The Initiation Phase
Transformational Change Cycle & CRM

Remember - whether it’s a new or upgraded CRM system, a drive to get more out of existing technology or even a change in the philosophy of CRM for the company – it all requires change management. One thing is certain, any ‘change’ incurs certain challenges at certain stages, requiring pre-empting and understanding of these (challenges) and the techniques required to overcome them.

 

In the previous article, we introduced the ‘Transformational Change Cycle’ as a way of depicting what happens to organisations when they are faced with change. This was a fairly generic model – in this article we want to relate it more specifically to CRM and focus on the Initiation Phase.

In the Initiation Phase of the transformational change cycle, some form of dissatisfaction occurs as a result of internal or external forces, resulting in a change in the vision and values of the organisation. The tension for change must overcome the desire to stay with the status quo in order for change to be initiated. Even once the decision to change has been made there will be a strong desire by many people within the organisation to remain with the status quo. This only disappears when everyone has accepted the action which occurs three phases later (see figure 1 below).

It must also be understood by those implementing any change that Emotional Resistance to change is the hardest to deal with. This relates to the ‘feelings’ and ‘emotions’ that people have, Rational Resistance relates to ‘facts’ and ‘lack of knowledge’.

Emotional Resistance

Emotional Resistance is an emotional and physiological reaction to change. No matter what the scale of change, some or all of these will be experienced. It is based on fear: people fear that change will result in a loss of face, friends, and even their jobs.

• A loss of power or control
• A loss of status
• A loss of face or respect
• Feelings of incompetence
• A fear of isolation or abandonment
• Panic and frustration
• Exhaustion because of too much change
• Rational Resistance
• A lack of information
• Disagreement with the idea itself
• Lack of exposure to the idea
• Confusion about the information provided

Managing change, however, does not just relate to this often termed ‘touchy feely’ stuff. It relates to managing the whole impact of this change on people, their roles, processes and outcomes they and the system produce.

It is about maximizing the impact of the decision to change sooner rather than later for maximum organisational, ‘profitable’ benefit.

If you think that change management is for or carried out by ‘softies’, get over it! Those organisations and those people who manage change have to walk the tightrope between the carrot and the stick. They understand and deal with the resistance both through education and support but they also implement firm drivers to ensure that the change required to deliver maximum benefit happens. This often involves processes that can be viewed as ‘policing mechanisms’. However, if you are not prepared to ‘inspect what you expect’ then abandon any hope of getting the expected returns. Maybe not ... maybe the expectations are low enough to be achieved, ... this does not, however, provide a maximisation of your investment.

So, onto CRM and the Initiation phase – consider figure 1.

A decision to change is made. This decision is to implement CRM. This should however only be made after careful consideration that your strategic initiatives and goals are going to be achieved through the implementation of CRM or a new CRM philosophy.

So before jumping into CRM, understand it, ensure that it is the right thing to do for your organisation:

• Define your strategic CRM objectives, goals and vision.
• Analyse, refine, change or define processes required to achieve those objectives and goals.
• Understand all data requirements needed to achieve those objectives and goals.
• Understand the people requirements in terms of skills and changes they will need to make in order to achieve those objectives and goals.
• Understand and identify potential hurdles to achieving those objectives and goals.
• Last, but not least, what technology will enable these CRM objectives and goals to be achieved.

These are not things that can be easily understood or identified by most organisations so get some expert help as it will pay dividends in the long run.

In our experience it is often here that companies let themselves down. Often the decision to implement a CRM system is a decision taken without very much forethought about how it will affect the overall strategy of the organisation, the everyday processes within the organisation and, in particular, the resources that carry out those daily processes - the people. More often than not we have found the vision of CRM, and what it is going to take to succeed, to be fragmented in understanding amongst senior management. They each have their ownviews on what CRM means and these are either formally or informally thrust on the people whom work for, or who are influenced by these senior managers. The result is a completely inconsistent, multi faceted organisational ‘vision’ of what CRM is and how it affects the business. This leads to confusion and chaos as the understanding of what is required to make CRM a success and why, is collectively misunderstood.

To get it right it is important not just to have senior management sign off on the technical aspects of what they ‘believe’ is trying to be achieved, but to get them to sign off on what their collective vision for CRM is, including how it relates to the organisations’ overall strategy. They need to collectively understand and agree the way forward for implementing or enhancing the CRM strategy with a clear appreciation of what change management is going to be required to make it a success. Most importantly they have to be committed to not only signing the cheques but ‘walking the talk’ when it comes to demonstrating their support of the CRM initiative.

To get the ball rolling, start with a workshop for senior management, something like – “What is CRM to this business and what is it going to take to make it successful?”

The outputs of this 3-4 hour workshop should be:

• A clear understanding of what CRM means to the organisation
• A high level CRM strategy articulation
• A CRM vision for the organisation
• An understanding of the hurdles that are going to be encountered in attaining the vision including what their responsibilities are going to be
• A high level initiation of the measures to be used in gauging performance to CRM objectives
• The development of the Steering Committee and the Project Team

Once the CRM objectives, goals and vision have been developed and understood by all senior management personnel, start the communication process with the rest of the organisation to begin to deal with and help overcome both Rational and Emotional resistance. You need to be able to relate what the roll out of CRM technology is going to mean to your business and how it is going to affect the overall performance of the business.

Following this it is important for the Project Team to start developing the CRM journey map or plan. This will include:

Translating the strategic requirements into bite size tactical initiatives – do not try the big bang approach; get some runs on the board first with achieving the most critical requirements first and building on this success.

Mapping requirements

Start at the end and move backwards. Start with the desired outcome, data requirements, process enhancements (changes or new introductions) and the impact on people and their roles. If you cannot clearly describe how the desired outcome is going to be used to manage the business through a formal process, ask yourselves why do it at all?

Technical partner selection Choose partners not just suppliers as CRM is a journey, it is an ongoing initiative so be sure your technology is supplied by an organisation that not only has the technology now but a vision for the future that closely aligns with yours. Change and communication How is it going to be managed on an ongoing basis and does the organisation possess the skill sets (and dedicated focus) to continue to get the most out of the system from a people, process and technology point of view?

Develop Performance Measures for the CRM journey, including:

• The technical development and implementation
• The CRM system performance
• The impact on the business – efficiency and effectiveness
• The users - inputters and report runners
• The customer – how has the CRM journey impacted them
• The ‘partners’ – how have they performed to expectations

Summary

The Initiation phase is the first station on your CRM journey. It is here that you need to ensure that the engine is adequately serviced and fuelled, the coaches are all strongly coupled to each other, the drivers know what is required and the journey path has been signed off by the appropriate authorities. Once you have all of this in place it is time to leave the station and begin to pick up your passengers.

All Aboard!!!