Organizations have evolved to become leaner, more diverse and more far-reaching. We no longer have typical work environments where the individuals you interact with or service exist within a building or even a similar geography. There are also laws and regulations that require compliance and affect an even larger group of individuals. Given this change in dynamic, it is becoming increasingly challenging to identify who and where your company is reaching and how best to interact with your stakeholders. As the pace of change increases, how do organizations ensure that those impacted by change are identified and addressed?

Leverage Data

HRIS data is a powerful tool. Leveraging technology such as Workday or Oracle allows you to identify up to date hierarchies, workstreams and relationships between stakeholders. Starting your stakeholder analysis from a data-driven perspective allows change managers to come to the table with a factual jumping off point and continue to have current information on stakeholders and their relationships. From there, they can minimize the time commitment required to identify stakeholders and build out a solid starting roster for the change program. This data also helps to ensure that as the program progresses, they can access data at any time to help ensure they are engaging with the right people.

Engage All Levels of The Team

Effective change agents are critical in identifying who their direct and indirect stakeholders are. Usually they’re identified and assigned by a combination of program leadership and the change manager. They provide insight into who will be affected by a program and who the main points of contact for those groups are. However, they may not necessarily be familiar with the day to day activities of individuals on their teams – who they talk and interact with regularly, etc. What can often be overlooked is the secondary groups who may also be impacted by a change. Are there contacts that an individual or group interacts with on a frequent basis, or a regulating body that would influence a program? Asking these questions of people at all levels will help to minimize overlooking impacted groups and ensure your stakeholder list is representative of all affected individuals.

Optimize Your Engagement Tactics

We understand that it’s not always possible to meet face to face. We now live in a more virtual world than ever before. However, people still want connection and a huge part of the change process is creating a bond with individuals who will be impacted by your program. This provides them with a level of comfort needed to open up and discuss their job process. This leads into questions and answers that are invaluable to a change manager – you are better able to understand what touchpoints they have within or outside their organization to identify other potential stakeholders and gain insight into the level of potential change they will need to undertake. Using multiple communication channels and technologies allows for a more impactful and engaging relationship.

Continue the Conversation

The change process is not linear and requires frequent feedback from leadership and team members. As a change is put into place, additional stakeholders may be identified who were not part of the original change plan. The implementation process should enable dialogue with those being affected so that as change occurs, feedback channels are in place and continuously utilized. This includes ensuring a transition plan exists once the change manager rolls off the program so that this feedback continues to be heard. Changes that were either unanticipated at the start of the program or new outside changes that affect additional stakeholders need to be continuously evaluated to help ensure the program is and remains successful.

What other methods have you used to identify who your project will impact? Continue the conversation with our team today!