What is Change Management Consulting?

Summary

Maria, a change management consultant at Share PLM, explains the role of consultants in guiding organizations through digital transformations. Change management involves understanding employee resistance, crafting narratives, and developing strategies for communication and training. The goal is to turn resistance into adoption, ensuring a smooth transition to new technologies and processes, ultimately increasing productivity and achieving business goals.

Takeaways

• 🔄 **Change is Constant**: Organizations experience change in various forms, such as new technologies, processes, or company mergers.
• 🚫 **Resistance to Change**: Employees often resist change due to difficulty in adapting to new workflows and a lack of understanding of the reasons behind the change.
• 🧠 **Change Management Psychology**: Change management is as much about psychology as it is about project management, focusing on managing the human side of change.
• 🤝 **Empowerment and Support**: Change management consultants help employees embrace new ways of working by addressing concerns and providing support.
• 🛠️ **Technology Implementation**: Change management plays a critical role in the successful implementation of new technologies and tools.
• 🧭 **Navigating Change**: Consultants act as navigators, guiding organizations through the complex process of change.
• 🌐 **Alignment of People, Processes, and Technology**: The goal of change management consulting is to ensure that people, processes, and technology align for successful transformation.
• 🔍 **Assessing Readiness**: The first step in change management is assessing an organization's readiness for change and identifying potential roadblocks.
• 📈 **Tailored Strategies**: Strategies for change are developed based on a thorough understanding of the organization's current state and the desired transformation.
• 🏢 **Stakeholder Engagement**: Change management consultants engage stakeholders at all levels to ensure broad support and adoption of change.
• 💼 **Leadership Support**: Working closely with leadership is crucial for gaining buy-in and ensuring that changes are implemented smoothly.

Q & A

What is the role of a change management consultant?

A change management consultant guides organizations through transformation, ensuring that people, processes, and technologies align seamlessly to achieve desired outcomes. They act as navigators, helping organizations steer through the turbulent waters of change.

Why is change management important in organizations?

Change management is crucial because it helps organizations implement big changes smoothly and proactively manages the human side of change, addressing concerns and empowering employees to embrace new ways of working.

What challenges do employees face when a company introduces a new PLM system?

Employees may face challenges such as adapting to non-user-friendly workflows and processes, and feeling frustrated due to a lack of understanding of the reasons behind the change.

How does change management help in a manufacturing company transitioning to a paperless production environment?

Change management helps by training employees on digital systems, providing ongoing support, and fostering a culture of innovation to facilitate the transition.

What does a change management consultant do when working with a retail organization implementing a new CRM platform?

A change management consultant would communicate the benefits of the new system, address resistance, and ensure employees feel confident with the new way of working.

What are the key skills required for a change management consultant?

Key skills include empathy, communication, strategic thinking, understanding technical topics, and the ability to relate to the technology involved.

How does a change management consultant assess an organization's readiness for change?

They conduct thorough analysis to understand the current state, identify potential roadblocks, and determine the best course of action.

What is involved in developing a tailored strategy to engage stakeholders at all levels?

It involves crafting a narrative for the transformation, understanding the starting point, and developing a plan to enable change through communication, learning, and experience sharing.

How do change management consultants work with leadership to gain buy-in for change?

They work closely with managers, executives, and decision-makers to gain their support so that big changes can be implemented smoothly.

Can you provide an example of a successful change management consulting project?

A manufacturing company implementing a new technology to streamline processes used change management consultants to assess readiness, develop a comprehensive change enablement plan, and implement training programs, leading to successful adoption of the new system and increased productivity.

What is the end-to-end process that Share PLM offers to help organizations with their transformation?

The process starts by establishing the narrative behind the transformation and includes establishing strategies for communication, learning, and user experience tailored to the organization's needs.

Outlines

00:00

🔄 Introduction to Change Management Consulting

Maria, a change management consultant at share PLM, introduces the concept of change management consulting. She explains that change is a constant in organizations and can manifest in various forms such as new technologies, processes, or even company mergers. Resistance from employees is common when facing significant changes, such as the introduction of a new PLM system. Change management consultants address these challenges by focusing on the human side of change, including managing resistance, addressing concerns, and empowering employees to adapt to new workflows. The role involves a mix of project management and psychology to ensure a smooth transition.

Keywords

💡Change Management

Change management is a systematic approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is a critical component of business transformation, focusing on the human side of change. In the video, change management is described as being as much about psychology as it is about project management, emphasizing the need to address employee concerns and resistance when implementing significant organizational changes, such as new technologies or processes.

💡Change Management Consultant

A change management consultant is a professional who guides organizations through the process of change. They specialize in helping companies manage the human aspects of change, including resistance and adoption of new practices. In the script, Maria, a change management consultant at Share PLM, discusses her role in navigating the challenges of change, such as training employees on digital systems and fostering a culture of innovation.

💡PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a business process that helps companies manage product information throughout its lifecycle, from conception to retirement. In the context of the video, PLM is the industry in which Maria works, and it's where change management consultants help implement new systems or tools, requiring employees to adapt to new workflows and processes.

💡Resistance to Change

Resistance to change is a natural human reaction to new or different ways of doing things. It often arises from fear of the unknown or a lack of understanding about why a change is necessary. The script mentions that when companies introduce new PLM systems, employees may resist due to the difficulty in understanding the new workflows and processes, and because they don't understand the rationale behind the change.

💡Adoption

Adoption in change management refers to the process by which individuals or groups accept and start using new systems, processes, or technologies. The goal of change management consultants, as mentioned in the script, is to turn resistance into adoption by addressing concerns and empowering employees to embrace new ways of working.

💡Transformation

Transformation in a business context refers to a significant change in an organization's structure, operations, or strategy. The video script discusses how change management consultants guide organizations through transformation, ensuring that people, processes, and technologies align to achieve the desired outcomes.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an interest or stake in an organization's success. In the script, it's mentioned that change management consultants develop strategies to engage stakeholders at all levels, which is crucial for a successful change management process.

💡Communication

Effective communication is key in change management, as it helps to convey the reasons behind changes and how they will benefit the organization. The script highlights the importance of crafting a narrative for the transformation and ensuring clear and consistent messaging about the benefits of the new technology or process.

💡Training

Training is a crucial part of change management, as it equips employees with the skills needed to adapt to new systems or processes. In the script, training programs are implemented to provide hands-on training and ongoing support to employees as they learn to use new technologies.

💡Digital Transformation

Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how it operates and delivers value to customers. The video script uses a manufacturing company's decision to implement new technology to streamline processes as an example of digital transformation, where change management plays a vital role in ensuring a smooth transition.

💡Readiness for Change

Readiness for change assesses an organization's preparedness to embrace and implement change. The script describes how consultants assess an organization's readiness for change by conducting interviews, surveys, and workshops to understand employees' concerns and expectations, which is a critical first step in developing a change enablement plan.

Highlights

Change management consulting is essential for guiding organizations through transformation.

Change is constant in organizations, often involving resistance from employees.

Introducing new technologies or processes can be challenging without proper change management.

Change management involves both project management and psychology.

The role of a change management consultant is to manage the human side of change proactively.

Consultants empower employees to embrace new ways of working.

Training and support are key components of change management in transitioning to new systems.

Change management consultants act as navigators through the turbulent waters of change.

The consultant must be empathetic, communicative, and strategic.

Understanding technical topics and relating to technology is crucial for a change management consultant.

Assessing an organization's readiness for change is the starting point for consultants.

Developing tailored strategies to engage stakeholders at all levels is a key task.

Crafting a narrative for transformation is essential for gaining employee buy-in.

Change management consultants work closely with leadership for support and implementation.

The goal is to turn resistance into adoption through effective change management.

A use case of a manufacturing company implementing new technology illustrates the impact of change management.

Change management consultants ensure a smooth transition to new technology and processes.

The successful implementation of new systems leads to increased productivity and meeting business goals.

Share PLM offers an end-to-end process to help organizations with their transformation.

Establishing the narrative and strategies for communication, learning, and user experience are part of Share PLM's process.

Transcripts

hi I'm Maria and I'm a change Management

Consultant at share PLM in this video we

are going to look at what change

management consulting is and what a

change Management Consultant does who

works in PLM but before we dive into the

role of a change Management Consultant

let's take a look at what change

management consulting is as we know all

organizations experience change at some

point change is constant and can take

many forms when organizations need to

implement big changes such as

implementing new technologies and

processes to restructuring teams or even

merging with another company they

experience resistance from their

employees for example when a company

introduces a new PLM system or tools

employees must adapt to various

workflows and processes many of which

are not user friendly and difficult to

understand additionally employees get

frustrated because they don't understand

the why behind the change in other words

with big change comes big push back

that's where change management comes in

change management is just as much about

project management as it is about

psychology and as a change Management

Consultant you have to proactively

manage The Human Side of change

addressing concerns and empowering

employees to embrace new ways of working

take for instance a Manufacturing

Company transitioning to a paperless

production environments change

management was involved training

employees on digital systems providing

ongoing support and fostering a culture

of innovation another example could be a

retail organization implementing a new

customer relationship management

platform change management would involve

communicating the benefits of the new

system addressing resistance and

ensuring that employees feel confident

with the new way of working so what

exactly is change management consulting

it's about guiding organizations through

transformation ensuring that people

processes and Technologies align

seamlessly to achieve desired outcomes

as change management Consultants we act

as Navigators helping organizations

steer through turbulent Waters of change

change management Consultants must be

empathetic communicative and strategic

while understanding technical topics and

being able to relate to the technology

itself for example here at share PLM our

backgrounds in engineering education

business and psychology enable us to

understand the technical instructional

and human aspects of change but what

exactly does a change Management

Consultant do it starts with assessing

the organizations Readiness for change

we conduct thorough analysis to

understand the current state identify

potential roadblocks and determine the

best course of action once we have a

clear picture we develop tailored

strategies to engage stakeholders at all

levels this involves crafting a

narrative for the transformation

understanding the starting point and

then developing a plan to enable change

through communication learning and

experience sharing our goal is to turn

resistance into adoption we work closely

with leadership to gain buyin and help

employees Embrace change in other words

we work closely with managers Executives

and decision makers to gain their

support so that big changes can be

implemented smoothly in essence we are

Catalyst for transformation let's take a

look at an actual use case to put this

information into perspective let's

consider a manufacturing company that

decides to implement a new technology to

streamline their processes the company

recognizes the need for change

management consulting to ensure a smooth

transition to the new technology and

process change management Consultants

Begin by assessing the organization's

Readiness for change they conduct

interviews surveys and workshops to

understand employees concerns

expectations and level of Readiness for

adopting the new system based on their

findings the Consultants develop a

comprehensive change enablement plan the

Consultants work closely with company

leadership to ensure clear and

consistent messaging about the benefits

of the new technology and the importance

of embracing change training programs

are implemented to equip employees with

the necessary skills to use the new

technologies from basic navigation to

Advanced functionalities employees

receive Hands-On training and ongoing

support throughout the implementation

process change Consultants are on hand

to address any concerns or resistance

that may arise thanks to the expertise

and guidance of change management

Consultants the company successfully

implements the new system and processes

employees embrace the change

productivity increases and the

organization meets their business goals

this is just one example of how change

management consulting helps

organizations with the successful

implementation of new systems and

processes so the next time your

organization takes on a digital

transformation Journey remember the

importance of change management

consulting at share PLM we have an end

to-end process to help organizations

with their transformation this process

starts by establishing the narrative the

why behind the transformation it

includes establishing strategies for

communication learning and user

experience that are specifically tailor

to the needs of the organization if you

are interested in learning more about

our services visit our website at share

pm.com