Psycho Bunny

Kathleen Vieira

Managing employees in times of change is a critical component of an organizational transformation. No matter the type of change a company faces, it will likely cause disruptions. So, when we started our digital transformation in 2022, we knew it was going to require everyone’s support.

We embarked on our digital transformation by putting in place a project management office (PMO) - a team of project managers and business analysts that would be responsible for assessing our current system stack and our desired system stack. The PMO would set out to integrate change management into project management from the start of the project to ensure that changes were aligned with the overall goals and objectives of the organization.

This would be our framework for analyzing the impact of changes on different stakeholders, and for developing plans to mitigate any negative effects. Because our projects would involve significant changes to processes, systems, and structures, we felt that we had a better chance of success if we integrated change management into project management. We aimed to ensure that the changes were wellplanned, well-communicated, and well-received by all stakeholders. Additionally, it helped us ensure that changes are aligned with the overall goals and objectives of the company and that the change was adopted and integrated by all the stakeholders.

Another benefit of integrating change management into project management is that it helps to ensure that changes are well-communicated and well-received by all stakeholders. Change management provides a framework for developing effective communication plans that ensure that everyone affected by the changes is informed, engaged, and supported throughout the process. This helps to build trust and buy-in among stakeholders, which is critical for the success of any change initiative.

One of the key components of change management is change readiness assessment. This is a process that identifies the potential impact of changes on different stakeholders and helps project managers to develop plans to mitigate any negative effects. This includes identifying potential resistance to change and developing strategies to overcome it. This can be done through effective communication and stakeholder engagement, training and support, and providing incentives for individuals and teams to embrace the change.

Change management also includes change adoption, which is the process of supporting individuals, teams, and organizations in adopting and integrating changes into their daily work. This includes providing training, support, and coaching to help individuals and teams learn new skills and processes and providing resources to help them make the transition to the new way of working.

"Integrating change management into project management from the start is key to ensuring successful organizational transformation"

Finally, it is important to be aware that change management is an ongoing process. Even after the change has been implemented, it is important to continue monitoring and evaluating the change to ensure that it is having the desired impact. This includes assessing the effectiveness of the change, identifying any areas that need improvement, and making adjustments as needed.

We believe that change management should be a competency for our leaders - how we mobilize our people to deliver expected results and outcomes in times of change is what is the most important. We had to share the importance of investing the time and energy to manage the people side of our organizational efforts which would pay off in the end and avoid the many costs that accompany poorly managed change. Leaders needed to know how to:

• Align the team with the proper motivation

• Provide training and moral support

• Reinforce goals with positive feedback

To help in this regard, our learning & development team developed a change management training course that was initially delivered to our team leads in the form of a workshop and is soon to be released as an online course that team leads can follow at their own pace or revisit if they simply want to refresh their knowledge.

As we continue our digital transformation, we intend to continue to integrate change management into project management. It is still a work in process, but our PMO and L&D teams are committed to collaborating to ensure the success of our projects, at every stage, so that everyone is set up for success.