Change and the Power of Choice: Part 8 – Track the Change
Following implementation of the Change, a best practice is to track the success of the Change. The measurement of success needs to tie back to the reasons for Change. The underlying reasons for the Change are identified in the first three steps of Change Mastery, that is: Step 1 – Hear the Change, Step 2 – Asking Questions, and especially step 3 – Measure the Impact of the Change.
Potential reasons for the Change may include; a better, more efficient process, satisfaction of some exterior compliance (such as new Federal, State, or local regulations), to produce a better product or service, to produce a new product, or service, to reduce costs and/or increase profits. The most important reasons tie directly to the customer. These may include faster speed to market, increased quality in product or services, or better customer service.
If the reason for the Change was to increase efficiency, possible ways to track the success is to measure resource hours – both before and after to arrive at the savings actually delivered by the change. If the change was in response to regulations, business partners, including Compliance, and potentially a Legal Team may need to be brought in to ensure that Compliance has been met. On a personal note; as part of a systems development team for a nationally known bank, I would estimate that about 80% of my work as a liaison between senior business partners, and development teams was directly related to new Federal regulations. To measure speed to market, before, and after Change numbers can be compared to quantify speed to market delta. Measurement of success of a new product or service will take longer to track. Depending on the particular product, or new service, this may take a year or more to collect data to compare against projected revenue, and profit models.
I do need to call out that in some organizations, there may be no formal process in place to track the impact of the Change. However, if this is the case in your organization, you have an opportunity to bring value. If no method of tracking of the Change has been generally communicated, diplomatically raise the question to leadership. If no process has been put in place to track success, this might be an opportunity to bring value to the organization by becoming involved in creating a process. It is wise to proceed cautiously here if no process is in place. Make sure you have full buy in from your supervisor, management, and all key stakeholders before committing to building, or helping to build this process.
Below are some things to consider when tracking the Change:
Does tracking of the Change tie back to the original underlying reason(s) for the Change.
Are there secondary benefits to the Change that were not part of the original justification.
If the Change was driven by Compliance, is there sign off by your business partners that Compliance is met.
Were the benefits of the Change perceived to be internal (lower costs, increase profits).
Were the benefits of the Change perceived to be external (better quality product, services).
Is measurement of success to be found in resource hours.
How can Customer-related impact be measured. (Increased satisfaction, larger Client base.)
In summary, if a Change has been implemented, it is best practices to track the success of the Change. The measure of success should primarily tie back to the original reason(s) for the Change. If no formal process is in place we have an opportunity to help build a process to track success. This opportunity should be approached diplomatically, with buy in, and support starting with your supervisor, and management. If we have good metrics, and tools in place to track success of the Change, we are well on the way to being masters of Change; Delta Masters!
Following implementation of the Change, a best practice is to track the success of the Change. The measurement of success needs to tie back to the reasons for Change. The underlying reasons for the Change are identified in the first three steps of Change Mastery, that is: Step 1 – Hear the Change, Step 2 – Asking Questions, and especially step 3 – Measure the Impact of the Change.
Potential reasons for the Change may include; a better, more efficient process, satisfaction of some exterior compliance (such as new Federal, State, or local regulations), to produce a better product or service, to produce a new product, or service, to reduce costs and/or increase profits. The most important reasons tie directly to the customer. These may include faster speed to market, increased quality in product or services, or better customer service.
If the reason for the Change was to increase efficiency, possible ways to track the success is to measure resource hours – both before and after to arrive at the savings actually delivered by the change. If the change was in response to regulations, business partners, including Compliance, and potentially a Legal Team may need to be brought in to ensure that Compliance has been met. On a personal note; as part of a systems development team for a nationally known bank, I would estimate that about 80% of my work as a liaison between senior business partners, and development teams was directly related to new Federal regulations. To measure speed to market, before, and after Change numbers can be compared to quantify speed to market delta. Measurement of success of a new product or service will take longer to track. Depending on the particular product, or new service, this may take a year or more to collect data to compare against projected revenue, and profit models.
I do need to call out that in some organizations, there may be no formal process in place to track the impact of the Change. However, if this is the case in your organization, you have an opportunity to bring value. If no method of tracking of the Change has been generally communicated, diplomatically raise the question to leadership. If no process has been put in place to track success, this might be an opportunity to bring value to the organization by becoming involved in creating a process. It is wise to proceed cautiously here if no process is in place. Make sure you have full buy in from your supervisor, management, and all key stakeholders before committing to building, or helping to build this process.
Below are some things to consider when tracking the Change:
Does tracking of the Change tie back to the original underlying reason(s) for the Change.
Are there secondary benefits to the Change that were not part of the original justification.
If the Change was driven by Compliance, is there sign off by your business partners that Compliance is met.
Were the benefits of the Change perceived to be internal (lower costs, increase profits).
Were the benefits of the Change perceived to be external (better quality product, services).
Is measurement of success to be found in resource hours.
How can Customer-related impact be measured. (Increased satisfaction, larger Client base.)
In summary, if a Change has been implemented, it is best practices to track the success of the Change. The measure of success should primarily tie back to the original reason(s) for the Change. If no formal process is in place we have an opportunity to help build a process to track success. This opportunity should be approached diplomatically, with buy in, and support starting with your supervisor, and management. If we have good metrics, and tools in place to track success of the Change, we are well on the way to being masters of Change; Delta Masters!
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