Guide to Change Management and

Communications
Guidance for Project Managers

Matthew Rees
Regional Program Manager

1 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Change Management and Communications is
necessary for the country projects to succeed
• Program/project communication is an integral part of the
change process, aiming at creating awareness,
understanding and commitment
• Carefully planned communication is a prerequisite for
successful implementation of the change as stakeholders
need to know:
– What changes are being made, why they and being made and when
they are being made
– What impact this will have on them
– What they need to do both during and after the project
– How they can contribute to the project
• Communication is a dialogue - a continuous two-way
information flow is needed throughout the project

2 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Each project needs a local Comms Kit and a
Comms Plan to define the project communications
• The Comms Kit contains:
– The content of the messages that are to
be communicated Content

• The Comms Plan contains:

– The audience for those message, i.e. the Audience
different groups of stakeholders, each of
which may have different needs
– The timing of the communications, which Timing
may be once-off or regular, e.g. weekly
– The media, or channels, that will be used
for the communications, e.g. email or Media
workshop
– The style that will be used, e.g. the use of
NSN branding and the use of English
Style

3 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

This guide, with supporting documents, helps
project managers to deliver their communications
Global
Guide to Change Management

Comms
Kit Content
and Communications

Local
Comms
Comms Kit Audience
Kit
Template

Timing
Global
Comms
Plan
Media
Local
Comms
Comms Plan Plan
Style
Template

4 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The first step is to identify what changes are being
made in the country
• The Country Plan summarizes the changes that are being
made, which may include changes to:
– Fixed telephony, e.g. the availability of fixed lines to staff, allocation of
numbers and the facilities offered by the PBX (e.g. group pick-up)
– Mobile telephony, e.g. service provider, telephone numbers, tariffs
and call limits
– Ordering, e.g. new processes, new products and services
– Service charging, e.g. monitoring and allocation of costs
– Agreements, e.g.unbundling of calls and handsets
– Support, e.g. arrangements for delivering new SIM cards
– VoIP, e.g. local access numbers and 7 digit dialing
– Products and services used, e.g. voice conferenceing and handsets
– Usage policy, e.g. no barring or call limits
• It is also worth including things that could be expected to
change but which are not, e.g. some phone numbers
5 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007
Each change has stakeholders who are impacted
by the change and/or who can influence it
• Stakeholders who are impacted by the changes are usually:
– People who have changes to their telephony, e.g. new numbers
– People who use the modified processes, e.g. ordering and charging
– People responsible for maintaining information relating to voice
services, e.g. inventory management
• Stakeholders who can influence the changes are usually:
– <anagement in the country and the program
– Suppliers’ management
• Stakeholders who are both impacted by, and can influence
the changes, are usually:
– Users who need to change their behavior in order to deliver the
benefits
– Managers in the departments undergoing change
• Other stakeholders, such as all staff, need to be kept
informed even if they are not directly involved in the changes
6 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007
The changes and stakeholders are best identified
in a small workshop of 2 to 5 people
• Use the Country Plan as the basis for identifying what is and
what is not going to change.
• In order to identify all the stakeholders it may be necessary to
breakdown one change into a number of smaller ones. e.g.
ordering can be broken down into submit order, dispatch
order, confirm order and complete order.
• For each change, consider the impact on and the influence of
the users, their managers and any other parties involved.
• For each impact on each stakeholder, identify:
– The impact, i.e. what will the change be from their perspective
– The benefit, i.e. why will they think that this is a good idea

7 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Stakeholder mapping shows all of the project’s
stakeholders and their level of engagement

Commitment Ownership
Address concerns Active involvement required*
Impact of the project

2 3
1 2
Awareness Buy-in
Keep informed Some active involvement required

Influence on the project

8 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The Comms Kit documents the targeted messages
that are developed for each of the stakeholders
• These messages explain:
– What changes are being made, why they and being made Content
and when they are being made
– What impact this will have on them
– What they need to do both during and after the project Audience
– How they can contribute to the project
• Some of these messages will be copied directly Timing
from the Global Comms Kit, e.g. purpose of the
program
• Other messages will be specific to the country, e.g. Media
details of any changes to mobile subscriptions
• Further guidance on the content of the messages is Style
in the Comms Kit Template

9 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The next step is to build the Comms Plan that
shows how these messages will be delivered
• Audience is the different groups of stakeholders,
each of which may have different needs Content
• Timing is the communications schedule
• Media is the channel used to communicate, e.g. Audience
email or workshop
• Style covers presentational aspects like the use of
NSN branding and the use of English Timing

Media

Style

10 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The more involved the stakeholders are the
greater their commitments needs to be

Commitment scale

Resist change Understand Drive things

or disengage and support forward
2 4
1 3 5
Know or Care and
comply engage

11 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Different techniques are needed to get different
levels of commitment from stakeholders
Resist change Understand Drive things
or disengage and support forward
2 4
1 3 5
Know or Care and
comply engage

Telling

Selling

Consulting

Co-creating

12 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

These are some common communications
channels used in the company currently
• Telling
– Email
– Intranet
– Posters
• Selling
– Voice and web meetings
– Physical meetings, e.g. site meetings
• Consulting
– Meeting a small number of people face-to-face
• Co-creating
– Stakeholder workshops
– Joint working, i.e. business staff assigned to work on the project

13 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Care needs to be taken in choosing the
appropriate communication channels
• Try to use multiple approaches instead of relying on only one
approach
• Select the communication channels so that they are
appropriate for reaching the stakeholders in question
• Use existing channels, e.g. newsletters and staff meetings,
where appropriate as the process for delivering these is
already in place
• Face-to-face communications is the default media, whenever
possible. It’s the best way to communicate changes, as it
allows interaction
• Relying on written communication, such as email, is a poor
way to communicate change messages
• However, written communications are effective at conveying
basic information that gives stakeholders awareness

14 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The Comms Plan shows how commitment will be
changed for each stakeholder

Stakeholder
Plan
Program/Project:
Responsible for
the Communication Plan:
Prepared by:
Date:
Stakeholder Engagement Current Target Likely Objective of communication Content of Channel(s) Responsible Schedule Status
(1-3) state of state of response to information/ person
commitment commitment this change message (support
(1-5) (1-5) (+/ -) person)

CMT 2 2 3 = Get CMT to understand why Solution special NSN PM 17 Sept

this soultion has been chosen description meeting
and reason

15 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Things to consider when defining the schedule for
communication activities
• The need for some stakeholders to receive the messages
before others; typically this will be informing stakeholders who
influence the outcome before those that are impacted by it
• The schedule for existing communications that may either be
used by the project or make other demands of the recipients
• The schedule of global communications that may need to be
reinforced, or interpreted, locally
• Alignment to project milestones
• The need to repeat some messages to reinforce them
• Keeping people updated without overwhelming them with
information
• The amount of time needed to prepare the communications
activities, e.g. newsletters often have long lead times

16 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The Comms Plan shows the schedule for the main
communications activities in the country

Action
Plan
Schedule Comms activity (e.g. task, Target group of the Channel Deadline Responsible person Review / Status
message, info session) activity (support person) approval by

17.Sep CMT meeting CMT meeting 17.Sep NSN PM Nokia PM

21.Sep Announce NVCavailability All NSN staff email 21.Sep NSN PM Nokia PM

17 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

The way that messages are presented is important

• A written message should be clear and brief, answering to questions

what, why, who, when, how
– Key message (short, clear, simple)
– Schedules (as accurately as possible)
– What is expected from the recipient? (Do I need to do something?)
– Where to get instructions, advice and support (contacts)
– WHY – people won’t usually react unless they understand why something
needs to be done
• Send the message only to the people who really need to know/react to it
– Know your target groups before creating the messages
• Tone of the message should be objective, to the point and clear
– Avoid negative expressions (problem -> issue, challenge..)
• Open all abbreviations when you use them for the first time (ARP, PRM..)
– No technical jargon or unfamiliar terms should be used unless explained in the
message (e.g. LE accuracy, proxy server..)

18 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007

Summary of the Change Management and
Communications process
• Identify all the changes being made in the country by the
project
• Identify the stakeholder who are impacted by, or who can
influence, the changes
• Document all the messages that need to be delivered to
stakeholders in a Comms Kit, reusing material from the
Global Comms Kit as required
• Determine how to deliver each set of messages to each
group of stakeholders, taking account of the complexity of the
message and the degree of commitment required
• Summarize the communications activities in a Comms Plan
• Deliver the Comms Plan

19 Change Guide v0.6 / Matthew Rees / November 2007