Implementing Internal Change Management with Timesheet Data Analysis: A Success Story

The project was initiated as a result of the creation of a new management team. Previously, the DPM was managed by their esteemed director, Bridget Clawson-Braaten. As the team grew, Chandra and Heather Pasch were introduced as the new supervisors and Amy was promoted to a portfolio manager. This new expanded leadership team noticed that changes on the team were happening at a frequent rate. Employees were struggling with the rapidfire changes, causing them to become burnt out and fatigued. The leadership team decided that they needed to be able to manage transition more effectively and improve upon the team dynamic. They strived to improve how they collaborated, communicated, and supported the overall division and individual teams that they worked with. 

First, they wanted to track the changes that were occurring and to manage/monitor communications in order to create team consistency. So, the leadership team decided to use Prosci’s ADKAR and Change Impact Models to develop a change management strategy for any recommended or approved changes, from how they were using their team meetings to managing workload. They started by making an inventory of all desired changes, and then categorized and prioritized them. One of the major changes that needed attention was in resource management. From this, Amy led a project that would change how the DPM tracked their time and how time data was analyzed. This project changed the process of entering and tracking time for users, as well as added capabilities to study their time in new ways.

Employing change management frameworks and methodologies is crucial when implementing any change because such strategies ensure that when people make a change, everyone is successful with that change. With the Timesheet Data Analysis Project, DPM leadership wanted to create a thoughtful approach to introduce changes rather than implementing them immediately and abruptly. Utilizing change management allotted the opportunity to pause and consider these impacts. Chandra believes that change management is a way to help people understand their feelings regarding the loss of the end of a current state. Having a consistent, reliable framework to be able to understand the impact of change and bring people along is extremely useful when people need to adjust to changes both emotionally and tactically. When there are new expectations, reorganization, and restructuring, it can be challenging for people because the day-to-day work environment is changing. 

Amy reiterates the importance of taking the process step-by-step and implementing the steps of ADKAR through bi-weekly team meetings. The team ensured that every meeting included a different element of the ADKAR model to ensure that the team was applying change management in the most efficient and effective way possible. The leadership team gave staff plenty of time and space, as well as provided multiple avenues for asking questions. Using this strategic approach helped them minimize resistance when making changes. 

• When developing awareness, the team made sure that they had plenty of time to help everyone understand the changes and why they needed to happen.

• For desire, they really focused on the “What’s In It For Me?” (WIIFM). Not only did the team share updates and communications at larger team meetings, but they also held space for 1:1 meetings with their employees to give them opportunities to ask questions. 

• The team addressed knowledge and ability together, through having demos, open office hours, availability for questions, and 1:1 training. 

• The team is currently working on reinforcement by celebrating project completion, showing new capabilities, and using dashboards with new information. After reaping great project success, the team is transitioning to continual use and exploring new abilities that have resulted from the change.

The DPM team is starting to see the benefits of their hard work as the project is nearing its final stages. At this point, the project managers are successfully using the new timesheets and comfortably using the new process. With any change, there is occasional forgetfulness and they have to be reminded to sustain the change. A major unexpected benefit for the team is that they have been able to refer to the timesheet analysis data past the confines of the project itself and their own division. The project has not only helped their leadership team with time analysis, but it is also helping project managers with their sponsors by allowing them to look back at the data and use it for future planning. For example, Chandra was able to go into the resource dashboard and look at the timesheets to figure out how much time was being spent on certain tasks, helping her to reassign deferred projects. Amy and Chandra both agree that it is rewarding to see a project go past its purpose, and their project has certainly done that. 

Along with benefits and successes, there are also lessons learned and pieces of advice. Amy and Chandra emphasize that the project was a team effort and it brought everyone together; using change management helped the team be more transparent with each other and get on the same page to improve how they operated. Their biggest lesson learned is to “practice what they preach” by using change management internally on the team. Transition to the new process went smoothly, so this project was a huge example of how it can be successful. For people interested in carrying out a similar change, there is a bit of knowledge gained.  First, budget plenty of time. Bringing people along and helping people process change are things that cannot be rushed, so devoting time to go through every step of the process is crucial. Next, avoid overcomplicating things. Getting tangled up in the details can be dangerous, so following a basic understanding and trusting innate leadership skills will go a long way. As far as next steps, the team is reflecting on the successful outcome of their project and is interested in moving forward. They want to revive and reprioritize the change inventory in hopes that doing such will help them in selecting what to do next. Overall, Amy and Chandra both admit that they are glad they did the project because they have equipped themselves, as well as many other organizations, with appreciable capabilities.