QOTW 8/28: What are effective change management strategies in onboarding?

Thanks Elan! Appreciate your callout!

Before any organizational change: Always start with the why. No one likes change for the sake of change.

The project lead should have an understanding from Day 1 of:

• What’s the motivation for doing this?
• What are the intended benefits they would to see most?
• What’s in it for the people who are most affected by this change?

These things should be known by the kick-off call with a client in onboarding!

But it’s not just about understanding the why. It’s also about the client communicating their why effectively within the company.

Sometimes, a project champion has the end vision in their head, and they act in ways consistent with the vision. However, they are shocked that no one else is following their lead! 

Why? Because the vision, the roadmap, the intended benefits, were never communicated to the teams to get company buy-in! 

When dealing with a downtrodden customer who’s trying to make a difference, make sure that they are communicating the why effectively to their people! Change requires extra effort and learning, so why should people even do it if there isn’t anything in it for them?

There probably is, but they haven’t been told in order to believe it. It could be things like:

• Decrease in admin time
• Clarity of processes through SOP’s
• Providing a better client experience → which creates a better employee experience

Have leadership and managers spread the word. Make it infectious. Make it exciting. They should share the ideal, new state as if it was imperative to the success of the company. As an onboarder, you can join in on the good words by sharing your own intense passion with them about the change!