Change Management (Abridged)
Goals
Identify and define the desired outcomes and objectives.
Set clear, measurable, and achievable goals to guide your efforts.
Ensure alignment of the goals with the organization's overall strategic objectives.
Prioritize goals to facilitate a smooth transition and minimize disruptions.
Continuously monitor and evaluate the progress towards achieving the goals, making necessary adjustments as needed.
Training
Assess the skill gaps and training needs of the individuals and teams affected by the change.
Develop a comprehensive training plan that addresses the specific knowledge and skills required for the change.
Provide adequate training resources, materials, and tools to support the learning process.
Implement the training plan using various methods such as workshops, seminars, e-learning, or on-the-job training.
Offer ongoing support and coaching to employees during the change process to reinforce the newly acquired skills.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the training program and make adjustments to improve its impact.
Communications
Develop a robust communication strategy to inform and engage stakeholders about the upcoming change.
Identify key messages and tailor them to different stakeholder groups to ensure relevance and clarity.
Establish multiple communication channels to reach a wide range of stakeholders, including emails, newsletters, Slack channels, town hall meetings, etc.
Provide regular updates on the change progress, addressing any concerns or questions raised by stakeholders. (Easily done via a Slack channel for example).
Encourage two-way communication by creating opportunities for feedback, dialogue, and open discussions.
Continuously assess the effectiveness of the communication efforts and refine the strategy accordingly.
Change Management Overview
Introduction
Procurify is a robust procurement and spend management solution that helps organizations streamline their purchasing processes and achieve better visibility and control over their spending. Implementing and adopting Procurify requires careful planning and change management to ensure a smooth transition for your organization. This document outlines the key steps and considerations for successfully implementing and adopting Procurify, and provides guidance on managing the change process.
What is Change Management?
Technically
The practice of applying a structured approach to transition an organization from a current state to a future state to achieve expected benefits.
Operationally
Getting buy-in from your teams and major players in your organization so that they will adopt the tool or process you are suggesting they utilize.
Reasons for change
Evolution of technology
Internal process reviews
Crisis response
Competitive pressure
Organizational restructuring
Consolidation of tech stack
Why change management fails
No or poor explanation as to why change is taking place
The change is too large for the time frame
Change management support is weak
The initiative lacks inspiring leadership
Bottom-up support for change is lacking
Management pushes too hard, not recognizing organizational exhaustion
The plan is too rigid
The culture is not taken into consideration
Lack of training
Lack of executive sponsorship
Why change management succeeds
A clearly defined reason for change
Executive sponsorship
Is well planned
Takes the company culture into consideration, and what has worked in the past
Learn more about change management resistance in this MasterClass article.
Change Management Philosophy, Principles & Best Practices
General Philosophy
Create urgency and clearly define the reason change needs to happen
Find your leaders and influencers
Create a strategic vision that can be easily shared and get buy-in
Identify and remove barriers and create short-term wins
Change management principles
Understand change: We change for a reason
Plan change: Purpose and direction are necessary
Implement change: Change must also occur on the individual level
Communicate change: Be open and transparent
Change management best practices
Mobilize active and visible executive sponsorship and team influencers
Follow a structured change management plan
Have dedicated change management resources
Engage and support middle managers and front-line team members
Other change management models
Change management processes go back to the early 1960s, and there have been several models of change management over the years. Here are three traditional change management models that organizations still find effective to this day.
Lewin’s change model
Kurt Lewin, a German-American psychologist, is best known for his contributions of applied research to communication practices. Lewin’s change model breaks change management into a three-stage process:
Unfreeze: During the Unfreeze phase, you will help your team or company overcome their initial change aversion. Not only will you analyze any aversion to the change, but you’ll also begin convincing your team why you need the change. At this point in Lewin’s change model, your focus is on preparing your team for something new.
Change: The Change step is when you roll out the organizational change. Keep in mind that Change may be a multi-step process as you run into unforeseen obstacles and work to slowly onboard everyone onto the new system, whatever it may be.
Freeze: You’ve implemented the Change—now it’s time to freeze it in place so the “new” way of doing things becomes the standard.
The ADKAR model
The ADKAR model was created by Jeff Hiatt. ADKAR is an acronym, which stands for:
Awareness of the need for change
Desire to participate and support the change
Knowledge of what to do to ensure successful change
Ability to implement the change
Reinforcement to ensure the change continues to be implemented in the long term
The 8-step process for leading change
Dr. John Kotter invented this method, which he outlined in his book, Leading Change. This process is the main inspiration for Asana’s Way of Change. According to Kotter, the eight steps are:
Create a sense of urgency to emphasize the importance of acting immediately
Build a guiding coalition to guide, coordinate, and communicate the organizational change
Form a strategic vision and initiatives to clarify how the future will be different from the past
Enlist a volunteer army to rally around the change
Enable action by removing barriers in order to provide the freedom your organization needs to generate real impact
Generate short-term wins to energize the organization to persist
Sustain acceleration and be relentless about initiating change until your vision is a reality
Institute change until it’s strong enough to replace old habit
Change management for Procurify
Who is Responsible for Change Management
Within Procurify
Within Procurify your Implementation Manager and your CSM (if applicable) will help you through the onboarding and adoption of Procurify. Lean on these individuals for strategic guidance and thoughtful ideas on how to manage this change within your organization.
Within your Organization
Within your organization, since you’re reading this you are probably the person or one of the people that will be responsible for change and adoption of Procurify within your organization. You may also want to recruit others across your organization and within your direct team that are influential individuals or have authority to help.
Change Management Execution
Define the Scope and Objectives
Clearly define the scope and objectives of the Procurify implementation project. Identify the key stakeholders, including department heads, procurement teams, and end users, and involve them in the planning process. Set measurable goals and expectations for the implementation project, such as improving procurement cycle times, reducing rogue spending, and increasing compliance with procurement policies.
What are the gaps that your executive team has identified as an opportunity to close by choosing Procurify to be their internal spend management platform?
Talk to your CSM about completing a Success Plan to help identify these areas and ways to measure them.
Conduct a Current State Assessment
Conduct a thorough assessment of your organization's current procurement processes, systems, and policies. Identify any pain points or areas for improvement, and align them with the capabilities of Procurify. This assessment will help you identify the gaps between your current state and the desired future state with Procurify, and develop a roadmap for implementation and adoption.
Consider the teams most affected by Procurify within your organization;
Procurement
Accounting/Finance
Receiving Teams
Requesting Teams
Develop a Change Management Plan
Develop a comprehensive change management plan that outlines the strategies, activities, and timelines for managing the transition to Procurify. Include communication plans, training plans, and change readiness assessments. Assign responsibilities to key team members and establish regular progress reviews to ensure that the change management plan is being executed effectively.
A change management plan should be developed to identify and prioritize changes and to provide a roadmap for implementing those changes. The plan should include the scope of the change, the resources required, the timeline for implementation, the risks and benefits, and the stakeholders involved. A well-developed plan will help ensure that the change is implemented smoothly and with minimal disruption.
Engage and Communicate with Stakeholders
Effective communication is critical for successful change management. Engage and communicate with stakeholders at all levels of the organization, including executives, managers, procurement teams, and end users.
Clearly articulate the benefits of Procurify and how it aligns with the organization's goals and objectives. Address any concerns or resistance to change and provide ongoing updates on the progress of the implementation project.
Communicate early on, and in phases, to ensure no surprises or adverse reactions when you go to fully adopt Procurify into your organization.
To eliminate any ambiguity, users should also understand how Procurify may impact their day-to-day activities.
Users should understand the importance of the change, the benefits of rolling out a spend management platform, and the value that Procurify will bring.
Your executive team and stakeholder group should be aligned on the goals and objectives that you are looking to achieve as a team. Having alignment on the key messaging is important when communication is trickled down to your broader teams.
Identifying your influencers
Team members that carry weight (people look up to them and pay attention when they talk).
Team members that ask lots of questions about Procurify or processes, or any other topic, these folks are more engaged!
Team members that demonstrate interest in things outside their role; these folks are curious, reward them with additional context and information so they pass it on.
Provide Training and Support
Develop a comprehensive training plan to ensure that end users are proficient in using Procurify. Offer a variety of training options, such as in-person training sessions, webinars, online tutorials, and user guides. Provide ongoing support, including a help desk or support portal, to address any questions or issues that arise during the implementation process. Encourage feedback from end users and use it to continuously improve the system and user experience.
Available Resources
We Suggest
Start a dedicated Slack/Teams/Google Chat channel (#help-procurify to help your team with Procurify, make this a common place to ask questions, share learnings and easily disseminate information across your team.
Create a resource in your organization's knowledge repository (we use Notion) where anyone can go to see instructions with links to Procurify resources as well as a space where you can reiterate why Procuirfy is important and the impact it can have on your organization. *pro tip, link to this page in your dedicated Slack channel!*
Include FAQs for your teams.
Divide the page into different roles or jobs or teams so each team can find the information relevant to them easily and quickly
Connect with our Support Team to get help finding the right Knowledge Base article or helpful video to include on this page
(Optional) Roll-out Procurify in Phases
Consider launching Procurify in phases to minimize disruption and manage change effectively. Start with a pilot group or a single department to familiarize themselves with Procurify, understand the workflow, and share feedback with your primary stakeholders.
Once the pilot is successful, gradually roll out Procurify to other departments or locations. Monitor the implementation progress and address any issues or challenges as they arise.
When considering a phased launch, you’d want to understand which areas of the organization will benefit most from adopting Procurify first and who will be most adaptable to change
Focus on ensuring this select group of early adopters are fully bought into the workflow, the process, and how it changes their day-to-day activities. You want to turn your early adopters into your internal champions who will help to influence positive change throughout the organization
Take the time to connect with the early adopters, listen to their feedback and concerns, and make adjustments as needed
Suggested phased rollout:
Procurement team
Finance team
Marketing
Sales
Monitor and Evaluate the Results
Regularly monitor and evaluate the results of the Procurify implementation to ensure that the desired outcomes are being achieved. Measure key performance indicators (KPIs) such as approval times, procurement cycle times, cost savings, compliance with procurement policies, and user adoption rates. Use the data to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to the implementation plan as needed.
Take an opportunity to collect feedback from your user group on the use of Procurify, how it impacts their day-to-day activities, and understand if it's creating more efficiencies within their roles
Measure feedback and the results you are seeing with Procurify against your original goals and business objectives
Understand if there are any training gaps that need to be addressed
Suggested KPIs
These should reflect your goals and outcomes you want to achieve with Procurify.
# of Request for Order
Team adoption
Talk to your CSM to discover KPIs that make sense for your business
Continuously Improve and Optimize
Procurify is a dynamic solution that can be continuously improved and optimized to meet the changing needs of your organization.
Encourage feedback from end users and incorporate it into your ongoing improvement efforts
Stay up-to-date with Procurify's updates and enhancements, and leverage them to further optimize your procurement processes and achieve greater value from the system.
Monitors your adoption and enablement of Procurify after you’re done the initial setup. Check in with your users and ensure continued use and identify problems that may arise throughout the ongoing use of Procurify.
Resources
Articles