In-house change management teams are often tasked with managing multiple projects simultaneously, with limited resources. While it does feel we're coming out of a tight year in change management, there is still anecdotal reporting of the challenge to balance the demands of projects with limited team capacity. While staying focussed on ensuring successful outcomes, this blog post explores strategies to help in-house change management teams "do more with less."
While nothing in this checklist represents a startling new strategy for Heads of Change and Change Directors running in-house teams, these tips are a timely reminder to keep trying new ways of building the success of the team while balancing the competing priorities.
Prioritise Effectively
Clear Objectives: Ensure each project has a clear, concise objective.
Risk Assessment: Prioritise projects based on their potential impact and risk.
Resource Allocation: Allocate resources strategically, focusing on high-priority projects.
Agile Methodology: Consider adopting an agile approach to adapt to changing priorities and resource constraints.
Leverage Technology
Project Management: Use available project management software - or connect closely with project managers - to track the progress of change initiatives, streamline activities and highlight successful milestones.
Automation: Automate repetitive tasks to save time and reduce errors.
Collaboration Tools: Use your organisation's collaboration toolkit to cut down on meetings and facilitate communication and teamwork.
Change Management Software: Invest in specialised software to track progress, analyse data, and generate useful change management views and reports.
Build Strong Relationships
Stakeholder Engagement: Foster strong relationships with key stakeholders to build trust and support.
Monitor Pipeline: While demand for services exceeds supply, it might be tempting to avoid new incoming projects. But a strong pipeline is necessary to ensure a sustainable team.
Effective Communication: Communicate clearly and concisely, using a variety of channels to reach different audiences.
Active Listening: Actively listen to feedback and concerns to address issues promptly.
Collaboration: Encourage collaboration between team members and stakeholders to share knowledge and expertise.
Continuous Improvement
Regular Reviews: Conduct regular reviews to identify areas for improvement.
Lessons Learned: Document lessons learned from past projects to avoid mistakes in the future.
Training and Development: Invest in training and development to enhance team skills and knowledge.
Innovation: Encourage innovation and experimentation to find new and efficient ways of working.
Outsourcing Strategically
Specialised Expertise: Consider outsourcing specific tasks or projects that require specialised expertise.
Coaching: Improve capacity and skills in the team with relatively little cost. The benefits of coaching have been well established and can be a secret weapon in supporting the existing team to achieve strong performance under pressure.
Cost-Effective Solutions: Evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of outsourcing parts of the workload to determine if it's a viable option. Done strategically, outsourcing saves time, can augment the team in peak periods, take off a significant amount of overwork and save the team from delays and burning the budget.
Vendor Management: Establish strong relationships with reliable vendors to ensure quality and timely delivery.
Change Management Teams - Doing More with Less
By implementing these strategies, in-house change management teams can maximise their impact, even with limited resources. Doing more with less is really about working smarter by finding new ways to overcome obstacles.
Talk to Agencia Change about rapid resourcing, team augmentation, team and individual coaching and mentoring solutions.
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