“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” — Peter Drucker
After the Change Readiness Assessment, we endeavor to understand the impact of changes required to achieve the objectives of a business (and or technology) transformation initiative on the organization and its people. To better understand and plan for this change, a Change Impact Assessment is needed.
At its core, a Change Impact Assessment is the set of tasks performed to analyze the impacts of a business change. When a business transforms its processes or technology, or when it expands to new locations, produces new products, or changes its culture in a significant way, some individuals and groups are impacted by this change. A Change Impact Assessment provides a better path forward in transformation adoption and program/initiative execution.
How to Implement an Impact Assessment: Usually, this is by the creation of a master document (Word or PowerPoint) that explains in detail of who will be affected by the change, how they will be affected, what issues this might cause, and how those issues should be handled. The document or result of the assessment assists in mitigating risks, manage impacts (via refining the transformation approach), and planning effective and timely interventions. The assessment development process should take into account the following:
- Select the Project(s) to be Assessed
- Conduct an Evaluability Assessment (An Evaluability Assessment examines the extent to which a project or a program can be evaluated reliably and credibly.)
- Prepare a Research Plan
- Contract and Staff of the Impact Assessment
- Carry out the Field Research and Analyze its Results
- Disseminate the Impact Assessment Findings
To promote benefits realization (individual and organizational) of the digital business transformation initiative and to motivate people and successfully facilitate and or execute the program/initiative. The Change Impact Assessment is best accomplished when an organization does the following:
- Identify what needs to change
- Identify related Risks/Issues in making the changes identified
- Determine Scope and Scale of required for interventions
- Develop Change Action Plans
There are many ancillary benefits (applicable to initiatives or daily business processes) that are realized when defining change impacts and or doing Change Impact Assessments. Prosci discusses a “Halo Effect” where the practitioners can utilize the data and the framework(s) in several other ways to improve future projects. The most common are Building Empathy, Defining Ability, Create Adoption Metrics, Engage Employees, Identify Blind Spots, Personalize engagement, Leverage stories, and personas, Scale interventions. The benefits are worthwhile, regardless of when the assessment process is carried out correctly.
Change and Change Management are one of the critical drivers of the AMIGO platform. Keeping the cadence and optics intact down to the Work Package level will ensure proper communication is realized. Change and approvals are all tied to the Teams, Roles, and Work Packages as well, allowing for timely decisions and cost containment. Precious budgets are met and kept, while stakeholders rejoice.
There are so many things we can discuss within AMIGO that will transform your initiative to gain the much-desired benefits realization level you built into the business case. All you have to do is visit our Face The Challenge Head-On page or DisruptingDX.com and set a time for a FREE 30-Minute Consultation or Live Demo of AMIGO. I promise you will see the exceptional value, stability, and controls we are offering your organization. In this time, it is necessary to take every opportunity to safeguard not only your current resources but your organization’s future. We at Platinum PMO would love the opportunity to assist you with just that!
