Change management is a structured process for planning, implementing, and reviewing any adjustments to business operations.
It can be a fairly involved process for larger companies and most have systems and personnel dedicated to the process. It can be seen as challenging for smaller businesses if they don’t have anyone familiar with change management and they can’t dedicate personnel to it.
The reality is that is because of the challenges, a lot of small businesses choose to not have any change management process in place.
This post discusses a simple change management process that can be used as is or as a foundation for a more complex process that fits your business better.
Step #1
Identify what will be changed and why
This usually starts with a problem that needs to be addressed or an improvement that someone would like to implement.
Think about “why” from the beginning because, at some point, you will have to convince the decision-maker.
Step #2
Create a plan
If this gets approved, how will the change be made?
This gives you a chance to break the change down into actionable steps and see which teams will be needed.
Step #3
Formally request the change
Utilize or create a system for new change requests.
The system should include:
- A description of the change
- A date/time stamp
- A way to identify the requester
- A way to get the request to the people who need to see it
Step #4
Analyze the impact of the change
Work with the people who control and maintain the thing/area that you would like to change.
Common considerations include:
- Risks of action
- Risks of inaction
- People/teams affected
- Cost
- Duration
- Other systems/processes/areas that will be affected
- How long will it be before it needs to be changed again
Step #5
Approve or deny the change
This can be decided by an individual or a small group of stakeholders (often called a change control board). Either way there is usually a set of decision criteria used for all change requests.
Step #6
Implement the change
Carry out the plan that you created in step #2.
Take note of anything unanticipated.
Step #7
Review/Report/Lessons Learned
Review the change with stakeholders to ensure that things went as planned.
Creating a written report can be valuable in the future if there are similar changes or you need the information to troubleshoot.
A lessons-learned document can be used to capture any unanticipated things that happened, prevent you from repeating mistakes, and create more efficient processes in the future.
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