I was working for Viridor Waste Management and they was undergoing a large scale business transformation enabled by a green field SAP implementation and had support from one of the big six consultancy firms to help work on various aspects of the programme alongside permanent employees. The change stream was originally led by their change resource who was supposed to help set-up the change effort to run alongside the programme delivery. However after 2 months it was clear that the progress and set-up wasn’t moving at the rate the Programme Manager required and with the SAP Blueprinting process due to start

I was promoted within the programme to become “Change Manager” for the programme and I was given the task to run the change effort for the programme including hiring communications, training and change support roles and to ensure the change impacts / change impact assessment could be created in line with the SAP blueprint process.

After taking on the post I worked on the following actions:

• Created a change team which included a Communications Manager, Communications Assistant, Training Manager, Business Change HR Advisor, Change Support Officers which improved the skills and capabilities of the business through establishing an Change Management Office (CMO)
• Created a OCM Framework for the team to follow and utilise from Change Planning to Change Delivery
• Briefed the Business Analysis and End to End Process teams to record and capture change impacts as part of the blueprint workshops, to be recorded in a central Change Impact Log
• Created a remote Change Network which included Change Ambassadors (Senior Directors), Change Champions (Senior Managers nominated by Directors) and Change Agents which enhanced cross-business collaboration, communication and buy in
• Created a Change Impact Assessment to help onboard Change AMbassadors on what changes where coming and influenced / guided them on next steps
• Build Change Plans inline with the Programme phases which included activities which helped to identify, agree and prioritise the new ideas and activities to generate business value and build a feasible roadmap for the business units
• Measured business readiness on a periodic basis through control rooms which were designed to help provide structure to regional businesses and gather feedback on progress

Value was delivered by;

• Enabling positive behavioural change through establishing a Change Management Office (CMO) and measured success through readiness assessments pre and post implementations.
• Improved business agility and ability to rapidly respond to change and opportunity due to an established change management framework which was proven on their largest programme of work undertaken.
• Increased credibility, confidence and influence across the business due to Senior Operational Directors devoting time to participating in control rooms with the change teams for future phases.

Pains relieved included;

• Unclear or inefficient internal communications through regular interactions with remote business units and establishing a two-way communication channel
• Disconnect between culture and future vision through ensuring feedback from the business is reaching the programme team and sponsor as well as reporting readiness of those units

• Business Change Management & Communication
• Behavioural Change

• Organisational Agility & Effectiveness