Getting Started

Getting Started: How to Apply The Change Leader's Roadmap Methodology to Your Live Change Efforts

Introduction

With over 2000 pages of resources in The Change Leader's Roadmap Methodology, you may be asking yourself, "Where do I begin?" To address your most likely needs, we will explore the three most common uses of the methodology:

1.	Starting up a new change effort.

2.	Improve a change effort that is already underway.

3.	When you need specific information, guidance, or tools to strengthen your change support practices.

First, it will be easier to navigate the Methodology if you understand how it is structured

The Structure of The Change Leader's Roadmap Methodology

The Change Leader's Roadmap is based on a nine-phase change process model. The first three phases are devoted to up-front planning and setting the foundations for your success; the second three to designing your future state solution, and the last three to implementation—planning, design, and implementation—guiding you through the entire lifecycle of your change process.

The CLR Methodology is structured for ease of use. Each of its nine phases is comprised of between 1 – 6 activities, each of which is further broken down into between 1 – 12 tasks.

The work of the CLR Methodology is executed at the task level. Phases and activities are organizing constructs that make understanding the change process easier. Organizing by phases and activities also makes the tasks and their resources easier to find.

The resources that guide the execution of each task are found within the task they primarily support. Resources for each task include: (1) Work Steps, (2) Process Questions, (3) Potential Problems, (4) Info Sheets, (5) Tools (including Worksheets to execute the tool,) and (6) Articles that are pertinent to the task. Individual hot links to all of these resources can be found throughout the CLR Methodology wherever they are relevant.

Here is a diagram of the full breakdown. This chart will help you to navigate forward and backward in the Methodology.

Start with The Change Leader's Roadmap Checklist

The optimal way to use the wealth of information in the CLR Methodology is through The Change Leader's Roadmap Checklist. It includes all the phases, activities, tasks, and task deliverables of the nine-phase Change Leader's Roadmap. The Checklist provides you with an easy format for both planning and reviewing your status.

Begin by familiarizing yourself with how to use the Checklist. (See the sample page below.) The Activities, Tasks and Task Deliverables are listed down the center column. Each side of the page lists two columns, one set for planning and one set for status review. When you are in start-up mode, you will use the Planning columns on the left-hand side of the page. When you are applying the Methodology to a project that is already underway, you will use the Status columns on the right-hand side of each page.

We suggest that you print out the Checklist so that you can check the most important tasks you will include in your change effort's plan, whether for start-up or to expand your plans.

Now let's look at how to apply the Methodology for each of the three uses listed above.

Starting a New Change Effort

Getting the "Go Ahead" for Your Change Effort

1.	Clarify with your Sponsor how the decision will be made to give your change effort the "Go Ahead." You will need to take your planning far enough to fulfill the requirements of this decision-making process.

Engage the people who have the most current information about the intended change effort to do the initial planning work. Provide them with the CLR Checklist. If at all possible, have a knowledgeable change consultant work with you and your team to help guide your decisions about how to use the Checklist and start up your change effort.

Begin with the first two Activities of Phase I.

3.	The work in the first two activities of Phase I is very important. All of Phase I is important to your planning stage, but Activities I.A and I.B are relevant to every new change effort.

Activity I.A (Start Up and Staff Your Change Effort) and Activity I.B (Create the Case for Change and Determine Your Initial Desired Outcomes) include tasks for your start-up, such as getting a project briefing, staffing your change leadership roles, and clarifying your case for change and desired outcomes. Together, review the tasks of Activities I.A and I.B to select which tasks apply to your effort. For each task you select in the Checklist, go to that task online and print out the Work Steps, Info Sheets, and Tools that you will need.

Remember the guideline: Do as little of this work as possible, and as much as you need to succeed.

4.	With the appropriate people, continue to review, select, and print the tasks within each of the remaining Phase I activities that you know will need your attention. Give special consideration to the tasks in Activity I.E: Clarify Your Overall Change Strategy.

At the conclusion of the Phase I planning, you will then review the Phase II - Phase V activities and tasks to select the work you predict is required to move your change effort ahead. Take this planning as far as you can to satisfy the decision-making process for getting the "go-ahead" for your change effort.

When you undertake the work of a particular task in your plan, engage the right people for the work. Together, review the online information in that task to select the appropriate level of detail the group requires. The Work Steps may be sufficient, or you may need to review the Process Questions as well.

7.	Prior to using your printed Tool worksheets, determine how best to gather, refine, and manage the information—manually or electronically—as you proceed. Then apply the selected worksheets to your project.

Improving an Ongoing Change Effort

The CLR Methodology is directly applicable no matter where you are in your change effort. Your challenge, of course, is to figure out where in the nine phases and activities you currently are, bringing all relevant data to your application.

1.	Engage the appropriate people to gather all relevant information about the current status of your change effort. This may include change leaders, change consultants, project leads, change team members, or stakeholders. Provide them with the CLR Checklist booklet for this work.

There is a Tool in the Methodology called "Obtain a Project Briefing." It is found in Task I.A.I, Start-up and Staff Your Change Effort. Use it to help gather all relevant data about where your change effort is and what attention it now needs.

If the people working on this initial change audit have not been introduced to the 9-Phase Change Leader's Roadmap model, review it with them at a high level. Use the Status columns in the Checklist to determine which phases and activities you have already completed, which ones you are currently engaged in, and which you have skipped. If possible, do this at the task level.

3.	Then, using the Checklist, go to the phases you are currently working in. Review the tasks of all activities to determine which of them are relevant to your present work. Check these in the Status columns, either "Completed" or "Action Required."

Next, go to the phases and activities you have skipped and determine if you need to go back to any tasks and fill in these blanks. Check these in the Planning column "Need to Add." You would choose to do this if the tasks you skipped are causing problems for your change effort, or if they would obviously add to your success. When selecting this work, discuss how best to accomplish the work and how to integrate these actions into your current change plan.

Remember the guideline: Do as little of this work as possible, and as much as you need to succeed.

5.	Proceed to review the upcoming phases, activities, and tasks and select those most important to your change effort's success. Remember to select only the work that you must do to move your change effort ahead. Each task might be important, but not all are critical to every change effort.

6.	Compile your required tasks in a planning format that will work for your team.

Have your change consultant or project lead become familiar enough with the value of the various levels of guidance within each task so that the decisions becomes easier and clearer as you proceed. If you have not already done so, print the Tools for your real-time application.

8.	Prior to using your printed Tool worksheets, determine how best to gather, refine, and manage the information—manually or electronically—as you proceed. Then apply the selected worksheets to your project.

To locate Specific Information, Guidance, or Tools to Strengthen Your Change Support Practices

The CLR Methodology can be used to fortify your existing repertoire of change tools and approaches. Most organizations have many different practices to support their change agendas—strategic planning, change management, project management, quality, learning, organization development, and so on. You can search the Methodology to discover strategies, Tools, and Information Sheets that can expand your current practices. Identify key words or phrases of interest and use the online "Search" function to locate all of the relevant resources within the Methodology. Instructions for using the "Search" function are contained in the file, "How to Use the Methodology."

A Note about Mastering The Change Leader's Roadmap Methodology

Each time you use various Tools and Info Sheets in the Methodology, you will learn something important about their purpose and how to use them. We recommend that you keep a running log of your insights, preferences, or ideas for tailoring the tools and information so that they best serve your needs. Over time, you will learn the value of the entire Methodology and master how to use it to your advantage.