Thoughts on Project Management

Changing the Minds of Employees in Finance

I was working with a mid-size professional services firm that was implementing a new financial system.  The CFO asked me to work with him to help him manage this project with his team, with a focus on managing communications and change. He had a project manager who would be managing the day-to-day of the project.

In initial conversations with the CFO, I learned the following:

• He was fairly new to the organization, only being with the firm for 9 months.
• The current financial system was outdated and did not support the firm as well as it had in the past.
• The finance and payroll team had longevity with the firm and, in fact, 4 of the staff members in finance and payroll actually helped to select and implement the current financial system a number of years ago.
• The CEO and others on the executive team supported this project and were excited that a new financial system was being put in place.

The CFO realized that simply because the executive team supported the project and were ready to change financial systems, it was not sufficient. He needed to buy-in from the financial and payroll team in order to ensure the move to the new system was a successful one. He also noted that the project was officially kicking off within a few months and he wanted to be sure that a good number of the finance/payroll team were on board – even if not all of them were.

Further conversations with the CFO revealed the following:

• While a decision had been made on a particular financial system, no decision had been made yet on specific components/features of the system.
• The CFO wanted his staff involved in determining changes to processes and procedures to increase efficiencies within the group.
• The CFO had discuss the upcoming financial system project at a department meeting and, while people didn’t actively resist, he noticed that staff, including his leadership team, were not entirely pleased with the idea.

Initial Meetings

We scheduled an initial department meeting with finance/payroll.  Our goal was to share initial information about the project with a focus on benefits to both the organization in implementing a new financial system and to the individuals in finance/payroll. We needed the group to understand what was impacting this change and how their support was needed to ensure the initiative was successful.  We also held a product demo so that the department members could see the new system “in action.”

The initial meeting went well; feedback was positive overall. The group understood the issues faced (the problem we were solving for) and seemed interested in the demo they saw. Some great questions came from the group!

We asked the group to spend some time digesting what they saw and heard in the meeting and that we would be setting up a subsequent meeting to talk further about the project and how we would like them to be involved. We asked them to put together any questions about the initiative that we could address at the next meeting.

The Second Meeting

The second meeting with the group was well attended, everyone made time on their calendar and attended the meeting. This was a good sign! We knew we still had a few resisters, but we also knew that they were interested enough to show up!

We took the first hour of the meeting to answer questions about the product being selected which had been submitted to us after the first meeting. We also knew there would be other questions that would arise. We had the vendor in attendance so that we could be sure to provide answers to all questions at that time and need no, or little, follow up. We knew that the quicker we could get people what they needed, the sooner we could increase their comfort level and move forward on the project.

After the demo at the first meeting, it was apparent that individuals in the room were excited about the possibilities of the new financial system. Certainly it would make their job easier and that was apparent to everyone. Even the individuals who implemented the system being replaced seemed excited, though we still knew we had to win them over.

Once all questions were answered, we focused our conversation on the need for participation on the project in a number of areas:

• Helping to determine exactly how the system will work for the organization (what features and functionality would be needed)
• Providing data necessary throughout the project
• Assisting in refining processes and procedures within the finance and payroll function
• Assisting in the design of the system and testing the functionality
• Helping to roll out the system and train end users

Everyone wanted to participate in some way; although we knew that some simply wanted to participate to maintain a feeling of control. That was fine with us. As long as we could get them to participate, we knew that we could eventually get them to come along and support the project. By participating on the project, they would feel that they had some control over what was happening rather than idly sitting by and waiting for the project to be rolled out.

We set up a preliminary resource grid as follows (shows key responsibilities):

Other members of the payroll and finance functions would also be involved in the project, participating as needed in meetings and workshops related to the new system rollout and supporting the core project team members. The individuals in the table above, however, would be actively involved in the project and participating on a day-to-day basis – they were members of the core project team. They represented a variety of backgrounds, experiences and longevity with the company.

In summary – our introductory meeting with these individuals enabled of us to begin to establish a working relationship with them and get them engaged in the project. This second meeting enabled for continuing that relationship building and getting members of finance and payroll involved in the day-to-day work of the project, thereby increasing their commitment to the project. We knew that as they began to work on the project, their commitment would continue to increase and they would become our project champions – engaging others in their functions in the project and pushing to its success.

Often clients tell me that one of the major disappointments from their organizational initiatives is that behavior doesn’t change. As one client told me, “The employees just go back to the old way of working; even if the new way is so much better!”

Every change requires a change in the behavior of people. We have to change any number of things – how we get work done, how we interact with clients, how we work together, how we process payments, etc.  This requires a change in behavior. If we launch a change initiative without considering what behavior has to change, it cannot be successful. When launching a change initiative, early on, determine if changing behavior will require providing training, enabling for a transition period, or ensuring involvement in making decisions about a new process. Certainly changing behavior requires sharing a vision of the future and the value of the initiative to the organization and also to the individuals within the organization.

Let’s look at an example: Abigail is leading a change initiative that will require Accounts Payable to change how they process invoices. The individuals doing the job now have been working with the current process for the last five years. While the current process has worked well, due to increased invoices needing to be processed it is essential that the process be refined to improve workflow and speed up processing. Over time the amount of days to process invoices has gone from 30 days to 45 days. New agreements with vendors require that the processing time for invoices is at 30 days’ or less or interest will be due.

Abigail knows that simply changing the process to be more efficient is not enough to ensure success in reducing the amount of time to pay invoices. She also has to figure out how to change the behavior of the individuals using the process currently so that the new process will be accepted and utilized. Abigail took this approach:

She invited all individuals within the Accounts Payable department to a meeting to share with them the following information:

• The reasoning behind the change initiative
• The benefits to making the change for both the organization as well as each of the individuals within Accounts Payable

And she asked the following question: Will they help her to accomplish the project and share their ideas, thoughts, suggestions as well as concerns for changing the process?

She then followed up with individual meetings to answer questions, address concerns and ensure they were on board with the initiative.

She also shared that:

• Training would be provided on the new process.
• Testing of the new process would be done with those who would be using the process after they were trained in the new process.
• There would be time to actually learn and use the new process early on before the old process was removed. This would enable for making any adjustments or “tweaks” before full rollout and implementation.

This time spent by Abigail reaching out to connect with each individual within Accounts Payable enabled her to build relationships with them and to begin to build trust. By getting them involved early on – and asking for their help – Abigail makes them part-owners of the project. By telling them what will happen before the new process is implemented, they begin to feel more confident that they will gain the skills and knowledge they need to continue to be effective in their role.

In summary, in order to change behavior and ensure a successful initiative, it is essential to get stakeholders involved very early on and keep them involved throughout the project. Their feedback, input, thoughts, ideas, suggestions and concerns will enable for a better project end result.

The success of business process improvement (BPI) projects relies on many factors, not the least of which is a strong and diverse BPI project team.

Consider any BPI project you have worked on in the past. Undoubtedly it touches any number of functions within the organization and requires support from throughout the organization in order to be successful. Your project team should be comprised of individuals representing all the key functions impacted by the BPI projects. These are your subject matter experts and their expertise in their particular functional area is required on the BPI project.

Build a strong and diverse project team by looking for team leads and team members who span:

• A variety of functional areas

• Have expertise in the areas impacted or affected by the BPI project

• Are diverse in their time within the organization, their experience and the type of work they do within the organization

The more diverse the team, the better the solution to the BPI project. You want the diversity of a variety of experiences, backgrounds and expertise in order to effectively design the “to be” process solution and trouble solve the variety of issues that will arise during the project implementation.

Once you have the team identified, hold a team kick off meeting to enable the team members to get to know each other and to collaborate on how they will work together. Use this time to determine roles and responsibilities of team members and how they will pass information and support each other on completing the work of the project. I find it always of value to have a team building activity which enables the team to begin to establish relationships with each other which in turn helps to build trust on the team.