Rob Maeyaert, Director of Project Portfolio and Change Management at Victoria Fide Consulting, is a leader with more than 20 years of experience in the digital and strategy transformation realm. With a focus on large scale ERP implementations, Maeyaert leads the project delivery and organizational change management practices, ensuring effective project portfolio management, team leadership, and system adoption and usage. His mission is to drive business value and innovation for clients across various industries, while leading companywide transformation initiatives.
In this month’s DX Insights interview, Maeyaert shares his insights on the challenges that digital transformation initiatives face within the context Organizational Change Management, highlighting the importance of relying on multiple data sources to provide evidence-based change strategy recommendations. He emphasizes the growing need for companies to adopt a comprehensive change management strategy to not only experience success with their current transformational objectives, but to increase the overall level of maturity and agility within the organization well into the future. Based on his years of OCM excellence, Maeyaert provides valuable perspectives that can guide companies in their pursuit of technological advancement and operational excellence.
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Q: Can you discuss a specific instance where you successfully customized a Change Management offering to meet distinct client needs?
Whenever we come into a digital transformation (DX) effort, we always lead with Organizational Change Management (OCM) best practices. One of these best practices is using surveys as a feedback mechanism to understand people’s level of acceptance of the change.
One client in particular brought us in during their ERP implementation. Following best practices, we began with an OCM workshop to educate everyone on change management, their responsibilities, and gather insights on past change endeavors. Early on, we uncovered a lot of information surrounding this client’s past technology implementation. It became clear that there was significant potential for enhancement in the way certain project leaders and sponsors had previously handled change and communication.
Based on the information we gathered thanks to these OCM best practices, we quickly identified the need to tailor our standard change management strategy. It was vital to boost our connection with this client and tackle challenges such as resistance, ineffective communication, and past negative encounters. Each of these issues would need to be addressed in order to facilitate the successful 3-phase implementation of a new ERP system.
To address these issues, we added more client surveys to our implementation plan to keep a finger on the pulse of the change management. We also up-leveled the change agents – including project sponsors and key managers – to empower them to support their teams effectively and prepare them for the upcoming change.
In summary, while we initially followed a proven approach, the diverse data sources – including client feedback, interviews, surveys, etc. – revealed that this project posed a significant challenge for the company. Drawing from their past change initiatives, it became evident that additional support and preparation would be crucial for a successful DX implementation.
Q: What survey sequence do you follow to assess potential resistance levels upfront?
The initial survey is designed to gain an understanding around the organizational risk, and it looks at how the company has responded to change in the past. Have they been receptive to change? Have they been resistant to change? Is the current transformation a significant change compared to their past endeavors, or is it relatively minor in comparison? Gathering individuals’ interpretations of previous changes serves as a valuable litmus test for understanding future Organizational Change Management (OCM) requirements.
Secondly, we send out a client survey to key individuals on the projects: Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Business Process Owners (BPOs) etc. – to ask them if they are favorable to the change or not, and to gauge the level of communication they’ve received around the impact it will have on them and their job. We also ask about the level of reinforcement they’ve received from their managers or leaders. These queries help illuminate how different teams perceive change. We learn who the good sponsors of change are. And we learn which change agents should be involved in the project.
The beauty of these preliminary surveys lies in the valuable hard data they offer. This data can be presented to project leaders to support the case for further change management initiatives aimed at enhancing effectiveness. In this particular case, there was a disconnect between how project leadership and key stakeholders perceived how past changes had gone, and how people on the front lines perceived it.
This kind of disconnect is unfortunately not rare. When bringing up the issue with the leadership team, it’s common for them to react defensively or brush it off. However, with tangible results from these data sources like surveys, interviews, or change management workshops, it’s easier for them to embrace the feedback as a data-backed approach and not just one person’s opinion or judgment. Furthermore, presenting a tailored plan alongside the data to tackle the identified issues can enhance the effectiveness of the approach.
Q: How did you lead your team through high-level risks and critical project escalations during a digital transformation?
In this project, like many others, a common issue we observed was a decline in team morale. Initially, these projects begin with great anticipation, lively kick-off events, and ample attention from project leaders and executive sponsors. However, as time progresses, challenges start to emerge. After months or even years into the project, teams can get stuck or bogged down and it’s difficult for them to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
That was the case with this particular client. They were about 9 to 12 months into this project, grappling with numerous details, and struggling to see how they were going to get out of this mess and make it to a go live. Because of this, project morale dropped fairly significantly.
We sent out an additional project survey to get a pulse check on the team, and then used that information to show the leadership the rising resistance and the morale concern. We also provided recommendations for how to pivot and lighten the load to mitigate the risk. Some options were to add additional people to the project, change the resourcing plan, or slightly adjust the scope. Again, it’s important to note here that we used data gathered from organizational change management best practices in order to make data-backed recommendations rather than providing our personal opinions, which can easily be taken as an attack on the leaders’ approach or even their character.
This strategic pivot not only tackled morale issues but also instilled hope that a brighter future lies ahead. They began to believe that together, we would reach our destination.
Q: Can you give us a detailed scenario where you orchestrated the project’s scope, goals and deliverables to support the clients overarching business strategy.
During this project, we applied our best practices in defining its scope, timeline, and key deliverables. A crucial starting point is first defining business objectives and the success criteria by which the transformation will be measured. The client felt the need to adopt a new technology system to stay competitive in the industry. While that concern was valid, they struggled to articulate their business goals using a SMART framework. In other words, business objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Timebound which is needed to adequately measure the transformation’s outcomes.
For the client, this process wasn’t straightforward or instinctive. It required trust from their end and some encouragement from ours to secure their commitment to the process and help them recognize the importance of this approach. Eventually, they appreciated that the process ensured alignment with their desired project design, scope and more.
Q: What is the most effective approach to addressing Organizational Change Management risks?
Despite the inherent complexities of human dynamics, organizational change management provides prescriptive methodologies to thoroughly comprehend the concerns and address them methodically. You can mitigate these risks by following these 3 steps:
1. Get the data: There are a number of tools that can provide tangible data, like a client survey. That has been very effective at helping to understand where everyone is in their change management journey.
2. Use the data to provide recommendations: Then, once that information has been gathered, we look at it and identify concerns and gaps, which we then turn that raw information into recommendations based on our experiences with OCM best practices.
3. Present the data-backed recommendations to project leaders: Finally, a key step is to present the recommendations to the leadership in a way that highlights the data, and clearly outlines how the recommended changes will specifically address the concerns that the surveys have revealed.
This last step can really make or break the success of the change management strategy. I can think of one specific example of a project where the C-suite leaders thought things were going a lot better than they actually were. They had a perception that their company was maybe a cut above the rest or had it all figured out.
The fact was, there existed a significant gap between the C-suite and the project team, leading to low morale among the team members. Unrealistic deadlines resulted in extensive work hours, only for the deadlines to be continuously postponed by months due to their impracticality. Such instances eroded the team’s trust in the process and leadership, leading to apathy. This is why providing data to address these disparities is crucial.
Q: When it comes to accepting/not accepting change, are the long tenured employees more resistant to change? Has anyone just quit their job?
Change is personal and it affects everyone in different ways. Some people have been SMEs for so long on that process, that by changing that process they fear being exposed as a fraud or losing their status. Some people can’t see the forest for the trees, meaning they’ve only ever seen things one way and don’t know how they can improve things. Some people feel the change is so disruptive to what they’re doing that they simply won’t get on board.
In some cases, the culture does need to evolve and inevitably there will be some of those “bad eggs” that are toxic to the culture but rooting them out is never the goal. The objective of OCM is to cater to everyone’s concerns, empower individuals to assume ownership, and enhance their position in the change management strategy, ensuring that they will not be undervalued but will in fact become more knowledgeable and valuable in the future. One of the ways in which we do this is by bringing them along in the process, asking for their input, relying on their expertise as the SME or BPO, and allowing them to weigh the pros and cons for themselves.
Transformation is not easy, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. Take control of your project’s success today and schedule a free 30-minute consultation to find out how Victoria Fide can equip you for transformational success.
Q: How do you integrate continuous improvement methodologies after a successful project launch?
In the realm of OCM, the goal isn’t to tackle a single project and forget about it once completed. It’s about cultivating a lasting impact. Rather than shelving best practices, our aim is to strengthen organizational change management capabilities, similar to strengthening a muscle. By focusing on enhancing change management skills and fostering organizational maturity, we pave the way for sustained success in the future.
DX initiatives are not just a technology investment, but a people investment, too, in terms of both time and resources dedicated to increasing their buy-in. Hopefully a successful implementation will prove the effectiveness of OCM and encourage them to prioritize it in the future.
Additionally, we hope that some of this will become more integral to their way of thinking about their people: training up managers to better respond to employee concerns, empowering sponsors to be more active and visible throughout a project, and ultimately changing the way leaders see their people.
OCM is really an iterative approach which organizations can enhance, develop competency in, and become more receptive to considering how the human aspect of change truly influences outcomes.
Q: Are there specific industries where change is more accepted?
Change management is needed across all industries. However, there are some industries – in the technology space or start-up type cultures, for example – that are more accepting of rapid, agile change cycles. Because of that, they’re more fluid and willing to change in general.
When it comes to industries resistant to change, agriculture stands out. The transition from one generation to the next in family farms often involves a clash of traditions and modern approaches. The younger generation, keen on embracing technology and innovative methods, may face challenges when taking over from their predecessors, leading to potential tensions.
In the end, change is very personal. Everybody reacts differently and for some it can be very emotional, which is why every organization requires a different change management plan, and even every individual needs to have a change management plan that works for them, highlights their value, and addresses their needs and concerns.
Leveraging Insights for Strategic Change Management
Rob Maeyaert’s discourse surrounding Organizational Change Management (OCM) reveals that change is a complex, personal experience that is different across industries and individuals. Digital transformation success hinges on this human element, centering OCM as the fulcrum around which organizations pivot and grow. Maeyaert emphasizes the indispensable nature of combining data-backed OCM best practices with the agility and flexibility necessary to adapt to each individual situation. This environment is cultivated through leadership’s visible commitment to their team, continuous communication, and the empowerment of every team member to play a pivotal role in the change process.
Ultimately, the goal of OCM is to not only ensure the seamless implementation of changes but to lay the groundwork for an organization that continually evolves, improves, and stands resilient in the face of future challenges. It is through nurturing this skill that organizations can realize sustained success and position themselves to be well-equipped to handle any challenge that may come their way.