ISG helps a major Australian federal agency navigate a multi-layered sourcing transition with deep support of its workforce through organizational change management (OCM).
Opportunity
One of Australia’s largest, most complex government agencies was embarking on a difficult transition, going to market with eight different provider contracts for its IT strategic sourcing (ITSS) program. The program spanned the entire IT infrastructure environment. The opportunity involved enabling key stakeholders and leaders to understand and effectively manage the enormity of such a large-scale change that impacted all areas of the business.
An ISG team was brought in to aid with leading multiple phases of the program, including sourcing, transition in, transition out, transformation project delivery and organizational change management (OCM). While the agency understood the need for OCM in theory, it needed assistance operationalizing and delivering OCM on a large, complex scale. ISG led the design, development and delivery of the ITSS program change strategy, which quickly demonstrated how critical OCM was in ensuring the success of the program and readying people for the changes.
Imagining IT Differently
Given the scale and complexity of the ITSS program, the ISG team applied a robust OCM approach focused on six key areas:
- Program alignment
- Organizational alignment
- Stakeholder engagement
- Change communications
- Coaching and training
- OCM project delivery
ISG worked within the agency’s OCM framework and applied an extra layer of OCM governance, assurance and thought leadership. The team’s OCM management, leadership and oversight were critical to ensure senior leadership engagement and buy-in, as well as to enable diverse stakeholders to work consistently and collectively toward common goals.
ISG introduced additional tools, templates and tactics to support change understanding. Examples include change profiles (which explain in simple terms what users would have to start/stop/continue doing), stakeholder heatmaps (which help identify key stakeholders in a much easier, visual way), and team effectiveness surveys (which recognize areas of strength, improvement and priority to become a high-performing team).
Future Made Possible
- ISG was able to seamlessly integrate with the agency and providers to work collaboratively and deliver OCM.
- The agency has now been able to effectively prepare for working in a more complex, multi-vendor environment with significant changes in the ways of working.
- The agency quickly benefitted from the effective OCM program, direction and strategy, enabling it to consume the large-scale changes involved with this transition.
- Where each affected area of the organization initially had different perspectives and approaches to the transition, targeted stakeholder engagement and program communication improved alignment and productivity.
- The agency has uplifted its own understanding and execution of OCM frameworks and activities, so it is prepared and enabled to build future programs like this for itself – with a focus on the people.
