The size and make up of your change management team is going to be an important consideration for getting the change work done smoothly. There are a number of factors that influence your ability to put together the perfect change management team for your business, program or project.
Once you've determined the required dimensions of your team, another challenge must be faced, that of those factors that constrain resourcing decisions. Agencia Change has a procurement model that overcomes most of the familiar constraints.
Considerations that regulate change management resource
The characteristics of the change. Naturally the type of change - reorganisation, process, policy, systems and so on - influences the number of resources required to implement it. More complex, multi-faceted projects impacting large numbers of stakeholders at a faster pace will require more resources.
The scope of the change team. How much work needs to be completed will drive how many resources, and what specialties might be required. The scale of the training required, or communications planning needed will be key factors in your calculation of resourcing needs. It's important to estimate whether you truly have enough people to carry out the size of the effort.
Impacted stakeholders and groups. Key representatives from each group will need to be coordinated, input sought, and alignment maintained. In addition to these two-way communication needs, the number and size of impacted groups will determine the channels you use and the amount of effort required to reach all the stakeholders affected by the changes.
Change legacy. All organisations differ in terms of their experience of change, and their ability to absorb new changes rapidly. Capacity and cultural acceptance varies widely. A less mature, change-fatigued or resistant change audience, may need more effort over a longer time frame. A more mature environment undertaking multiple changes may similarly require more effort to distinguish your change project from all the others, and achieve the share of attention you need from your change audience.
Data can help calculate how many resources needed in your change effort. Research, consultant recommendations and looking back over past post-implementation reviews may provide great discovery in terms of what really works (and what doesn't!)
Workforce distribution. Global, remote or widely distributed workforces requiring regional implementations may be more complex and require more coordination. In the case of a remote workforce, this isn't necessarily more logistically complex, but more planning may be needed to achieve truly interactive engagement with remote audiences.
Phase of execution. The number of resources needed can vary with the project lifecycle. Early stages tend to be more about planning and design. Later stages will see increasing demand on change resources as the project moves into key touch-points with stakeholders. In the case of agile change management, the work on the backlog will help determine the change resources needed to complete it. It's often the case that change resourcing is under-estimated during execution, and additional resources hastily recruited when the project experiences a lack of engagement or progress.
Resourcing guidelines. Many organisations have well-established guidelines influencing resourcing decisions. There may be resource-sizing help available from an Enterprise PMO, Change Management Office or HR function.
Strategic alignment. Projects that are considered strategically important will be more visible, and should therefore take fewer risks in under-resourcing the team. These types of projects are often mission critical to businesses, with the cost of failing far outweighing the resourcing budget. If your project is high risk, high criticality and urgent, it necessitates a higher resourcing level.
Change management experience in the hiring team. Awareness of the true contribution change management can bring will often influence resourcing decisions. Where there is high awareness of the importance and benefit of change management, it follows there will be more resources funnelled into this critical function.
Considerations that constrain change management resourcing
Budget is a common constraint limiting the ability for a project to resource to its full change management need. Sponsors and project leaders can be unwilling to put budget aside for what is still too-often seen as a line item under expenses rather than benefits. Many organisations are still not budgeting for change management in projects, and of those that do, many are under-estimating and planning change management effort too late in the project plan.
Resource skills and availability. While there appear to be hundreds of change managers around, not all change managers will have the level of qualification and experience required for every project. It may take time to narrow the change management job description and to find the right people. Many change managers operate as internal or external consultants, meaning their work is often project-based and not immediately available. To be effective in a change management role, resources must have the technical change and project knowledge; as well as teamwork, flexibility, stakeholder engagement and other highly sought-after skills.
Organisational maturity. This is both an influencer and a constraint to change resourcing. The level of awareness, prior experiences with change, lack of engagement or perceived low value of change management will constrain how many change management resources are able to be engaged. Resourcing a team is often a long-term commitment with few 'try before you buy' options available.
Confidentiality. Project sensitivity can constrain all procurement decisions, but with change management there can be a perception that resourcing a change team will immediately give rise to announcements and broadcasting. Nothing could be further from the truth. Highly sensitive projects should consider procuring the right professionals to design and manage messaging, communication and engagement plans that fit the confidentiality of the project.
Making procurement decisions
Traditional resourcing models
When sourcing change resources there are a number of traditional procurement models in place.
Employment contract | A single change or communications resource is hired to fill a permanent position |
Fixed term contract | Similar to an employment contract but has an agreed end date |
Day rate contract or contingent workforce | Hired as an independent contractor on a day to day basis through a third party, such as a recruitment agency, or direct to the end client. Has an agreed end date which may be extended. The contract has agreed termination clauses that can be used by the hiring company, the third party or the contractor |
Statement of work | Resources are engaged to fulfil an agreed outcome and a fixed price is detailed in a statement of work |
Traditional models would be hard-pressed to account for all of the above resourcing influences and constraints. Sometimes only a small amount of effort is required to get the project to the next stage, or a hiring manager wants resources but can't prove their value until after they start delivering. Employment of a full-scale change team may be seen as risky in some organisations due to their change legacy and access to internal change teams may be delayed when demand is high.
Improving change management resourcing in constrained environments
The ability to hire change and communications resources in more tactical timeframes presents a number of advantages (for more information on Agencia Change procurement, visit our page here.):
For the hirer |
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For the resource |
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Sourcing change management resources is one of the key decisions organisations make in establishing change projects or programs. Engaging in more flexible models of procurement provides true agility and flexibility and goes a long way to mitigating nearly all of the constraints involved.
Contact us for more on flexible change management resourcing options.
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