Organizational Change Management (OCM) plays a crucial role in supporting ServiceNow implementation projects by focusing on the people side of change. ServiceNow implementations often involve significant shifts in processes, workflows, and technologies within an organization. The purpose of leveraging OCM as a discipline for a major ServiceNow implementation project is to gather all the critical information for this change and use it to frame our implementation approach. Even the best technical solution is subject to a mediocre end-result, if not outright failure if your stakeholders do not want to come along for ride.
We use this approach to assign resources and to create schedules for OCM activities. There should be a series of checklists and tools that will allow OCM to gauge the current conditions in a few key areas and allow the team to build an approach methodology. These key areas are:
- Change Management Planning
- Sponsorship
- Coaching
- Resistance Management
- Training
- Reinforcement
Your OCM plan for ServiceNow is a living document. As the OCM team learns more and as the ServiceNow implementation project progresses, items defined earlier may be subject to change as new information comes to light. In general, here are OCM’s greatest contributions to success:
- Active and visible executive sponsorship.
- A structured change-management approach.
- Frequent and open communications.
- Enhanced employee engagement and participation.
- Dedicated change management resources.
- Formal integration and engagement with project management.
- Structured engagement with middle managers.
Lacking any of these key areas can dramatically decrease a project’s overall success. To quote a well-informed practitioner, “While project management prepares the solution for the organization, OCM prepares the organization for the solution.”
Role of Business Process Consulting in Managing Organizational Change Effectively
Business process consulting plays a pivotal role in managing organizational change effectively by facilitating a structured and strategic approach to navigate through transitions.
Process Analysis and Redesign:
Business Process Consultants (BPCs) work closely with Technical Architects (TAs) and Technical Consultants (TCs) as well as other stakeholders and stakeholder groups to gather requirements for process improvements or new processes that can be implemented using ServiceNow. They tailor the platform to meet these specific business needs, whether through configuration or the development of new applications. Frequently this calls for a substantial rethinking and redesign of the existing processes and procedures. The BPC ensures the configured workflows align with the organization’s objectives and enhance operational efficiency.
The capacity to analyze your existing processes and identify better, more innovative ways of doing things is one of the chief skills BPCs bring to an engagement. They are there to identify inefficiencies, redundancies, and areas for improvement. BPCs collaborate with stakeholders to redesign workflows that align with the organization’s strategic goals. During change initiatives, these optimized processes serve as a blueprint for the new way of operating, ensuring smoother transitions. Ultimately, the BPC’s goal is to identify your existing processes and procedures (as they pertain to ServiceNow) and then to design the most efficient way to execute these processes using the ServiceNow platform.
It is tempting for the customer to simply take their existing processes and shoehorn them into their shiny new ServiceNow platform. This all-too-common mistake leads to not only inefficiencies but to customization of the ServiceNow platform where configuration would solve the issues. In ServiceNow, customization leads difficulties with future upgrades which can be a form of technical debt while configuration allows your enterprise to follow a smooth, efficient upgrade path for the life of your platform.
Change Impact Assessment:
Performing a Change Impact Analysis to test Organizational Readiness (OR) is a big part of what BPCs do for the project. BPCs evaluate how changes will impact different facets of the organization. By understanding the implications on workflows, roles, and responsibilities, they can anticipate challenges and devise mitigation strategies. As we discussed earlier, the BPC works closely with, if not actually representing, Organizational Change Management. The goal here is more than identifying where this change may meet pools of resistance, it will also look into and assess the organization’s appetite and capacity for change. Is it suffering from change fatigue? This proactive approach minimizes resistance and helps in creating tailored OCM plans.
Organizational Readiness includes the methodology, tools and techniques to ensure users adopt the changes that are being implemented. OR also intends to make sure users understand and will perform the ServiceNow procedures and processes that are needed for their job.
Figure 1: Organizational Readiness
The Organizational Readiness Assessment will focus on these four areas:
- Ensure business understanding of the magnitude of change associated with the project.
- Secure executive leadership and commitment to the change project; then clearly define Organizational Readiness responsibilities.
- Clearly define expectations for key managers and critical project roles.
- Embed Organizational Readiness into the Project Plan and approach from the outset.
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication:
Business process consultants facilitate effective communication strategies by engaging stakeholders at all levels. They ensure clarity regarding the reasons behind the change, its benefits, and the roadmap for implementation. Through workshops, training sessions, and clear communication channels, they create a shared vision and foster buy-in among employees.
One of the first things we do is to build out the Stakeholder Analysis Plan. This tool helps us to identify unique groups of stakeholders (sometimes even individual stakeholders themselves) so that we can target them with customized attention in the form of information, persuasion, training and other communications.
One of the crucial stakeholders/stakeholder groups to identify are your sponsors. You will want to recruit this person or group of people from as high in the organizational chart as possible. They will be the face of your ServiceNow implementation acting as either the hood ornament or battering ram, as circumstances dictate. Bring them into your project as early as possible and use their clout whenever needed.
We also create a communication plan, a tool to map out and track communications across a number of criteria such as:
- Audience/stakeholder group
- Department/area
- Key message
- Message details
- Time/date/frequency for message
- Messaging vehicle
- Sender/owner (especially where they differ)
- Feedback mechanisms
In both Stakeholder Analysis and Communications, there are many possible variables that we can track. All of this is dependent on the impact and complexity of the change. Some changes simply do not require that much overheard. A substantial project, like switching to ServiceNow, usually requires all of these details plus many more. Think of this as an extension of that old Agile Manifesto battle cry: Working software over comprehensive documentation. Please don’t overdo the formality, a well implemented project is worth more than all the excess documentation in the world. Use what you need for your project and disregard the rest.
Do not forget to celebrate your success(es)! Commonly, most projects will throw a party to celebrate a successful conclusion and be done with it. I like to see that, of course, but also more. As part of your communications planning, set out ways to acknowledge individuals and teams that are meeting and exceeding their goals along the way. This is a great way to maintain momentum and help to ameliorate resistance.
Further, I want to point out two critical stakeholder groups that all too often do not receive enough attention.
- Line/People Managers: Without this group on your side, your project will face substantial challenges. When it comes to their actual jobs and how policies, processes, and procedures will affect them personally, they look first to their direct managers for crucial information.
- Change Advocate Network (CAN): Think of these people as the Super Users of your ServiceNow implementation project. They will be your cheerleaders and your influencers. While some of your Change Advocates may indeed come from management, many will not. Look to those charismatic people in your organization whose opinions carry greater weight than their business cards might normally suggest. You will often find them in the ranks of team leads and innovators.
Training and Skill Development:
During change initiatives, employees often need to adapt to new tools, methodologies, or processes. Business process consultants identify skill gaps and design training programs to equip employees with the necessary competencies. This proactive approach mitigates disruptions and accelerates the adoption of new processes.
While there are many methodologies out there, I personally favor Prosci’s ADKAR model. Jeff Hiatt, founder of Prosci, developed ADKAR in 2003 and folded it into Prosci’s larger OCM methodologies. ADKAR stands for Prosci’s approach to readying individuals and stakeholder groups for their OCM approach: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.
Figure 2: Prosci’s ADKAR Model
Of the many things that keep me coming back to ADKAR, understanding and addressing the gap between Knowledge (formal training) and Ability (capacity to actually perform the task independently) is pure genius. How many times have you attended training, perhaps even extended sessions, but then walked away still not knowing how to actually do anything? The Knowledge-to-Ability transition maps out how to move your teams from Book Learning to Street Smarts within your project.
Performance Measurement and Feedback:
BPCs establish metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of change initiatives. Continuous monitoring allows for timely interventions and adjustments, ensuring that the implemented changes align with the organization’s objectives. Feedback mechanisms are put in place to gather insights and make informed decisions during the transition.
Working with leadership, sponsors, and project management, OCM will develop metrics to track and manage this change, the implementation of ServiceNow, across the project. OCM can break these metrics into two distinct sets of measurements.
- OCM Tasks Critical to the Change Project.
- Define those essential tasks by Critical Activity
- ITIL 4 OCM Practice Success Factors.
- Rather than the Change itself, these metrics track the success of OCM as a practice.
This table contains four Critical Activities and attendant Tasks by each Activity. Of course, you can modify these as needed but this a strong starting point.
Figure 3: Project CSFs and KPIs
| OCM Critical Activities | Essential Tasks by Activity |
|---|---|
| Accurately identify all stakeholders and target communications appropriately. | • Defined audience groups. • Defined Key Stakeholder Groups. • Defined groups by users, contributors and leaders. |
| Tailor communications to the right stakeholders and deliver them at the right time. | • Create Communications Plan • Identified leaders / sponsors. • Created messages. • Tailored messages to stakeholder groups. • Created timelines and delivery methods for messaging. |
| Ensure communication is two-way with adequate feedback channels available. | • Verified that communications have been read / consumed. • Created feedback mechanisms: o Comments section. o Conversations. o Forums or interviews. • Created input paths for new / alternative ideas. |
| Effectively utilize leaders and managers as conduits for information dissemination. | • Created a Leaders & Managers Stakeholders Group • Included Leaders & Managers in Communications Plan • Created Info Flow and Feedback Mechanisms for Leaders & Managers • Created coaching plan for Leaders & Managers • Connected Leaders & Managers with Change Advocate Network (CAN) |
To complement these CSFs/KPIs, ITIL 4 supplies three Practice Success Factors (PSFs). We use these metrics to manage the progress of OCM as a discipline. PSFs and Key Metrics have a similar structure as the more traditional CSF/KPI relationship.
Figure 4: ITIL 4 Practice Success Factors for OCM
| ITIL 4 Practice Success Factor (PSF) | Key Metrics |
|---|---|
| Creating and maintaining a change enabling culture across the organization. | • Awareness of the organizational change, principles, and methods across the organization. • Attitude towards the organizational changes across the organization. • Level of Resistance to Change (R2C) • Alignment in attitude to changes at different levels of the organization. |
| Establishing and maintaining a holistic approach and continual improvement for OCM. | • Stakeholder satisfaction with the procedures and communications. • Amount of improvements initiated by the OCM practice. • Stakeholder satisfaction with the knowledge about up-to-date transformational methods and tools. |
| Ensuring organizational changes are realized in an effective manner, leading to stakeholders’ satisfaction and meeting compliance requirements. | • Change initiators’ satisfaction with change outcomes. • Change success/acceptance rate over time. • Compliance with formally stated requirements, according to audit reports. • Change initiators’ satisfaction with change timeliness. • Stakeholder satisfaction with realization of individual changes. |
By integrating these OCM strategies into ServiceNow implementation projects, organizations can enhance user adoption, minimize disruptions, and maximize the benefits of the new system. It creates a smoother transition and helps the organization adapt to the changes more effectively.
Sustainability/Reinforcement and Continual Improvement:
Beyond the initial phase of change, BPCs focus on ensuring the sustainability of the new processes and reinforcing them as the “New Normal.” They promote a culture of continual improvement by gathering feedback, analyzing performance data, and making iterative enhancements. This approach enables organizations to stay agile and adapt to evolving market conditions.
In most ServiceNow engagements I have seen, the sustainability/reinforcement part is usually baked into the project: ServiceNow is either supplanting an obsolete Service Management Platform or we are making major improvements to (or even re-imagining) the existing ServiceNow implementation. In either case, there really is no backsliding into the old tool – your ServiceNow platform is the only game in town. As another form of resistance, people unhappy with the change may choose not to follow the new processes and this certainly counts as a challenge to sustainability/reinforcement. While major projects like platform transitions are unique; in most OCM projects, sustainment and reinforcement are real and ongoing concerns.
Continual Improvement is another matter. Each of the major elements of the ServiceNow platform come with its own metrics. On top of that, ITIL 4 offers powerful PSFs (Practice Success Factors) to support the instrumentation of all of the ITIL modules within ServiceNow.
Risk Management:
BPCs identify and mitigate risks associated with change initiatives. By anticipating potential challenges, they develop contingency plans to minimize disruptions to operations. This proactive risk management approach ensures smoother transitions and minimizes negative impacts. As you may have already guessed, managing Resistance to Change (R2C) is an end-to-end concern for OCM and will prominently straddle both Sustainability/Reinforcement and Risk Management. That which is accomplished in Risk Management will go on to support our Sustainability efforts.
In essence, the role of business process consulting in managing organizational change lies in its ability to analyze, strategize, communicate, and support the implementation of changes in a structured and people-centric manner. By focusing on optimizing processes, engaging stakeholders, and fostering a culture of continual improvement, BPCs enable organizations to navigate transitions more effectively while minimizing resistance and maximizing the benefits of change.
Risk management plays an important role across all of OCM. For example, in Stakeholder Analysis we can track crucial elements about the stakeholders/stakeholder groups. To make things manageable, I like to track variables on a 1-3/High-Medium-Low scale. This includes things such as:
- Power: How much power to make decisions does this stakeholder/stakeholder group hold?
- Level of Interest: How much interest does this stakeholder/stakeholder group have in the project?
- Level of Resistance: How likely is this group to resist or accept the change?
Stakeholders/stakeholder groups that score 1s/Highs on all three are the ones we need to work with the most and craft our communications and training for in particular. Those that score 3s/Lows will require considerably less attention and effort for them to be successful.
We also leverage tools that help us to assess risk for the larger project as well. Just a few of those criteria are:
- Whether the change is simple or complex.
- Will it impact process?
- Will it change job roles?
- Will it cause a restructuring?
- Will it impact employee compensation?
- Is the organization suffering from change fatigue?
This kind of analysis allows us to plot where the risks are located and how to deal with them. Frequent reanalysis of these criteria allows us to stay ahead of, or at least not fall behind that which puts our larger project at risk. We use Risk Assessment and Risk Management across the width and breadth of the ServiceNow project. Calculating these risks give us the foundations for Resistance Management. The more of these risks we can identify early, the better we can prepare for the eventual resistance to change wherever it appears.
Tips for ensuring sustained adoption and minimizing resistance:
Without a doubt, ensuring sustained adoption and minimizing resistance during ServiceNow implementations involves a combination of strategies. Here are some quick tips within the realm of OCM specific to ServiceNow. Think of this as a checklist:
Executive Sponsorship and Visible Support:
Secure visible support and advocacy from key leadership. Their endorsement can significantly impact employee buy-in and commitment to change.
Comprehensive Communication:
Craft a communication plan that not only covers the initial launch but also includes ongoing updates, successes, and the vision for the future with ServiceNow. Communication should be clear, consistent, and involve various channels.
Change Advocates and User Involvement:
Engage and empower change champions within different departments or teams. Involve users in decision-making processes to cultivate a sense of ownership and involvement.
Training and Support:
Offer continuous training, resources, and user support beyond the initial implementation phase. Regular training sessions, online resources, and responsive support help users adapt to the system effectively.
Address Resistance Proactively:
Proactively identify potential sources of resistance and address concerns openly. Create forums for employees to voice their concerns and provide solutions and support to mitigate fears or uncertainties.
Incremental Implementation:
Consider a phased or incremental approach to implementation. Start with a pilot or phased rollout, allowing for feedback, adjustments, and minimizing disruptions.
Feedback Mechanisms and Continuous Improvement:
Establish feedback loops to gather input post-implementation. Act on the feedback to make continuous improvements to the ServiceNow implementation, addressing user concerns and improving the system’s usability.
Celebrate Milestones and Successes:
Acknowledge and celebrate milestones, achievements, and successful user experiences. Recognition reinforces positive attitudes and motivates continued engagement.
Performance Measurement and Reporting:
Implement performance metrics to measure the impact of ServiceNow on processes. Reporting on these metrics demonstrates the system’s value and showcases successes.
Ongoing Change Management Efforts:
Maintain a dedicated focus on change management efforts even after the initial implementation. Continuously reinforce the benefits, provide support, and adapt strategies as needed.
By incorporating these strategies into your ServiceNow OCM plan, you can foster sustained adoption of ServiceNow within the organization, mitigate resistance, and ensure that the benefits of the implementation are fully realized. In essence, the role of business process consulting in managing organizational change lies in its ability to analyze, strategize, communicate, and support the implementation of changes in a structured and people-centric manner. By focusing on optimizing processes, engaging stakeholders, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, BPCs enable organizations to navigate transitions more effectively while minimizing resistance and maximizing the benefits of change.