Making Change Less Strange: The Art and Science of Change Management

Karan Froom, Director of Transformation Change Management, The Clorox Company

We’ve all heard the saying, “good change management is an art and a science.” But what does that really mean? I’ve used this to describe the work of change management because it best captures both sides of our work – the analytical and the subjective – and when pulled together and delivered effectively it creates a seamless process that drives end users from awareness of the change to adoption.

The science of change management is easier to quantify, as much of the work is analysis –documenting change impacts related to people, process or technology changes, reviewing rows and rows of end user data in spreadsheets, aligning job and security roles to each impacted individual, creating training curricula and assignments, etc. This is why we rely on a solid change management methodology, one that provides templates and tools we can use to gather the needed information and segment it into a useable format.

Now, what do we do with this valuable data we’ve just collected? How do we evaluate and share this information in a way that helps people more quickly adapt to the new changes?

This is where the art comes into play – by crafting how we tell the “change story.” The key is sharing the right information, in the right format, to the right audience, at the right time and leveraging the engagement funnel model to plan communications and change activities.

The engagement funnel illustrates how information flows over time to drive change awareness and gain end user adoption. Starting around six to nine months before a change occurs, we begin sharing some of the high-level benefits and context about the change, tailoring the messages to targeted end users or stakeholders. As we move closer to the change implementation, we become more specific and detailed about the changesand continue sharing those specifics until we get to training delivery.

This process allows our end users the opportunity to digest and reflect on the changes in a way that is timely and relevant. Ideally, when we follow this model, once end users are in training for the new systems or processes, they won’t be questioning why the changes are occurring or resisting the change, as they’ve had many weeks or months to learn about and reflect on how they will be impacted by the change. They can then focus on learning the hands-to-keys tasks or processes.

"Combining art and science together creates a seamless delivery of change management to end users"

Through every step of the engagement funnel, the “art” also requires that we listen to our end users and check on their understanding. Are they ready to move on to the next step of the funnel, or do they require additional details or engagement?

Combining art and science together creates a seamless delivery of change management to end users. It can be the differentiator in a successful go-live or implementation and feels less stressful for those experiencing the changes. But it does take dedicated resources and time to determine the stakeholder needs and develop these types of engagement plans. Companies who understand the value of change management and invest in this approach will achieve their desired return on investment for their transformation initiatives.