Sharing other people’s use cases, specifically, can be beneficial. Some team members may develop exciting ways of working within a new tool or process that inspires others. Rosenbaugh said, “[Sharing use cases] is really helpful because it opens people’s perspectives. When you expose individuals to a new use case, they get that aha moment, and it clicks.”
Returning to our collaboration platform migration example: At this point, the team has prioritized celebrating small wins. After a couple of months of this process, they’re starting to share bigger success stories.
Now, the teams are talking about how much easier the collaboration process is within their functional and cross-functional teams. Team members are sharing how much simpler it is to work with technical and non-technical teams alike. Individuals are saying that their teams can be more agile and innovative.
The organization is starting to feel empowered and better equipped to do their best work.
5. Provide ongoing support
Change management initiatives are complex, especially at an organizational level. Despite this, many leaders underestimate the level of support they’ll need in the process and how much support they should offer their teams.
“Underestimating the amount of support needed usually comes from a lack of a comprehensive vision,” said Rosenbaugh. “For example, new Lucid customers will often be most concerned about migrating their documents over to our platform, but that’s probably 10% or less of the change management process.”
Rosenbaugh talked to us about the 7x7 concept, which means you need at least seven ways of communicating a change across your organization at least seven different times. That might mean discussing the change in several org-wide meetings, such as all-hands, kickoffs, or broadcasts.
Many leaders might be surprised to hear that communicating a change seven times through seven different channels is the minimum. Leaders must communicate what’s going well and what needs improving throughout the process. Repetition is key. Consistently communicate with your team that this change is important and strategic.
Finding ways to standardize processes is one crucial way to make change easier for your teams. Building custom templates for various use cases is a great example of standardizing a process on a new platform, and is something Rosenbaugh and Bailey do for new Lucid customers on the regular. Rosenbaugh said, “These custom Lucid templates are just an example of how we can help standardize certain processes, reduce setup time, and make teams comfortable.”
Rosenbaugh and Bailey’s team creates familiarity and consistency during these transitions by having customers use their company’s branding on these custom internal templates. Little touches go a long way in establishing consistency and building confidence.
To revisit our example of the organization adopting a new collaboration platform: How can their leadership team ensure they provide adequate support?
For one thing, they’ll need to provide training and educational resources and ensure their teams know where to find those resources. The training should be comprehensive. Their leaders should make sure to answer as many questions as possible. The more upfront education everyone receives, the more likely leadership will get quick buy-in and early success stories.
In summary, offer as much support as possible. Change management initiatives require lots of planning, thoughtfulness, and intention to go off without a hitch.
Visualize your change management initiatives with Lucid
Change management on an organizational level is always intensive. After all, you’re dealing with so many moving gears. Everything has to go smoothly. For that to happen, you need a clear understanding of your vision for change and a way to communicate that with your teams in a digestible way.
Lucid has your back. Using the Lucid Visual Collaboration Suite, you can brainstorm, collaborate, diagram, and otherwise visualize your change management process with your organization.
Our team is ready to help streamline the entire process. Lucid’s professional services team comprises best-in-class experts committed to providing tactical strategies and resources.
Change can be scary. But, in the end, it paves the way for more innovation. As Rosenbaugh said, “When change reduces pain points, it opens up opportunities for innovation. You can go to your teams and say, hey, remember that initiative you wanted to do three years ago that you thought would add tons of value but was going to be impossible? Now we can reevaluate that possibility.”
