The challenge for IT is to successfully manage change in a rapidly evolving environment. Here are several common challenges that I believe you must understand and manage in order to facilitate change:
Company politics. Understanding the political tenor of your organization is imperative if you are to foment change successfully. I find that, in general, the level of corporate politics is directly related to the size and age of the company. The larger and older a company, the greater the political gamesmanship. But every company has some measure of politics.
If you suspect that the powers that be are change-averse for political reasons, think about the dynamics of listening: How many times have you tried to tell family members something, only to have it fall on deaf ears? When someone outside the family makes the same suggestion, your family listens and responds while you scratch your head.
This rule also applies to corporations. People are more inclined to listen to the voice of an outsider than to that of a company employee. For that reason, I find that engaging consultants is an excellent way to neutralize company politics and initiate change. Consultants are not expected to play politics and generally have an easier time being honest and forthright. Since co-workers don't have an emotional connection to the consultant, they are more inclined to listen and be receptive to the recommendations that are given.
Degree of change. It is important to know where your company is on the technology scale and understand exactly what change you hope to implement. The bigger the change, the harder the road to success and the more fraught with danger the journey.
Moving from an object-oriented architecture to a service-oriented architecture, for example, isn't too much of a jump. But attempting to implement a service-based architecture when the current state is Cobol on the mainframe involves a high degree of risk.
In situations that require a major uplift to a radically new technology, take extra time in the planning phase. Spending the time and money upfront will significantly reduce risks later as the project moves ahead.
You must also reassure staffers that they will be given the appropriate training and support to acquire new skills if necessary. For example, if the bulk of your programmers are Cobol-literate and the company is moving to Java, alleviate the programmers' insecurity by investing in training.
Senior management support. Like water, change flows much more easily downhill than uphill. Attempting to initiate change from the bottom or even from the middle is difficult. When upper management is fully engaged and supportive, success is far more likely. If you are a lower-level manager with an idea for change, look for an upper-management sponsor to help you sell the idea, gain consensus and circumnavigate roadblocks.
Another way to gain support is by proving the value of the change. If you can show, for example, that implementing new technology will save money, you will surely capture the attention of your upper-management audience.
Success of past technology uplifts. The more successful you've been in the past, the easier it will be to sell the latest initiative. If past efforts failed or were only marginally successful, you'll need to work hard to regain credibility and trust.
I once worked for a company that decided to retire its mainframe and implement an open systems architecture. It was a rocky road. The costs and time frame far eclipsed the estimates. Worse yet, the functionality IT promised was not delivered because of cutbacks in the original scope of the project.
From that point on, IT was under constant scrutiny. We had to work especially hard to convince executive management to approve virtually every new initiative, regardless of the size.
If this sounds like your situation, you can expect to do a great deal of work for every change you want to initiate. You may wish to hold off on major changes until you have regained respect through small wins that provide clear value and high visibility. Once you have a few of those under your belt, you can go for the big win.
IT organizations are in a constant state of flux, and the big question that IT faces is how to successfully implement change. I hope that these suggestions will help your organization deal effectively with an ever-changing IT landscape.
If you have discovered other ways to deal with change or have any questions, I would love to hear from you.
Sidebar: Dos and don'ts
Do
-- Involve all staff from the beginning.
-- Communicate the reason for the change often.
-- Address concerns as they arise.
-- Explain the benefits of the change.
-- Reassure staffers that they will not lose their jobs.
-- Explain that training will be provided to ensure that everyone can perform successfully.
-- Reassure staffers that there will be support after the "go live" date to help with problems.
-- Explain that management recognizes the learning curve for staff and will adjust expectations accordingly.
Don't
-- Use threats.
-- Discount the resistance.
-- Apply pressure to conform.
-- Fail to recognize people's concerns.
-- Stop communicating.
Karacsony is a senior data analyst in the Enterprise Data Management Group at Toyota Motor Sales Inc. Contact him at ken.karacsony@verizon.net.