The Art of

Managing Change
 Edward Chew
BA - Public Administration – San Diego State University
MBA – Management – Cal State University, San Marcos
31 years – City of Chula Vista
Human Resources – Intern Operations Manager
Police Department – Administrative Services Mgr
City Managers Office – Continuous Improvement Mgr
Information and Technology Services - Director
 “If you want to make enemies,
try to change something.”
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States

“Things do not change - we do.”

Henry David Thoreau
 Before We Start!
• Think about what types of changes
in your professional field you are
currently making or want to make

• Write a brief description of one

change

• As I speak, think about how this

information will help you make
effective changes
 Agenda
• What is change management?

• Change management basics

• Case study
What is Change Management?
• Change management is the process
of developing a planned approach to
make changes in an organization.

• Objectives:
– Maximize collective efforts of stakeholders
– Minimize risk of failure
Icebergs
The Project Iceberg

The Project

Process

People / Organization
 The Project Iceberg
Easy
10%
Project

Process
90% - need
to address
People / Organization these first

Hard
 The Project Iceberg

Failure to recognize that project basics are just the tip of

the iceberg will doom your project to an early grave!
Don’t Just “Wire it Together”
 How to Manage Change
• Find a great sponsor – NEEDS to be a
trusted leader!
• Have a clear sense of mission or
purpose – develop a shared vision
• Build a team
• Pick people with relevant skills and high
energy level
• Ask for volunteers
• Identify and manage stakeholders
• Communicate early and often
• Train early and often
 Project Sponsor is Critical
All projects must have a business
sponsor or “owner”:
• Establish vision and business case for change
• Provide overall project direction
• Report status / significant issues to stakeholders
• Ensure that system meets needs of users and
managers
• Ensure that resultant changes in business process
are implemented consistently
• Ensure that project benefits are realized
 Make a Case for Change

Develop a business case that…

• Addresses a problem or opportunity

• Recommends a solution

• Defines the boundaries

• Creates a compelling case for change

 Make a Case for Change
Everyone sings off the same sheet of music…
Manage Stakeholders
Identify and Map Stakeholders
People / Organizations Stake Expected Proposed Role
Disposition

Internal:
• Process owner
• Affected business
Describe how you
units
would engage each
• System users Define each individual or group in
• IT organization individual’s Support the project. Some
• Support and group’s individuals and
organizations
interest in the groups play direct
(HR, Finance,
project and Neutral roles (approver,
Admin)
describe how decider, builder, user,
operator, etc.).
External: it impacts Oppose Others have indirect
• External them
roles requiring you to
customers /
keep them informed .
users
• Public
• Control agencies
Understand Stakeholders

• Supporters

• Neutrals

• Opposers
 Leverage the Supporters

Supporters
• Enthusiastic for the project
• Good source of project “champion” or
sponsor
• Early adopters to demonstrate initial success
• Project spokesperson -- keeps the supporters
informed and gets them prepared for
implementation
 Bring Along the Neutrals
Neutrals
• They’ll follow, if you have a good leader
• Important to communicate the “message
of opportunity” early and often:
• What’s in it for them?
• What will things “look like” after the project?
• How will their job change?
• What new opportunities will the project
create?
• How can they participate?
 Listen to the Opposers
Opposers
• They are equally important to identify
• Change resistant -- lurking in the office to
ambush your project
• Expend some energy to convert as many as
possible
• Listen to their concerns – encourages due
diligence to ensure your change strategy is
sound
 Informal Leaders
• There are informal leaders in an organization
which can help/obstruct moving a project
forward
• They are usually NOT formal leaders
(Supervisors, Exec Management, etc.)
• They have much more contact with employees
and are normally very respected in their work
groups – employees tell them everything!
• They need to be identified and brought in as
supporters if possible.
 Stakeholder Management
Capability Maturity
Most Organizations at Level 1 (or 0/-1), Striving to Achieve Level 2

5. Optimized Process Lessons learned drive continuous

improvement of stakeholder
management process.

4. Managed Process Sponsors fully engaged. Stakeholder commitment

and communications strategies routinely reviewed
and adjusted as required. Performance measured.

3. Standardized Approach Stakeholder management processes fully defined and

documented with full buy-in throughout the organization.

2. Basic Capability Basic stakeholder management procedures are identified for some projects.
Sponsors informally committed to the project.

1. Ad-hoc Few processes in place. Projects succeed by happenstance and heroics. Key stakeholders
known but not formally identified. No stakeholder communication actions identified.
Communicate, Communicate
Project Business Case
• Clear and simple description (business
purpose, resource requirements, expected
outcomes)
• Sends clear message of agency
commitment to project

Weekly Team Meetings

• Keeps project team on point
• Surfaces issues for resolution
Communicate, Communicate
Project Steering Committee Meetings
• Maintain agency focus on project
• Keep project “owners” engaged
• Decide major issues -- scope, budget,
resources
• Opportunity to update key stakeholders
Communicate, Communicate
Project Status Reports
• Weekly reports on Intranet
• Pilot surveys

Publicize the Project

• Agency newsletter
• Press articles
• Agency’s external web site

Sharing meetings with stakeholders

 Key Skills

• People
• Political
• Analytical
• Business
• Systems
 Training is Critical
Change Agent skills:
• Leadership
• Visioning
• Listening and inquiry
• Coaching and facilitation
• Dealing with complexity
• Analyzing systems and processes
 Training is Critical
Business training:
• New organizations and relationships
• Changed staff roles and responsibilities
• Changed business operations
• New policies, procedures
 Training is Critical
Technology and tools training:
• New forms and documentation
• New information systems
Case Study
 The Problem
Law enforcement workers need quick and
easy access to crime fighting data from
state, local and federal sources:
• Criminals don’t stay within jurisdictional
boundaries
• Heightened need for intelligence sharing
post 9/11
 The Problem
Traditional agency-centric (e.g., silo)
approach to technology gets in the way:
• Individual agency resources strained supporting
redundant systems and databases.
• Limited resources available to build new capability.
• Users forced to deal with multiple entities to get
the data they need.
• Multiple PCs and devices in the field.
The Vision for Change

What is ?
• is a new strategy for
coordinating current information systems
and future technology projects among the
State’s criminal justice agencies to make the
most effective use of technology resources
and to give the criminal justice community
a single point of access to all computerized
criminal justice systems.
Coordinated delivery
of criminal justice
information

Easy to use
Graphical Interface
 The Strategy
• Individual criminal justice agencies keep their
data and applications
• Give users access via a single web portal
• Build new / upgrade old applications to
provide improved capability
• Consolidate agency infrastructure (networks,
mainframes, servers, etc.) for improved
efficiency and lower cost
 Managing Change
• Leadership communicated the vision
• Project sponsor and change leader identified
• Key participants trained in consensus building
• Agencies established a governance board:
– Coordinate budgets
– Prioritize and oversee common projects
– Manage consolidated technology services
• Incremental change initiated:
– Mainframe migration to Cloud
– Single network organization created
– Common architecture and portal environment designed
 Parting Thoughts…
Building and managing relationships
is critical to success.
Figure out what’s required to inspire
individual stakeholders to work
together toward a common project
goal.
Questions???

Thank you!!!