recipients

• The schedule of global communications that may need to be reinforced, or interpreted, locally

• Alignment to project milestones• The need to repeat some messages to reinforce them• Keeping people updated without overwhelming them with

information• The amount of time needed to prepare the communications

activities, e.g. newsletters often have long lead times


The Comms Plan shows the schedule for the main communications activities in the country

Action PlanSchedule Comms activity (e.g. task,

message, info session)Target group of the activity

Channel Deadline Responsible person (support person)

Review / approval by

Status

17.Sep CMT meeting CMT meeting 17.Sep NSN PM Nokia PM

21.Sep Announce NVC availability All NSN staff email 21.Sep NSN PM Nokia PM


The way that messages are presented is important

• A written message should be clear and brief, answering to questions what, why, who, when, how

– Key message (short, clear, simple)

– Schedules (as accurately as possible)

– What is expected from the recipient? (Do I need to do something?)

– Where to get instructions, advice and support (contacts)

– WHY – people won’t usually react unless they understand why something needs to be done

• Send the message only to the people who really need to know/react to it– Know your target groups before creating the messages

• Tone of the message should be objective, to the point and clear– Avoid negative expressions (problem -> issue, challenge..)

• Open all abbreviations when you use them for the first time (ARP, PRM..)– No technical jargon or unfamiliar terms should be used unless explained in the

message (e.g. LE accuracy, proxy server..)


Summary of the Change Management and Communications process

• Identify all the changes being made in the country by the project

• Identify the stakeholder who are impacted by, or who can influence, the changes

• Document all the messages that need to be delivered to stakeholders in a Comms Kit, reusing material from the Global Comms Kit as required

• Determine how to deliver each set of messages to each group of stakeholders, taking account of the complexity of the message and the degree of commitment required

• Summarize the communications activities in a Comms Plan

• Deliver the Comms Plan

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