Change management for mobility projects

By Nerida Kavanagh, Productivity Specialist – Business Productivity Services, Data^#3

[Reading time: 3 mins]

How to ensure a successful implementation

When implementing a new enterprise mobility solution in your organisation, it is important to plan for the impact to end users; how you manage the impacts will determine the success of your implementation and your return on investment.

Your implementation plan should include the following measurable factors:

• Speed of adoption: how quickly users make the change.
• Ultimate utilisation: how many users make the change.
• Proficiency: how effective users are after the change.

The application of a Change Management Framework will ensure these measureable factors, and your return on investment, are front of mind.

The Change Management Framework

The Framework should include:

• A Case for Change: an assessment of the current and future states, and a compelling business reason for the implementation, which is used to motivate users and stakeholders to participate and support the implementation.
• An Impact Assessment: an assessment of the unique impacts to different user groups. It is important to identify how each group is uniquely impacted by the implementation, in order to plan to manage the impacts.
• A Stakeholder Analysis: an analysis of the influencing stakeholders and a plan to manage their interests to ensure they support the implementation.
• A Training Needs Analysis: an analysis of users’ current and required skills, knowledge, and abilities.
• A Training Plan: a plan to bridge the gap between users’ current and required skills, knowledge, and abilities.
• A Communication and Engagement Plan: a plan of the communication and engagement activities and artefacts that ensures users are kept informed and engaged about the implementation.
• A Change Management Plan: an overall change management strategy for the implementation of the enterprise mobility solution.

The ADKAR Model

The Change Management activities and artefacts that you deliver should be influenced by Prosci’s ADKAR model of individual change management.

The ADKAR model is a framework for understanding change at an individual level. It has five elements that must be in place for your implementation to be successful:

1. Awareness: This represents a person’s understanding of the need for the implementation. Your awareness campaign should include a strong Case for Change that is used to gather support and momentum for your implementation and answer questions such as: Why is the implementation necessary? How does the implementation align with the organisation’s strategy or vision? What does a successful implementation look like?
2. Desire: This represents an individual’s personal choice to support an implementation. This stage is sometimes referred to as “What’s in it for me” as employees want to know how the implementation will affect them personally. While you cannot force an employee to support a change, you can influence their decision to be supportive by communicating the need for change and appealing to their motivating factors.
3. Knowledge: This represents an employee’s understanding of how to change. It includes training and education, information about new processes and systems, and understanding new roles and responsibilities.
4. Ability: This represents an employee’s ability to implement the change and achieve the desired performance level. To optimise ability, provide employees with time to change and access to resources to support the development of new skills.
5. Reinforcement: Reinforcing the change will help your change ‘stick’. It is about recognising and celebrating employee’s achievements, and preventing them from reverting to old, familiar ways of working.

The application of a Change Management Framework that considers speed of adoption, ultimate utilisation, and proficiency, and is influenced by the Prosci ADKAR model will put you in an excellent position to manage the implementation of a new enterprise mobility solution.

 Explore the transformational benefits of an enterprise mobility project at data3.com.au/theanywhereworkplace.