A US government organization was transitioning a group of over 1,500 unionized employees from their current “jack-of-all-trade” jobs into specialist roles. The employee transition was planned to take place over 3 months, beginning with role training, followed by onboarding and post-implementation support phases. To be successful, employees needed to understand their new roles and new processes, as well as how their roles related to the rest of the functions in the organization.
Moreover, many employees were long-tenured, performing jobs that had remained largely unchanged in the organization for over 30 years. As a result, a key first step was for leadership to build the case for change with the full workforce.
Development of the transition toolkit was informed by extensive data collection and analytics that had been used to select employees in their new roles. This included a time survey and competency survey which identified which responsibilities employees were performing today (and therefore which were new or unfamiliar), as well as the capabilities of employees in each skill area. This information helped to focus the specific messaging and content of the transition toolkit materials.
As WP&C had worked closely with leadership and key stakeholders to design the new operating model, we were uniquely prepared to create the transformation toolkit. Working with technical experts, WP&C developed materials to build the case for change, train employees on the technical aspects of their new role and provide reference materials to sustain execution after implementation. Key components of the toolkit included:
- Operating Model Overview: key characteristics of new model, the case for change, and expected benefits of the transformation
- Process Maps: detailed steps of critical and/or new processes which the role performed
- Day-in-the-Life: job tasks categorized by their daily, weekly, monthly frequency
- “Who do I Call?” Maps: key points of contact for each role
- Cultural Pillars: examples of how the new cultural tenets applied to each role
- Baseline Performance Standards: performance expectations for each role
- Data Governance Matrix: outline of the system data each role was responsible for maintaining and authorized to change
Next, WP&C reviewed and fine-tuned the materials with a group of over 60 government representatives in a 3-day “Validation and Verification” event. The government representatives assembled in one location to attend full-day review sessions specific to their functional expertise to provide feedback and approval of materials. Union representatives were part of the review to ensure their perspectives and any concerns were addressed in the material that would be used to transition the workforce.
After revisions were made, all materials were approved for delivery to the workforce. To maximize the efficiency of training deployment, WP&C developed a “Train-the-Trainer” approach. This involved WP&C training a cadre of select first line supervisors on the material which enabled the organization to train all employees on their new roles over a 90-day period.
To optimize the effectiveness of the organization transformation, WP&C recommended the following:
- Define the specific change management needs and objectives of the transformation; use these needs to purpose-fit the specific materials to be created
- Establish a process for developing the transformation materials, including the SMEs that will develop the content and governance over who will approve the final materials
- Pressure test the materials with a representative sample of personnel to ensure the materials are relatable and compelling
- Integrate the materials into a broader transformation roadmap; this includes the forum in which materials are introduced, the level of presenter that will deliver the materials, and accompanying messaging and talking points that will be communicated
