Leading Change Guide - Department of Communities, Child ... Web viewThink about your organisation’s strategic goals ... but the challenge is in communicating what the NDIS ... up

Leading Change GuideLeading clients through service changes

24 June 2016

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Leading clients through service changesLeading Change Guide | 24 June 2016

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Contents

1 Introduction to leading clients through service changes...................................................................3

2 Defining your objectives....................................................................................................................5

Step 1 – Interpret and frame the change.....................................................................................................6

Step 2 – Understand the impacts and planning to address them................................................................9

Step 3 – Prepare the organisation for change............................................................................................11

Step 4 – Prepare clients for the change......................................................................................................13

Step 5 – Implement the change..................................................................................................................18

Step 6 – Sustain the change........................................................................................................................20

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1 Introduction to leading clients through service changes

Overview of the resource

Why is it important that I do this right?

Leading change effectively minimises change-related risks by actively looking to give the stakeholder a voice in the change and responding directly to their concerns.

What is the output of this tool?

This tool will support you in understanding the impacts of the change and planning for them, as well as lead you through the process of preparing, implementing and sustaining the change.

How do I use this tool?

The tool takes you through five steps to leading your organisation and participants through service changes, supported by templates and other resources.

What is leading through service

changes?

Managing the introduction of new or modified services in an active way that makes stakeholders a partner to the journey.

What is leading changes in service design?Many organisations providing services to people with a disability under the NDIS will find themselves making changes to their existing services in some way. Managing these changes well is essential to realising the intended benefits. Leading change is an active process. It involves reaching out to your clients, workforce and other stakeholders and making them a partner to the journey.

Why is it important?All major changes involve some dip in performance for an organisation, during which clients, employees and other stakeholders are looking to understand what it means for them and learning how things work under new arrangements. Where this change is managed passively or not at all, stakeholders can be left confused and anxious by conflicting information. This is where organisations risk damaging their relationships with stakeholders.

Leading change effectively minimises these risks by actively looking to give the stakeholder a voice in the change and responding directly to their concerns. It demonstrates that the organisation cares about the stakeholder as an individual and communicates a commitment that the organisation is working to make things better for them.

What is the output of this tool?This tool will support you in understanding the impacts of the change and planning for them. It will also lead you through the process of preparing, implementing and sustaining the change by engaging with your clients, employees and other stakeholders.

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This tool provides guidance and templates on each step of the process. After using the tool you will have:

Framed the change and its impacts on your different stakeholder groups

Developed a change management and execution plan

Communicated the change to your employees

Identified and prepared employees to help you engage clients and other stakeholders

Put in place measures to evaluate and sustain the change.

How do I use the tool?The tool takes you through six steps to leading your organisation and participants through service changes. In each step guidance is provided to assist you. The steps you will undertake are detailed below.

Pre-work Step 1

Defining your objectives

Interpret and frame the

change

Step 2

Understanding the impacts

and planning to address them

Step 3

Preparing the organisation

for the change

Step 5

Implement the change

Step 6

Sustain the change

Step 4

Preparing clients for the

change

The tool isn’t intended to be completed in one-go. You should take time to do research, talk to your colleagues, seek help where you need it and review what you have done.

When do I use the tool?Use the tool when you are ready to prepare to launch the change. You should have a clear understanding of the change, as well as how it will impact both your organisation and different stakeholders.

What do I need to know before using this tool?This tool is appropriate for people and organisations regardless of their level of experience with leading, managing and implementing change. It doesn’t assume experience in change management and provides guidance throughout.

Before using the tool, think about the following.

1. Think about your organisation’s strategic goals and direction: Before using the tool you should have a strong understanding of your businesses’ service offering and strategic direction. If you are unsure what your strategic direction is, refer to Tool 1 – Understanding your local market and the NDS guidance document on strategic planning .

2. Gather existing information on client perceptions: You will also need to understand your client’s perceptions of your services. This can be from formal engagement with clients by using Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want or from existing surveys and feedback from clients.

3. Research and collaborate with others: You will likely need to do some external research to complete the tool. You will also likely need to collaborate with others- consider colleagues and stakeholders that can make valuable contributions.

4. Take your time and review: Don’t plan on completing the tool in one-go. Work through the tool at your own pace. Set aside a few hours to first go through the tool and then revisit the tool later and revise what you have done.

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http://www.nds.org.au/asset/view_document/979318268


2 Defining your objectivesSuccessfully leading through change requires a clear understanding of your vision is for the future. This means knowing what is changing, why it is happening, and how outcomes will be better for it. To achieve this, the leader of the change needs to have a detailed understanding of how the change will impact the organisation and its stakeholders, including staff and clients. That knowledge provides the foundation for building the commitment and collaboration required to see the change through.

Before you start working with this tool, you will need to have a detailed understanding of the following:

What specific service changes you are making and what you are hoping they will achieve for your organisation. If you have not considered these issues, Tool 1 – Understanding your local market and Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want can assist you with this.

What impacts these changes will have on your organisation from a financial point of view. If you have not considered this, Tool 4A – Gauging financial impacts of service changes can assist you with this.

What impacts these changes will have on your organisation’s direction, market position, workforce and supporting arrangements. If you have not considered this, Tool 4B – Gauging non-financial impacts of service changes can assist you with this.

How you will be looking at launching and promoting these changes to participants and the wider market. If you have not considered this, Tool 5 – Marketing services under NDIS can assist you with this.

To target your efforts in leading change, we recommend that you think about what parts of the service lifecycle are impacted by the proposed service changes. Reflect on the below table to consider what stage in this lifecycle you are currently at. This should then inform your thinking in filling out the tool.

Table 1: Service lifecycle

What parts of the service lifecycle are impacted by the proposed service changes?

We have developed new ideas for services to effectively meet current and future clients’ needs.

We have a number of new services or existing services. We want to select which services will best meet client's needs.

We have modified an existing service. We are going to implement the modified service.

We have partnered with another organisation to deliver a service. We are going to implement the partnered service.

We are going to deliver our services to client groups we don’t currently work with.

We are going to introduce a new service.

Service generation

Not generally relevant to service

change.

Service selection

Not generally relevant to

service change.

Service modification:

existing services

Service modification:

Partnering

Service introduction:

New client groups

Service introduction:New services

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Step 1 – Interpret and frame the changeStep 1 focuses on interpreting and framing the change and building a case for change that will be a reference for all change activity. A specific focus of this step is doing an in-depth exploration of the different impacts on your various stakeholder groups.

You will be working with the following templates in the corresponding pack:

Template A – The case for change

Template B – Understanding impacts for specific stakeholder groups.

Overview

Why is it important that I do this step

right?

Change can only be successful when everybody involved in the change understands the rationale for it and supports the direction being taken.

What information do I need?

An understanding of the reasons for the change. Consider using Tool 1 – Understanding your local market and Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want to build an evidence base.

What does this step involve?

Interpreting and framing the change by building a case for change that will be a reference for all change activity.

What is the output of this step?

An agreed case for change and vision will be a reference for all change activity, and is particularly important for communications.

What does this step involve and why is it important?Successful change requires a common understanding of why the changes need to happen and what the vision is for the future. This is because to bring about change an organisation needs more than the usual effort, commitment and collaboration from its people. This can only be created when everybody involved in the change understands the rationale for it and supports the direction being taken.

Also, change is not one-size-fits-all. Each change has different objectives, stakeholders, challenges and opportunities. Knowing what is important to all stakeholders versus what is of particular interest to specific groups is key to your framing and communication efforts.

Output of this stepThe output of this step is an agreed case for change and vision that will be a reference for all change activity, and will be important for communications. The case for change and vision defines what the change means for all key stakeholder groups and what benefits it will deliver to them. After finishing this step, you will have a case for change (Template A) and you will understand the impacts of change for specific stakeholder groups (Template B).

Sources of informationBefore the case for change and vision are prepared, the reasons for the change will have been identified. The reason for change could be a new strategic direction or a new business initiative. These will have typically been identified through a business performance review, diagnosis process or a business case.

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If you have not identified the change using these processes, consider using Tool 1 – Understanding your local market and Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want to build an evidence base for change.

Things to think aboutWhat do all stakeholders need to know about the change?

What is the change? A successful change starts with a concise and compelling statement that defines the change for others and what has triggered it. It frames the problem, the change and the vision for the future. This should include:

1. The problem. The problem statement brings stakeholders up to speed on the events that have led the organisation to needing to make a change. They need to feel not only that the problem needs to be fixed, but that it needs to be fixed urgently. The NDIS is a clear driver here, but the challenge is in communicating what the NDIS means for your organisation specifically.

2. The change. The goal is to have people understand the solution to the problem in a compelling way. At this stage, the solution is an overview. For example, the solution could be introducing a new service that has three key features that will solve the problem.

3. The benefits. This statement brings the problem and change together, giving stakeholders confidence that the change will successfully address the problem. For example, you could state that a modified service will result in higher customer satisfaction scores, which means we are more likely to retain our current clients.

Why are we changing? In building the case for change, focus on both the rational and emotional side of change. The rational side of change is about identification of ‘hard’ or tangible improvements, focusing on actions and evidence. The emotional case for change is about addressing emotional resistance. It can create personal commitment and creating change champions and ‘believers’ in the change.

Build a case for change and vision for the future by both…

Engaging the head

Logic and rationale

Understand the need for change

through…

in order for people to…

Engaging the heart

Emotion

Feel the need to change

Being compelling in the emotional case for change depends on understanding in which part of the organisation each stakeholder group is especially invested. Demonstrating how the change helps preserve or enhance those points of investment (or reduces threat to them) is key to making an emotional connection and giving stakeholders a personal stake in the change. Using Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want will be able to help you identify these points.

When will it happen? It is important to provide stakeholders with a realistic timeframe for the change, including any next steps. They will be especially interested in when they will be personally impacted by the change.

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What will be of interest to specific stakeholders?

How do I identify my stakeholders? Effectively communicating with stakeholders and participants requires you to have a strong understanding of what matters to them. Stakeholders to your change will broadly fall into one of four categories:

Participants – Individuals who use your services. For the purposes of this exercise, it might also include their families, guardians and caregivers.

Workforce – Individual employees and/or volunteers at your organisation who directly deliver services or support those who do.

Partners – Individuals representing organisations for which you deliver services, or who deliver services to you. It may also include key suppliers.

Others – Other individuals you may identify that have a strong interest in your organisation, but who are not part of one of the above categories.

How do I find common ground between participants? All your clients are individuals who will have different needs from your services. However, segmenting your clients into groups acknowledges that customers are not homogenous whilst ensuring that you can effectively tailor your communication efforts to key groups. This segmentation might be done on the basis of characteristics such as the service they use, their age, disability type and location. Further guidance on segmentation is available in both Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want and Tool 5 – Marketing services to clients.

How do I understand what parts of the change will impact each stakeholder group? Each of the stakeholder groups will be impacted differently by changes. Where some stakeholders may see benefits for themselves, others will see risks to their relationship with your organisation. To understand the impacts on individual stakeholders, your will need to either have conducted previous stakeholder consultation activities or be quite certain you understand their perspectives. For each group, you will need to consider:

What elements of the change have the biggest impact on them? This will typically be one or more of the following factors: Scope of service delivered; price, location, communication, people and relationships; delivery process; and physical evidence.

What parts do they see as a positive change?

What parts do they see as a potentially negative change?

What is our key message for them? Or, having considered all this, how do we play up the positives and make them feel better about the negatives?

If you don’t have this information, consider using Tool 2 – Understanding the services clients want as a potential source.

What do I do with this information?By the end of this step, you have the consistent messaging which you can use to communicate with all stakeholders throughout the change and tailored messaging for each stakeholder group. You will use this information to build the change communications to your stakeholders.

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Step 2 – Understand the impacts and planning to address them

Step 2 builds the change management and execution plan. It takes your knowledge of how the change will impact your organisation and its stakeholders, considers what actions need to be done to prepare and provides a template for assigning accountability.

You will be working with Template C – Change management and execution plan in the corresponding pack.

Overview


right?

To deliver the best results with the least waste, investment in change activities should be planned and targeted at what is needed to deliver the change objectives.


A clear view on what aspects of the organisation are directly and indirectly impacted by the change. Consider using Tools 4A, 4B – Gauging impacts of service changes and Tool 5 – Marketing services under NDIS.


Identifying what activities are required to execute the change and building the change management and execution plan.


Change and execution plan will detail how the change will be rolled out, including engagement activities for the most critical stakeholders.

What does this step involve and why is it important?To deliver the best results with the least waste, investment in change activities should be planned and targeted at what is needed to effectively manage change. This is achieved by defining the change approach up front, with particularly emphasis on how the most important stakeholders will be managed throughout the process.

Output of this stepThe change and execution plan will detail how the change will be rolled out, including engagement activities for the most critical stakeholders, controls and expected outcomes. This should act as a guide for all future activities.

Sources of informationTo identify key activities, you will need to have a clear view on what aspects of the organisation are directly and indirectly impacted by the change. To help identify these impacts, consider using:

Tool 4A – Gauging financial impacts of service changes

Tool 4B – Gauging non-financial impacts of service changes

Tool 5 – Marketing services under NDIS.

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Things to think about Communicating with stakeholders – What do I tell them? You will have to communicate the

change to each of your stakeholders. So communicating to each stakeholder group becomes a significant activity in the change plan. The important part at this stage is flagging the communication activities in the change plan; the remainder of this tool will take you through the process of how to achieve this.

Financial impacts – What do I need to do to prepare for change? New and/or changed services will almost certainly have financial implications for your organisation. These might be minor such as changes to budgeting or may be more significant such as accessing capital. The template proposes a couple of activities that you may wish to consider, however, you may wish to add additional items based on your circumstances.

Non-financial impacts – What do I need to do to prepare for change? As with financial impacts, new and/or changed services will almost certainly have implications for your wider organisation. These will fit under five main categories: strategic direction; place in the market; workforce; operational enablers; and capital assets. The template proposes a couple of activities that you may wish to consider under each of these categories; however, you may wish to add additional items based on your circumstances.

Marketing – What do I need to do to launch the change? Marketing implementation is the process that turns a marketing plan into action and ensures that the plan is executed in a manner that meets the goals of the marketing plan. These activities will need to be defined and scheduled ahead of launching the change.

Who is responsible for each of these activities? You will be playing a key role in executing the change as a leader in the organisation. Depending on the scale of the change and requirements of specific activities, you should consider who else in your organisation (or your broader stakeholder network) can contribute. For the communication activities, you might look at individuals who have high influence with specific stakeholder groups, such as the employees who directly provide the services to a specific participant group. In the case of financial, non-financial and marketing activities, there may be a clear owner within your corporate staff who is best placed to lead a specific activity.

What do I do with this information?The change plan becomes your guide for executing the change and ensuring all necessary activities take place. The remainder of the tool will assist you with the execution of the engagement and communication activities.

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Step 3 – Prepare the organisation for change Step 3 is focused on communicating the change to your workforce. It will also focus on identifying and skilling-up a network of employees to help you spread the word to participants and other stakeholders.

You will be working with Presentation A – Preparing for change in the corresponding slide deck.

Overview


right?

Timely and accurate communication to your workforce is critical to successful change. An informed and engaged employee group can also help communicating the change beyond your organisation to participants and other stakeholders.


The case for change and tailored messaging developed in Step 1.The change plan developed in Step 2.


Communicating the change to your workforce. Identifying and skilling-up a network of employees to help you spread the word to participants and other stakeholders.


Consistent employee understanding, support, and commitment to change. It will also identify the correct messengers and prepare them to play their role in engaging participants and other stakeholders in the change.

What does this step involve and why is it important?Timely and accurate communication to your workforce is critical to successful change. Staff need to be kept aware of where the organisation is going, what the changes will look like, how it will affect them, and what they need to do to contribute. This will maintain a sense of trust in the process. In the absence of information, staff will become anxious and generate rumours which can in turn create unnecessary change resistance.

An informed and engaged employee group can also help communicating the change beyond your organisation to participants and other stakeholders. This goes beyond a scale issue; sometimes it will be members of your workforce that have the credibility to act as change ambassadors. For example, employees that deliver services to participants are likely to have trust and rapport that is difficult to match. Identifying the right messengers, being clear about what is expected of them and giving them the right tools is critical to getting this part of the change right.

Output of this stepThis step will provide employees a voice in the process, and also result in widespread understanding, support, and commitment to change.

It will also identify the correct messengers and prepare them to play their role in engaging participants and other stakeholders in the change.

Sources of informationThe major inputs to this step are:

The case for change and tailored messaging developed in Step 1

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The change plan developed in Step 2.

Things to think aboutHow do I communicate to my workforce?

How do I communicate the change to my employees? Staff typically prefer their direct line manager to tell them about changes that will affect them in a tailored, localised way. They ideally want this to be done through a face-to-face conversation. This is the communication channel that best reassures staff that the business values them and cares about the impact the change is having on them.

What do I tell them? You will have developed the general case for change and targeted messaging for your employees in Step 1. Use this material as the basis of your conversation. Provide opportunity for questions and be honest where you don’t yet know the answers. Also, consider providing key messages in a document for them to consider later.

How do I identify and upskill a network of change messengers within my workforce?

How do I identify and recruit my messengers? You will be looking for individuals who have influence and rapport with the stakeholder group with whom you are looking to communicate. These can be formal leaders or informal leaders.

Formal leaders - Formal leaders are those who your stakeholder group will see as a recognised authority due to their role. For participants, this might be the employee who delivers their services. For a partner, it might be the person who manages the relationship with them.

Informal leaders – Other options to consider might be those within your organisation who you believe will be able to connect people and make a compelling case for change. Regardless of role, they will be those recognised as good communicators and quick rapport builders.

How do I prepare them to communicate on my behalf? Steps 1 and 2 have prepared the content of the message. However, even with this in place, communicating change on behalf of the organisation will not be a natural exercise for many of your employees; many will require some capability development to be effective in this role. There are four areas that your employees will require support in understanding:

The basics of change management

The major impacts of the NDIS

The organisation’s response and how it will impact its stakeholders

How to have a conversation about change.

We have developed a basic training resource, Presentation A – Preparing for change, to assist you in building employee capability in these areas. You will need to alter the content to suit your specific context and the level of knowledge of your employees.

What do I do with this information?Your employees have been briefed on the change and your messenger network is in place. In the next step, your employees will communicate with participants and support your clients in preparing for their planning sessions with the NDIA.

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Step 4 – Prepare clients for the changeStep 4 is focused on communicating the change to your clients and supporting them to prepare for their planning session with the NDIA.

You will be working with Template D – Personal planning in the corresponding pack.

Overview


right?

For clients, getting a plan that allows them to achieve their life objectives, by matching their plan to these needs.For providers, staying close to our participants to ensure that we have a realistic picture of our engagement with them into the future, to support business planning and client retention


An understanding of the client process for getting started under the NDIS.


Assisting clients in preparing for significant change to their services and how they access them.


A plan for assisting clients in preparing for a transition into the NDIS.

What does this step involve and why is it important?In transitioning into the NDIS, clients will face significant change in how they will interact with providers and the system. This step involves consideration of the things providers can do to better assist clients to prepare for the change. To achieve an environment with better outcomes for the client and providers, it is critical to provider support leading into this transition period.

For clients, the transition is important so that they get a plan that matches their needs and life objectives.

For providers, managing the transition fosters the goodwill and trust of clients and provides a realistic picture of our future engagement with them. Therefore preparing clients for the change is likely to improve client retention and strengthen business planning.

Output of this stepThe output of this step is a plan for approaching the client and effectively supporting their preparation for their NDIS planning session.

Sources of informationSources of information in this step include the provider resources available on the NDIA website (http://www.ndis.gov.au/providers). In addition, you should refer to the NDIA’s planning guide for participants to better understand the steps clients will be taking in the planning process (http://www.ndis.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/planning_guide.pdf).

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http://www.ndis.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/planning_guide.pdf

http://www.ndis.gov.au/providers


The NDIS presents a seismic change for clients. Clients, their carers and families will be both nervous and excited about transitioning to the NDIS. To achieve a smooth transition, it is important that staff understand the provider’s role in the transition and how to best support them through the planning process. Clients are at the centre of the NDIS, therefore it is essential we place them at the centre of our approach to managing change, to achieve better outcomes both for clients and providers.

Things to think aboutThe guiding principle of choice and control: The guiding principle of the NDIS is to provide people with disabilities with more choice and control over what is important to them in leading their life. When thinking about how best to lead clients in to the NDIS, it is important to keep consider this principle and how you can best align it with your guidance approach.

The two elements are:

Choice: People with disabilities can choose the supports they receive, as well who will provide them. This can include using mainstream and community supports, choosing support providers, choosing to change providers, and considering how their formal supports fit best with those provided informally by family, friends and other carers. This means that the individual may choose to move to another provider, or increase the level of services you provide them.

Control: People with disabilities have control over how, when and where they get support. This means that the individual may choose to change the frequency and timing of the services you currently provide them.

You should ensure that assistance is aligned with the enablers of choice and control, while addressing and minimizing negative impacts of the inhibitors, as detailed below.

Figure 1: Inhibitors and enablers of choice and control in the NDIS1

Enablers of choice and controlInhibitors of choice and control

• Lack of money frustrates access to the most suitable support

• Experience of what is possible –past experience informs what we think is available to us

• Cultural expectations also inform how we conceive of our choices

• Self- confidence can inhibit the ability to ask about and investigate options

• Access to information, knowledge and experience to inform people with disabilities about the choices and options available to them

• Power over resources and relationships

• Opportunity to think and dream about alternatives to the current services and resources on offer

1 NDIS Independent Advisory Council, 2013

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The NDIS should begin to reconcile the inhibitors of ‘lack of money’, ‘experience of what is possible’ and ‘cultural expectations’ if participants fully engage with it. Therefore your support of participants’ self-confidence will be crucial for these inhibitors to be reconciled.

Your effort will also be important to support the enablers of choice and control listed above. The relationships and knowledge you have developed with your clients will help NDIS participants to use these enablers to improve their choice and control.

The planning process: Clients who are transitioning to the NDIS will be eager to understand the planning process. It is not uncommon for clients to turn to their support-workers for information around the steps and how to prepare. It is therefore important to provide information to front-line staff on the NDIA’s planning process so that they can be equipped to provide support through the journey. The process is presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The NDIS planning process2

Step 1Thinking about needs and goals

Step 2 Meet with the

personal planner

Step 3Develop plan and manage supports

Step 4Approve plan

Step 5 Review plan

Key question for providersHow can we help our clients in Step 1 to ensure Step 2 is smooth?

While providers won’t necessarily play a formal role in the planning process, having an understanding of the steps, and being able to provide advice and support to clients where sought will support a smoother transition.

A valuable first step in leading clients into this period of change is having access to the practical information required for the participant’s initial engagement with the NDIA. The types of questions the clients may ask include:

What does the NDIA do?The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is an independent statutory agency tasked with implementing the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Agency supports providers, as well as participants, to respond in an innovative way to the shift to increased choice and control over supports for participants in the NDIS.

2 NDIS planning guide and workbook

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Where is the closest NDIA, how to get there?NDIS customer service centres can be found on the website: http://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/locationsOpening hours are Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

How you will work with people prior to transition: Providers and their employees should ensure that that they understand the principles of choice and control and the impacts that these might have on their working relationship with clients. This does not mean that providers are not able to support their clients in understanding, articulating and communicating their needs.

Where invited, your staff can play a valuable role in the pre-planning, draft planning, and plan approval stages through helping the participant work through their life goals and needs. Using their deep knowledge of the individual and their circumstances, your employees will be able to help participants work through:

Their life goals – describing what their life ambitions and what they want to achieve.

My life now – articulating their current life circumstances, their needs and how role played by the services that they currently receive.

My life in the future – projecting forward to what they what like their life to look like in the future.

The gaps – what needs to change from their current circumstances to bridge this gap, including unmet needs and opportunities for improvement.

At the invitation of the client, the corresponding template provided, Template D – Personal planning, provides a ‘plan on a page’ document that can be completed in collaboration between provider and participant. The format of the template is depicted below.

My life goalsFor example, a change to• Employment• Education• Social participation• Independence• Living arrangements• Health and wellbeing

My life now My life in the future

The gap

For example, • What are your current living

arrangements?• Who plays an important role

in your life?• What are your regular

activities?• What supports do you need

because of your disability?• Does a family member of carer

provide you with support for you disability?

• How do they support and work for you?

For example, • What is working well in your

life?• What things would you like to

change in your life? (e.g. about your living arrangements, who provides support etc)

• Are there supports you need to increase your participation in work, education or social or community activities?

What do I need from my plan to get me where I need to be?

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http://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/locations


If useful for their purposes, the participant may wish to take the completed personal planning template along to their NDIA planning session to assist with facilitating the outcome they want.

Ongoing management of the plan: Participants will be eager to understand how the working relationship with their providers will change during and after the transition to the NDIS. The individual may decide to continue their relationship with the provider, increase or reduce it, or change providers completely. The nature of the relationship and the perception of service quality will influence how much support and advice the individual will seek from the provider.

With specific regard to the plan, participants can access as little or as much support as required to manage their plan once they have approved it. Key activities in the management of the plan including researching providers and services, making contact and meeting with providers, making decisions and agreements about providers, and managing the payments and receipts to update the NDIA. It is important to communicate that the plan can be updated or changed with the planner at any time, if the needs of the individual change.

What do I do with this information?The output of this exercise is primarily for the use of the individual client. The session itself can provide a catalyst for the participant to commence the NDIA planning process and an opportunity to determine your future relationship with them.

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Step 5 – Implement the changeStep 5 is the execution of the change management plan developed in Step 2. This section focuses on communicating the change to participants and other stakeholders.

This step does not use any specific templates.

Overview


right?

Timely and accurate communication to external stakeholders is critical to successful change. In the absence of information, participants will become anxious and may explore other options to meet their needs.


The case for change and tailored messaging developed in Step 1.The change plan developed in Step 2.


Executing the change management plan and focusing on communicating the change to participants and other stakeholders.


A good communication approach should give participants and other stakeholders a voice in the process, and also result in widespread understanding and support of the change.

What does this step involve and why is it important?Just as it is with your employees, timely and accurate communication to external stakeholders is critical to successful change. Participants depend on your organisation for important support to their daily lives. They deserve to be kept aware of where the organisation is going, what the changes will look like, how it will affect them, and what they need to do to contribute. This will maintain a sense of trust in the process. In the absence of information, participants will become anxious and may explore other options to meet their needs.

Output of this stepA good communication approach should give participants and other stakeholders a voice in the process, and also result in widespread understanding and support of the change.

Sources of informationThe major inputs to this step are:

The case for change and tailored messaging developed in Step 1

The change plan developed in Step 2.

Things to think about How do I launch the communications activities? As with your employees, clients typically prefer

to find out about changes that will affect them in a tailored, localised way. Clients will ideally want this to be done through a face-to-face conversation. This is the communication channel that best reassures them that the organisational values them and cares about the impact the

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change is having on them. For participants, consider including guardians, families and caregivers in these conversations where this is appropriate. This will be appropriate especially where it will improve understanding of the message and/or this network is influential in the participant’s service choices.

Consider following up with additional documentation (through a channel appropriate to their disability) to ensure that they have opportunity to reflect on the message.

Where scale is a consideration, it might be possible to call a special event, such as a dinner or information night. This would allow you to reach a number of stakeholders, together with their care givers and guardians, with a consistent message in a non-threatening environment.

How do I make sure the other change activities happen? Documenting the activities in Step 2 is a good start, but individuals identified as responsible for activities under the change plan need to be held accountable for delivering on them. These individuals need to be clear that the organisation considers the success of the activity a core part of their job; if the change isn’t adopted, they won’t meet their required performance accountabilities. Similarly, other employees need know that if they don’t adopt the change there will be consequences. Everyone knows if the change is successful, they will be applauded and/or rewarded. Suddenly there is a real ‘kick’ to the change, which can provide that extra incentive for people to stick to the change and make it work, even when it gets tough.

What do I do with this information?The launch of the change plan has occurred. Our focus now becomes checking–in regularly to ensure that the change is having the impact that we anticipated.

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Step 6 – Sustain the changeStep 6 focuses on evaluating the success of the change by checking-in regularly with your stakeholders.

You will be working with the following templates in the corresponding pack:

Template E – Stakeholder evaluation template

Template F – Stakeholder evaluation survey.

Overview


right?

Realising the benefits of a successful change requires active focus on identifying, measuring, tracking and reporting on benefits throughout the change process.


There are no existing sources of information required for this step.Historic stakeholder satisfaction data is a valuable baseline for evaluation if you have it.


Evaluating the success of the change by checking-in regularly with your stakeholders.


Evaluation should produce a clear understanding of the effectiveness of change activities and the degree of change adoption.

What does this step involve and why is it important?Realising the benefits of a successful change requires active focus throughout the change process. Identifying, measuring, tracking and reporting on benefits are fundamental activities in successful change programs. While measurement needs to be rigorous, it should not be overly complex. The simpler the process, the more transparent it is to all stakeholders.

Measuring the impact of change activities on stakeholders is critical because it can give early warning signs that the change is not delivering the desired outcomes. This enables you to adjust your approach or expectations accordingly. It also fulfils on the promise made through the process that the organisation cares about stakeholders and the quality of the relationship.

Output of this stepEvaluation should produce a clear understanding of the effectiveness of change activities and the degree of change adoption. This holds people within the organisation to account for their contribution to the change and provides an opportunity to engage with stakeholders to promote continuous improvement.

Sources of informationThere are no existing sources of information required for this step, but historic stakeholder satisfaction data is a valuable baseline for evaluation if you have it.

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Things to think aboutHow do I successfully keep the change going?

How do I know how my stakeholders are reacting to the change? Regular check-ins with stakeholders provides an opportunity to build a picture of how successful the change has been in achieving the benefits you anticipated. They also provide the opportunity to monitor where there are unintended negative consequences which are impacting the stakeholders and the quality of your relationship with them.

What questions should I be asking? This can be as simple or complex as you want, provided it does not put an unwarranted burden on the stakeholder. In most cases, you will be interested in three considerations, as detailed below.

Satisfaction – Is your stakeholder satisfied with what they get out of the relationship with your organisation? For participants, this will be satisfaction with the quality of the service they are receiving.

Loyalty – Is the stakeholder likely to continue their relationship with you? For participants, a non-threatening way of asking this question can be if they would recommend you to a friend with similar needs.

Opportunity for improvement – Can the stakeholder suggest an improvement to the way you are doing things?

We have included a basic evaluation template and survey that addresses these items. See Template E – Stakeholder evaluation template and Template F – Stakeholder evaluation survey.

What am I looking for in the responses? – You are looking for a pattern of declining loyalty or satisfaction, either within a particular stakeholder group or across the board. If you are seeing this, engage with the stakeholder group further to find out what is driving it and what corrective measures you can take.

How often should I check–in with my stakeholders? Every interaction with your stakeholders is a potential to check-in on how they are experiencing the change. In a more formal sense, evaluation should occur often enough to detect positive and negative issues associated with the transition, but not so often it overwhelms or annoys the stakeholder. Consider three monthly intervals over the period of launch as a starting point.

What do I do with this information?Keep monitoring the impact of the change until you are confident that you have been successful and you have embedded the change in your organisation in a sustainable way. Use the pulse checks to make adjustments along the way as required.

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Documents

Leading Change Guide - Department of Communities, Child ... Web viewThink about your organisation’s strategic goals ... but the challenge is in communicating what the NDIS ... up