Change Management is the New Management

Holy Hand Sanitizer Batman! 2020 has turned into a wicked year and it is only a little over a quarter of the way done. COVID-19, market crashes, the fourth turning, and heaven knows what else is next. Change happens so frequently nowadays; it is now a constant in management. In fact, I borrowed the title of this blog from a phrase in an excellent Harvard Business Review article by Ron Carucci.[1]

As Carucci points out, in the recent past, organizational change was a seasonal occurrence and not a daily norm. Today managing continual disruption is the new normal and a skill required of most leaders.[2] In the ERP space, implementation failures have been reported to be as high as 75%.[3] I will bet my next paycheck almost all of those big failures included poor or nonexistent change management and a lack of involved leadership. So how does a leader provide effective change management in an era more turbulent than a ping pong ball in a spinning dryer? I am glad you asked. I will limit my focus to ERP Implementations and Project Teams. Managing change in today’s business climate is a longer discussion that should be explored in future blogs. To effect change during an ERP Implementation, the change leader must address the following issues:

• Job Satisfaction. The work performed by your project team must be meaningful, focused, and achievable. It is leadership’s task to create the right conditions for job satisfaction. Is your project team part of a full-time team or are you making them do two full-time jobs simultaneously? Have you carved out space for them to work away from the daily distractions? Do you interrupt their implementation activities with too many meetings or impromptu emergencies?
  
  
• Organizational Consistency and Reinforcement. Due to the long hours and tough work of an implementation, have you properly incentivized the team? I challenge you to look beyond just extra pay. Find out what really motivates each individual. Is it public recognition, time off, a better office, or a promotion upon a successful Go Live? Be creative. Conversely, minimize poor behavior on the team as well. If someone is being a drag to progress, pull them aside and reset their gyrocompass. Don’t reinforce bad behavior by ignoring it. Sometimes a drastic change needs to happen to a team member that is disruptive to the process and forward momentum. Enough said.
  
  
• Goals, priorities, and incongruities. Have you defined what success AND failure look like? What are your willing to set aside to push the ERP ahead? Is everything a priority so nothing is? Have you set challenging yet achievable goals? Does the team know what your goals are? Have you provided the means to succeed?
  
  
• Job Stress and project fatigue are the sharpest tools in the failure toolbox. One of the biggest contributors to job stress is an unrealistic timeline and a doubled workload. Set a realistic Go Live date. If you can’t afford to have a full-time team, then compensate for that fact and move the Go Live date out. Have a contingency budget for time and money. Something will always go off track, someone will always take ill, there will be a death in someone’s family. While these are all unknowns for the team members, they are probable unknowns so plan for them.
  
  
• Off-The-Job Influences. We all have lives outside of work, well everyone but me. Be that as it may, most people cherish their off-work time. How does this project impact those lives? Are you asking people to work on their sabbath? Are you crushing their family time during holidays, spring break, June graduations, and/or weddings? Look at those outside influences and get ahead of the curve. Plan for these life events the same way you plan around peak sales times. Otherwise, you will turn enthusiasm into misery and lose the team. They will do exactly what you told them to do, not what you need them to do. You know what I am talking about.

Finally, most of the failed implementations (ahem) I have witnessed (looking sheepishly at my shoes), leadership did not provide the right resources towards managing change and I did not adequately speak truth to power. We did not assuage the human fear of the unknown, we did not adequately address worker overload, give a respectful ear for dissent, or provide an inviting path to change. Additionally, poor timing, indirect threats (e.g. losing your job because of reorganization or redundancy) as well as organizational memory of change are all resistors to change that must be addressed.

All the above create a critical need to overcome resistance to change. ERP Leaders must articulate a clear vision, provide real support from top management, empower change champions at every level, and communicate, communicate, communicate. Strategic involvement, consistency, and an “It Can Be Done!” spirit are required to change processes, outcomes, and cultures. Showcasing and rewarding successes, providing resources, empathy (not sympathy), adequate time, and actionable requirements are must-haves for creating positive change. Leaders must immediately confront the resistance, use the correct tools, and provide a feedback loop to create positive change. Demotivators need to be discarded and people need to know that it is in their best interests to change. At LTA, we can help you find your blueprint for change and help lead your company down the path to a brighter future.

[1] Carucci, Ron, “Leading Change in a Company That’s Historically Bad At It,” Harvard Business Review, August 6, 2019, online: http://www.hbr.org/2019/08/leading-change-in-a-company-thats-historically-bad-at-it, [accessed March 25, 2020].

[2] Ibid.

[3] Jordan, Ed, “4 Valuable Lessons from Major ERP Failures,” Manufacturing Business Technology, May 4, 2018, online https://www.mbtmag.com/erp/article/13228432/4-valuable-lessons-from-major-erp-fails, [accessed March 25, 2020]