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Articles
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May20
2020
Empathy mapping: a particularly valuable tool in times of crisis
Covid-19 has disrupted the workplace and upended routines in the blink of an eye. As governments relax lockdown measures, companies are pushed in the back to reshape the workspace in compliance with sanitary standards. For many employees, uncertainty translates into anxiety. Health concerns still loom large, but the sense of moving into unchartered territory can be equally unsettling. What will the atmosphere be like with less colleagues around, strict distancing rules and the compulsory wearing of masks? What if I am redeployed into a role? … The list goes on. Our partner PROSCI has drawn attention to empathy mapping[1] as an extremely valuable tool to navigate the “new normal”, by putting people first. Here is a way you could improve the response to the crisis. Mapping out thoughts and feelings. Empathy is the ability to understand another person´s feelings and experience. A visual and collaborative tool pioneered by ...
Written by
Renaud de Lombaert -
April28
2020
The 5 roles of Change Management in Agile.
What better way to wrap up this series on CM and Agile than to talk about the roles that structure change. Leaders and senior executives, CM practitioners, project teams, managers and frontline employees … all have to join forces to make change a tangible reality, yielding long-lasting results. In Agile, these five roles do not lose any importance, nor do they get redistributed, but they need to be adjusted. Again, Agile should be treated as a transformation in itself, one that adds an extra layer to the challenges attached to the change initiative. This article will help you identify focus points and trouble spots. Sponsors: the voice of change and … of Agile. You probably already know that, depending on how involved they are, sponsors can make or break the best initiative. Make sure that the ABC of sponsorship is taken good care of. In short, sponsors must ...
Written by
Vincent Piedboeuf -
April14
2020
Making the most of Prosci’s Five Levers in Agile.
Welcome back to our comprehensive series on Agile and CM! As we dig deeper into the practical aspects of integrating Change Management and Agile, now is the time to review the entire host of CM plans required to get the ball rolling. Here is everything you need to know to work your way around sprints and releases. Back to the basics: five levers of CM and ADKAR. With PROSCI’s five levers, the process of change is given flesh and bones. A robust sponsorship roadmap is critical to enable leaders to be the face and voice of change. A carefully crafted communication plan also ensures that the message is sent at the right time to the right people through the right channel. Further down the road, empowering managers and frontline employees through the transition will call for a proper coaching plan. Equally important is the training plan designed to ...
Written by
Vincent Piedboeuf -
March30
2020
How you keep people motivated, connected and disciplined in COVID-19 extreme circumstances.
When a client asked “How do we maintain a sufficient level of connection with our team members – working from home? And, how do we keep them motivated, involved and disciplined?”, we thought the answer could be of broader interest as we are all facing weeks of uncertainty, anxiety and confusion. These are characteristics of any major change. And all of them are at play these weeks – massively. As with any major change, we need to manage the transition. We need to take care of our health and the health of our business. And at the heart of both are people. People who are concerned and confused. But at the same time we are required to perform in an entirely new way to minimise the effects of Covid-19 on our business. But before I – for purely structural reasons – divide the question into social and business ...
Written by
Anna Balk-Møller -
March18
2020
We cannot discuss CM and Agile integration, unless we explain how ADKAR gets reconfigured in Agile. If you are already familiar with PROSCI’s ADKAR model, you will find out how it supports individual transitions in an incremental environment. If you aren’t, we’ve got you covered. This post gives you everything you need to know, from a detailed breakdown of ADKAR’s change sequence to a comparative overview of how it operates when coupled with waterfall and Agile approaches. ADKAR at a glance. At the organisational level, change is nothing other than the sum of successful individual transitions, which can be achieved in five steps. Skip one or leave people behind, and the whole initiative will be ruined. Fail to put the right “building block” at the bottom, and the change will be, at best, short-lived. A powerful tool that has gradually become the change model standard, ADKAR can ...
Written by
Vincent PIEDBOEUF -
February24
2020
“How to” integrate CM and Agile: adjusting the approach.
Change Management and Agile are grounded in symmetrical principles and deliver added value where they intersect. But integrating CM seamlessly in an Agile environment comes with some challenges as well. Our last post hashed out the main obstacles … and highlighted the payoff. It is now time to address practical issues. How should you adapt? What should you do differently? How does Agile affect the Change Management approach and the dialog between CM and PM? Without further ado, here are some guidelines, ranging from the broad to the specific. Overall… …develop an iterative approach to Change Management. In other words, focus on the core methodology and key components, leaving room for adaptations. Make sure to execute on activities that deliver maximum value, and put responsiveness first. You might want to redefine success metrics as you go and test new approaches (more on this below). Of course, operating ...
Written by
Vincent PIEDBOEUF -
February10
2020
“How to” integrate CM and Agile: what you need to know before starting.
In our first instalment, we reviewed the set of values and principles common to both Agile and Change Management. Because many Change Management assumptions and standards find an echo or are mirrored in Agile, both disciplines can work in synergy to deliver extra value. But how exactly should you integrate Change Management and iterative project development? And how different is the approach to managing the people side of change in an Agile environment with respect to one running on Waterfall methods? Here is everything you need to know before starting, from the impact of Agile on Change Management to key success factors and obstacles[1]. 1. How do iterative methods impact Change Management? The answer is pretty straightforward: Change Management must itself become iterative, aligned with sprints and releases. It is only logical that Change Management plans should be turned into, say, “provisional by design” documents. The hardest part ...
Written by
Vincent Piedboeuf -
January28
2020
Change has a new name: Nexum Group
Nexum and proacteur join forces to leverage strengths and support world leading brands in their change management capability across Europe and North Africa. Merger deal signed between Nexum and proacteur, both major Prosci affiliates in Continental Europe and in North Africa. Capital increase courtesy of a new equity partner, Profinpar. Newly formed Nexum Group now prepared to support Europe’s and North Africa largest and smallest clients. Combining international reach with local expertise in most Western European languages. Seamless transition guaranteed for existing Nexum and proacteur clients with same level of service and single point of contact. Merger to strengthen market impact according to Prosci, the company behind leading change management methodology, ADKAR. Brussels, 28 January 2020 – Nexum and proacteur, two of Europe’s largest and most experienced change management consultancies have today joined forces to become the leading player in Europe and North Africa: Nexum Group. ...
Written by
Nexum Group -
January14
2020
Change Management & Agile Series: Exploring Common Values and Principles.
You are all familiar, at least to some extent, with “Agile”. Iterative development methods have been around for almost four decades. The Agile Manifesto itself was formalised at the turn of the millennium. Originally targeting software development, Agile has grown to become a discipline in its own right, based on a set of values and principles. But how does it articulate with Change Management, the discipline that seeks to maximise adoption and usage of change(s)? Agile clearly finds an echo in Change Management through common values and symmetrical principles. This certainly enables Change management to be an effective method to move to Agile or navigate Agile projects. In fact, we could say that the two disciplines are coextensive, delivering increased value where they intersect. This series of 6 articles offers an in-depth exploration of the intersection between Agile and Change management, down to the nuts and bolts of how to ...
Written by
Vincent PIEDBOEUF