Change Management Is Non-Negotiable

There is no simple recipe for leading digital transformation and embedding the new ways of working it demands. Successfully managing this profound change requires rethinking communication and training from the ground up. But it also means — first and foremost — breaking away from the still-prevalent model in which change management is reduced to a communication and training plan. To bring the entire organization along on the transformation, you have to embody it first.

       

Leadership aligned around collaboration

In 2016, a decision by Club Med made waves in the world of corporate governance. The company merged its digital, marketing and IT departments, so that everyone would be on the same wavelength and share the same priorities in the face of digital transformation. On e-commerce and marketing topics, digital, marketing and IT profiles now work together in agile squads. For internal topics, deputy IT directors work alongside business units, or with HR on people-related projects. An executive committee brings all stakeholders together.

At Allianz France, everyone stayed in their own department, but synergy is equally the watchword. Housed within the digital division, the team responsible for leading digital transformation at the employee level works in close cooperation with HR, IT, and communications. Whatever the organizational model, the drive for cohesion goes hand in hand with each function's ability to contribute. The growing role of HR in people-related change initiatives bears this out. At Orange, the sponsor of the enterprise social network Plazza, HR positions it on the terrain of employee experience and makes its adoption a matter of upskilling — both in terms of ways of working and professional development, through the connections and exchanges the network enables. This HR-driven approach contributes to the momentum of Plazza's adoption.

Read also: the 7 compelling arguments to convince your CEO to invest in an enterprise social network project

Making transformation meaningful

The drive for speed must not come at the expense of creating meaning. It is essential to explain the major forces shaping the world, how they impact the industry and the company. This is what Air France did, for example.

Before embarking on its internal transformation, the company first gave its strategy a clear sense of purpose. It explained, in particular, why an enterprise social network was being introduced, placing the initiative in the context of what was expected of an employee in 2020 in terms of taking initiative and embracing new ways of working. At the heart of it: the image of a connected, innovative employee. A condition without which employees would not have rallied to the cause, for lack of understanding why they needed to transform their working habits.

Read also: "Transforming yes — but without losing sight of engagement" (M. Grondin)

Involving employees

While giving meaning is a first condition for bringing employees along and placing them at the heart of the change, it is only the second step. For its collaborative intranet project, the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole organized participatory workshops bringing together agents from its various departments and directorates. Working together helped map out the future platform's core structure. Once the project had advanced, agents were also invited to conduct usability tests. A call for volunteers was sent to all staff.

Unexpectedly, far beyond those already involved, a very diverse range of profiles expressed interest: maintenance agents, waste collectors, administrative assistants… These various initiatives to stay close to the reality of the organization not only facilitated the adoption of the collaborative intranet. By sharing their experience with colleagues, the agents involved sparked curiosity and gave others the urge to discover the new platform.

Read also: Interactivity or nothing!

Revealing collaboration needs through gamification

Skipping the process of collecting teams' real needs risks having them turn away from the collaborative platform, having found nothing of value in it. Conversely, the consultation phase has its own pitfalls: insufficient feedback, focus on one topic at the expense of others, a few participants monopolizing the conversation…

IESEG (business school) avoided these pitfalls through a platform that gamified the needs-scoping phase. The key advantage of this solution: it is built around collaboration, helping reveal practices and collaboration needs through around forty common use cases. For instance: seeking the occasional input of an expert while co-editing a document. For each scenario, participants were invited to specify the collaboration context, its frequency, how important they considered it, and the tools they currently use. In addition, a Quiz module allowed users to test their knowledge of the collaborative platform and realize its full potential.

Agile, personalized training

The provision of tutorials or user guides and the organization of large-scale traditional training programs continue to dominate change management support initiatives. But to what effect? For its retail banking division, BNP Paribas took a different approach with a platform inviting its 14,000 employees to spend 1 minute a day answering two questions linked to a concept they need to master. The platform analyzes the employee's responses and builds a personalized learning path accordingly. This solution also leverages gamification.

Each login earns participation stars and each correct answer earns a knowledge key, which can be redeemed for a reward. The value of the reward matters less, however, than the recognition provided by this game-like dimension. As for the effectiveness of the approach, it pays off over time, with minimal effort required from employees.

Read also: Digital transformation: the public sector is not lagging behind!

Transforming management practices to support change

In 2016, an OpinionWay study revealed a striking finding: 75% of managers surveyed believed that the enterprise social network was a response to their daily challenges, but only 25% described themselves as daily users… At GRDF, a review of the social network launched in 2012 showed less favorable results in terms of perceived value. To bring all managers on board, the company therefore put in place a dedicated support program for them. It begins by showing them the concrete benefits the social network can bring to their daily work, drawing on feedback from their peers. It then aims to raise awareness of how their role is evolving — less focused on technical expertise and more on team leadership.

In the management support effort, one specific group can play a pivotal role: top managers. By adopting the tool for their own needs, they help promote it throughout the organization — particularly among managers. From this perspective, the situation appears to have evolved. Collaborative projects now occupy a central place in transformation plans, promoting new ways of working, and executive leadership is investing in them more actively. They no longer settle for providing the initial impulse. At the Agence Française de Développement, for example, the enterprise social network was still in pilot phase when the managing director decided to use it to build a strategic orientation plan. That single initiative had the effect of fast-tracking the full-scale rollout of the social network.

Going further

Would you like more best practices for successfully managing change in your organization? Download our white paper on the topic!

Access the White Paper

In our white paper "How to Effectively Lead Change in Organizations?", you will discover:

• The challenges of change management in companies
• Examples of models and strategies to meet these challenges
• Best practices for managing change in your organization
• Case studies illustrating how 7 companies successfully managed change