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Analyze alignment of organization goals through managing project goals and readiness

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Change managers must do an analysis of alignment with the organization's overall goals. We recommend that you do the analysis in a way that is proportional to the complexity of the project and the level of transformation in it.

Assess alignment with business goals

Let's assume that there is a direct correlation between the processes that are defined as key change areas and the goal and vision that senior management has set for the business. This assumption isn't always true though. However, there is usually a high degree of proportionality between impact of change and risk.

Therefore, we must measure our key areas of change against the business goals. In this way, we avoid risky changes to processes that really do little to advance the business on its transformational journey.

Let's use the example from the impact assessment and imagine that senior management has set accuracy of inventory as a key business goal. In this scenario, a warehouse that has strict control over incoming inventory and put-away processes directly supports that goal.

In the article Drive app value, we discuss the importance of defining measurable goals for the transformational project. When we document the alignment of key processes to these goals, we should at least be able to connect each key process change to one or more of those goals.

Assess stakeholder buy-in

In the article Implementation Strategy, we discuss the importance of having senior management provide clarity to stakeholders about the outcomes and goals for the project.

To effectively manage change, we must take one step further for the processes that we identify as key areas of change. For each of those processes, we must assess the degree to which the stakeholder understands and supports the changes.

Consider the following example:

An organization is upgrading from an earlier on-premises legacy system to the Dynamics 365 app. The cloud solution introduces a new subscription-based, granular billing paradigm. The organization can pay for technology and services at a much more use-based level. In turn, the organization must make changes to procurement and approval processes.

In this example, we analyze stakeholder buy-in and find that the overall vision and outcome of the implementation project are understood. However, we also learn that the changes in technology and centralized procurement of IT services and assets move responsibilities, approval processes, and workloads between departments or regions. These changes might affect the buy-in for the specific stakeholders who are involved.

Assess change readiness

With Success by Design, we recognize that transformational business application projects often cross organizational boundaries. Within the transformational project, there might be great variation in change readiness across the affected stakeholders, processes, technologies, and user groups. We want to apply the same focus on the change readiness of stakeholders both inside and outside the organization.

Here are some examples of change readiness challenges within the organization that are often overlooked in business application projects:

  • Unfamiliarity of business users with the complex journey that business application projects present
  • Changes that might be required to IT functions and the related skill set
  • Changes that might be required to IT policies to use citizen development and other platform benefits
  • Changes that might be required to cross-organizational administrative functions
  • The effect of increased detailed visibility into business from senior management
  • Challenges with breaking up "islands" or "silos" of knowledge within the organization

Here are some examples of change readiness challenges outside the organization that are often overlooked:

  • Changes to pricing and rebate models
  • Changes to communication models
  • Changes to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that require customer-facing label changes
  • Changes to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which might be challenging for some business partners
  • Expectations for vendor-managed inventory and vendor self-service scenarios
  • The move from check to electronic funds transfer (EFT) payment types
Challenge User Group / Area Risk 1-5 Mitigation Plan
Adoption of new processes Inbound Dock 5 Incentives, Training, Ramp approach
New Pricing Structure B2B Customers 3 Communication Plan, Pilot with Group Z
Vendor Managed inventory Strategic Suppliers 2 Early and transparent communication

The outcome of the assessments should be a quantitative overview of risk, and an assessment of this risk in terms of likely objections, concerns, obstacles, and so on. For example, a table like the one in the preceding illustration can give you an objective representation of the level of risk.

We can now prioritize change management activities to the right project areas, and we have a template for decisions about how to mitigate these risks.

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