Workday change management considerations for medium enterprise

Top Workday change management considerations specifically designed for the medium enterprise

In the past, change management was viewed as “nice to have” but was ultimately sacrificed under budget pressures. However, with today’s ever-changing technology and employee expectations around consumer-grade experiences, more organizations are turning to change management programs to properly roll out new systems, processes or information to their employees. Change management can help you prepare your people and support them through this business, technical and organizational change.

Whether you are in the early stages of planning or already in the midst of a deployment, these considerations will help you determine the right change management solution for your organization and people.

1. What is change management?

Change management is the discipline of preparing your people and supporting them through the changes that will occur throughout your move to the cloud. It is focused on the people side of change by:

• Understanding what parts of the business are changing, who’s affected and what it means to them.
• Preparing employees, managers, HR, finance and IT to adopt Workday effectively through communications, engagement and training.
• Engaging and enabling key influencers and leaders to drive change.
• Determining and addressing where resistance to change exists or where change is most difficult.
• Measuring and mitigating risks.

2. How do I know if my change program is effective?

Effective change management offers the following benefits:

• Drives business results by changing behaviors.
• Minimizes disruption to employee productivity across all departments.
• Accelerates pace of change and realization of desired outcomes.
• Addresses and mitigates risk.

Throughout your deployment, it is important to collect feedback from employees across all levels and departments, have two-way dialogue with key individuals and groups and to use readiness assessments to understand whether actions are effective and mitigate risks. At launch, take advantage of data points, metrics of actual system usage and downloads of support materials to understand actual behaviors. Also, take advantage of calibrate continued support and communications.

3. How is a change management program for a Workday deployment different?

Change management is different in a Workday world. Traditional approaches must be tailored to account for these differences.

• Workday projects usually move quickly, so change management activities must be tightly coordinated with the deployment project team.
• Demonstrations are feasible throughout the project, reflecting real data and configurations – this speeds understanding and buy-in to key decisions.
• Mobile access is a big win across all populations.
• Data privacy considerations come into play when working with real data.
• Training solutions can be simple and are available on-demand, at point and time of need.
• Change is a constant; a sustainability strategy is essential to ensure the right people at your organization are prepared for future Workday releases.

4. What considerations should I keep in mind before developing a change management plan for my business?

• Communicate with HR as early and often as possible.
• Start communicating with managers and employees as you get closer to go-live.
• Establishing an extended change management team to locally-drive the change across your business is integral to success.
• Active and thoughtful stakeholder management is key.
• Determine how you will measure progress along the way and success at launch.
• Be sensitive to changes (real or perceived) to pay or pay communication for your employees.
• Educate leaders, executives and managers that Workday will help them be more informed so they are in a better position to make strategic business decisions.

5. Do I need a partner to help execute my change program?

An effective change program requires dedication from change management, functional and technical teams. In addition it requires a strong team of key stakeholders to see the program through in its entirety. Ensuring you have the proper support – whether internal, external or a mixture of the two – from the beginning will set you up for success to meet your business’ goals. Workday projects are fast and fluid; having the right partner with proven best practices and experience can help you stay on track and ensure your business is 100% confident that your Workday deployment will be a success.