Change management is not often the first thing that comes to mind when planning a large web redesign project. For many organizations today, the web has become one of their most strategic customer touch points, and as such, is an important pillar in supporting corporate reputation. In addition, the corporate website is not owned by one single department, but is a key communication vehicle for multiple departments.
When you consider the challenges associated with transforming such an important customer channel within an organization, you begin to realize the complexity and change that is involved:
- Making sure all those directly impacted by the new web feel that they are involved in the transformation process
- Integrating multiple applications and data sources for all parts of the enterprise
- Realigning process, structure, policies and procedures
- Education and training to support the new web development, execution and sustainment
- Bringing clients along with you as you evolve toward a more customer-centric approach
- Keeping sponsors and management active and engaged throughout the often long development process
Sound change management practices and methodology are required to successfully enable this type of grand-scale organizational shift. While working with some of Canada’s largest private and public organizations (i.e. Bombardier, Aeroplan and Canadian Institute for Health Information) on large transformation projects, we have gained first hand experience delivering enterprise-wide change that involves critical customer touch points like the web. We have developed a change management approach specifically tailored to this context.
Our approach includes four key fundamentals:
- Sponsorship
- Governance
- Communication
- Education
Sponsorship involves getting the project sponsor, senior leaders as well as middle managers and supervisors directly impacted to actively and visibally support the change throughout the project lifecycle. Governance involves defining the new organizational structure, processes and policies required to support the shift to a centrally or decentrally management website.
Communication plays a key role in bringing along employees, managers and external stakeholders, including clients. Education includes providing the right knowledge and skillset throughout the project, from workshops for the teams that are making decisions to skills training for the individuals whose jobs will be substantially changed.
An approach that integrates all four change management fundamentals of sponsorship, governance, communication and education throughout the web transformation project, offers a solid foundation to support an organization as it shifts toward a customer-centric web.
Posted by: Lianne Bridges
Lianne is President, CEO and a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, which provides transformation consulting services, specialized in helping marketers and organizational leaders leverage the latest technologies and techniques to realize their business, professional and personal goals.
Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer, Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.
Lianne,
I believe that even within the small and mid-size organization, change management has to be addressed in order to work new processes, new stakeholders, even new data/results into the mix. To make the investment in a new website worth it, the organization needs to change how they work with the web. Often the procedures of smaller organizations are less formal and structured, but no less important than those of large companies! On the contrary, perhaps they are more important given the number of hats each employee wears on any given day.
Lora,
Thank you for your comment. You are right, smaller companies need to consider change management as much or more than larger companies, because they are less structured and many employees hold multiple roles. The challenge becomes helping smaller organizations see the need to invest time and money in the change management process.
Some reports claim that as much as 60% of projects fail because of poor user adoption. The most compelling reason for small businesses to invest in change management is that they have less money to lose in failed projects.
Hi I think this is a fantastic blog, keep up the good work…