3 Ways a Customized Change Management Plan Mitigates Risk

From ERP and technology implementations to operational and structural transformations, successful change depends upon buy-in from every segment of the employee population. So how do you ensure that employees at every level adopt organizational change and deliver on its promise? How do you take a proactive approach to create successful and enduring change? The answers lie in a customized change management plan.

A recent ERP report showed that close to 55%* of all project disruptions lasting a month or more were attributed to organizational (people) issues. Such issues included insufficient skill or knowledge, employee resistance, lack of leadership and low system use. A customized change management plan mitigates the risk of people issues and ensures successful change in three ways: 

1. Deeply Assesses Impact: It’s built with a clear understanding of how the change impacts across the organization.
2. Focuses on the Essentials:  It focuses on the most important impacts or issues within each segment of the employee population.
3. Addresses Needs by Employee Segment: It deploys the critical levers and customizes the right tactics to address the needs of each employee segment.

Customized change management plans ensure that people at all levels receive the right training through the right method delivered at the right time. It also ensures that organizational structure and performance management programs work together to drive adoption of key behaviours. And finally, it ensures that leaders and front-line employees engage and take ownership of the change.

Managing change will always be a challenge. A major change can force organizations to alter many aspects of their operations and core processes. But a smart, customized change management plan can help guarantee lasting success. We recently worked with a travel industry leader to implement a customized change plan on a technology project to transform customer service – and they saw results beyond expectation. Read the Business Case here.

There are ways to proactively create successful and enduring change while mitigating risks. We take a structured and practical approach to managing change projects, including business model or process changes, workforce reductions or high growth, operational or structural transformations, technology changes, and more. Our purpose is to mitigate risks and ensure that employees at every level adopt, support and assimilate organizational change that lasts.

Learn more about successful change management in our whitepaper: Managing Change: Three truths every executive needs to know to deliver superior ERP and technology implementation results.