Heather Holshouser AET 560 April 17, 2016 Gregory Dlabach Communication Plan Heather Holshouser AET 560 April 17, 2016 Gregory Dlabach

Scenario The organization needing a change is the Department of Veterans Affairs, Employee Education System division A new CLO was hired last year and decided we needed to realign our divisions. The organization needing a change is the Department of Veterans Affairs, specifically the Employee Education System division. A new CLO was hired last year and decided we needed to realign our divisions.

Current State Division consists of nine centers Each center manages all modalities of training Employees work in teams of project managers and project support assistants Teams work together within each center location The current organizational structure consisted of nine centers located throughout the United States that would each have program managers and program support assistants as staff. Each center is assigned national program offices in the VA to assist in designing, planning and implementing their health education trainings. These trainings would require a few different modalities to ensure all clinical staff were able to obtain training such as face to face training, a webinar, or an eLearning, each program manager and program support assistant team would assist the client in all three if needed.

Desired State Divide and intertwine centers to work virtually with one another Create specialty teams to manage one training modality, rather than all Employees will form virtual project manager and project support assistant teams across the nine centers The change is that the CLO would like the centers to divide all staff at each location into modality specialties, as well as implements a virtual organizational structure. For this change to take place, The Assistant Directors will be reassigned to a new specific division based on the modality of training. Then the staff of all centers will be divided up to work in these divisions as well, creating new work teams in Face To Face events, Broadcast and Video, eLearning, Learning Consultants, and Client Services. The centers will no longer work in PM/PSA teams; these teams will be divided up into the new modality teams and form new virtual teams to support the program office clients.

Communication Plan Overview The Four Phases of a Communication Plan Launching the Communication Plan Technology Needed Testing the Effectiveness Feedback and Improvement Addressing Negative Responses Affecting Organizational Change

Four Phases of a Communication Plan Pre-Change Approval Creating the Need for Change Proposing the change to leadership for approval Linking the change to the organization’s goals, plans, and priorities Small Steps Consider the Timing Explain the Need for the Change Provide a Rationale Reassure Employees Clarify Steps to be Taken Pre-Change Approval: Typically this would involve creating a plan of it’s own to make a proposal to leadership to accept and approve the change in the organization. This proposal should include the current and desired state of how it is now, and show the gap that needs to be filled. Correlate these changes with the goals, plans, vision and mission of the organization. Introduce the plan in an overall plan and in small steps. Think about the timing of your change and if anything that has happened that may cause the acceptance to not be well received, if so, consider introducing at a time when the acceptance rate will be better. This is a behind the scenes part that the employees are not privy to. This is usually created by supervisors and directors, the presented to their leadership such as the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) for approval. In this case, the CLO was the one that was wanting the change, therefore their was actually no one above to seek prior approval from. He simply decided that this change was going to happen and informed the supervisors and directors and asked them to assist in a plan to implement. Creating the Need for Change: When presenting the need for a change to the employees involved, you should have some information to back up the reasons why you feel this change is needed. In this case, the CLO wanted specialized divisions to manage training modalities. The rationale was that we could provide our clients with one project manager that has been trained and has more expertise in each individual modality that they may use for their trainings. Clarifying the steps in which this change will go through to make this change is important to the employees, as this will effect their daily work, and they will now be asked to take more training for whichever modality they are chosen to work in. Reassuring the employees that this will be more beneficial in the long run, and that honing in on one specific modality to become an expert will enhance their daily work. Also ensuring them that although they will be moved to other divisions, the work that they do, as well as their dedication to the organization is of value to leadership.

Four Phases of a Communication Plan Midstream Change and Milestones Confirm and Celebrate Successes Keep Employees Informed of Progress Collect and Address Feedback and Concerns Clarify New Roles, Structures and Processes Announce Successes Celebrate the Change Success Prepare Employees for the Next Steps Midstream Change and Milestones: During the change process it is important to check in with the employees, the directors and the supervisors for an update. Find out how things are going, get feedback on the environment and how employees are responding so far. Address any concerns that may arise to ensure that answers are heard from leadership rather than allowing rumors to take hold. It is equally important to keep everyone involved aware of each success in the change that is accomplished. This will make them feel like all this is not for nothing, that it is working and help to keep the focus and motivation going. Ways to collect feedback are through websites, surveys and message boards. Ensure that they are aware of what their new roles will entail, as well as the new organizational structure such as who they will report to and what their new work flow looks like. This will help them to visualize the their future roles and know where to go for help. Confirm and Celebrate Successes: Just as with during the change, once a piece of the change process is complete, announce the accomplishment and celebrate the employees that made it happen. Acknowledging their hard work and the end result gives a feeling of job satisfaction. At the same time, review what tasks still need to be complete to move on. Then explain what the next piece is for them to move forward in the changes that need to be made for the whole change completion. Give them the overall picture of the steps, as well as lay out the details piece by piece.

Launching the Communication Plan All Staff Meetings Leadership Visits to each Center Division Meetings Distribute Emails Communicating the Division realignment needs to be done in phases. Start out with an announcement meeting. This should be short and to the point, but informative. Announce the changes to come, why they are needed and how they will happen. This first meeting should be presented by the CLO. Most likely the CLO will not be able to deliver this message to all nine centers in person, therefor to ensure that everyone is informed at the same time, a virtual all staff meeting should be held. This will help to eliminate one division finding out first, then telling someone in another division before it is announced to them. After the initial announcement is made, the CLO should then visit each center personally to discuss the changes and answer any questions and concerns. Division meeting with supervisors and directors should also be held in the interim and on going to address concerns, gather feedback and to disseminate details and more information on the change, its progress and next steps as needed. Emails are also a good way to announce smaller, more insignificant matters of the change, that will not require a discussion.

Technology Bigger Bandwidth Virtual Conferencing Software Ability to exchange Documents with PII and Signatures To communicate the plan, virtual conferencing software is needed to address all the staff at one time throughout the change process. With the divisions beginning to work virtually with one another, employees will be using their computers, software and technology more. The organization will need to increase the amount of bandwidth that is available to allow for a smooth transition and to minimize the lag time and overall functions of the organizations network. Employees will need a virtual conferencing software installed to allow communication and the ability to chat and share screens to review documents together. Currently the Department of Veterans Affairs utilizes Microsoft Lync for meetings, however this is not always reliable, therefore Adobe Connect will also be an alternative available for conferencing with other employees as well as clients virtually. With the paperless initiative, having the ability to exchange documents electronically as well as obtain necessary signatures on documents will be much needed. Installing Adobe Acrobat with PDF conversions and the ability to add a signature block will be installed on each computer. Securing this information is extremely important, therefor the ability to encrypt documents as they are exchanged will be available through Microsoft Outlook.

Testing Effectiveness and Impact Compare goals of change process with communication accomplishments 360° feedback to get many points of view Contribute data to determine effectiveness with triangulation Impact of training and skill development

Feedback and Improvement Blogs Message Boards Organizational Wide Social Media Sites Performance Appraisals Gathering feedback along the way of an organizational change is very important, what is even more important than that is acting on the feedback that is received. Providing and avenue for employees to express how they feel about the change, their ideas on how to improve upon a process or structure can be of great benefit to the organization leadership as well as the employee. Listening to them, and providing an answer, or comments will go a long way during this process. On the other hand, if you provide an avenue for feedback, but do not utilize it effectively, the employees can become discouraged and feel that their opinions really are not valued after all. Social Media sites set up specifically for the change process can be a great way to begin conversations. The Department of VA has set up a couple of these, some are anonymous and others are not. There are sites called MyVA, VA Pulse and groups created on Facebook and Twitter. These are all monitored by a staff in the media department. The employees are the people that have been in the field, working this job and dedicating themselves so that their work is successful. Hearing what they have to say and gathering their input can be of great assistance in the change phases. These are you subject matter experts. They can tell you what they think will and will not work, and give suggestions on how to change it and or make it better.

Addressing Negative Responses Be Understanding Have an Attitude of Sincerity Immolate Positivity Reassurance Encourage Participation Negotiation With any new change, there is going to be negativity from employees, and possible even the supervisors and directors. Not everyone is going to see the need for the change and agree with the steps to get there. It is important to really listen to concerns and address them with understanding, sincerity and reassurance. Unfortunately, some employees may not ever be on board with the change, and they need to be recognized to ensure they are not hindering the process for others or creating a negative atmosphere among their coworkers. Speak to them personally, find out what it is that they are worried about. For those that are talking negatively in the office, sit down and have a chat with them It’s possible this may not be a good fit for them, and if it is appropriate, they may need to be transferred to another area in the organization. Still remain positive and reassure them that it is ok for them to not agree, however to handle it on a professional level. By encouraging the employee to participate, then they can learn for themselves hands on rather than pre judging the change. Negotiating could be successful, however sometimes this could lead to compliance rather than buy in.

Affecting Organizational Change Positive Negative Employees see the need and agree Create Buy In Improve the Functionality of the Organization Customer Service Employees do not see the need and disagree Create Barriers in Functional areas Loss of Employees Customer Service The way in which the communication plan of a change is delivered and addressed can have a huge impact on the success of the change. Ultimately, the employees are the ones that are impacted the most, and gaining their trust and agreement is very important. If this is achieved, then the transitions should be seamless and smooth. If this is not achieved, and the employees are not buying into the need for the change, it can make the process much more difficult. This could create employee dis-satisfaction with their jobs and the organization they work for. Some employees may leave, others may not leave but will no longer enjoy their work or their jobs. If they are not happy with their jobs, their performance could be effected as well as their customer service and how they work with their clients. Also, if the plan is not communicated effectively, and the employees feel in the dark about what is going on, this could create barriers in moving forward in the steps and phases of the change process. Hindering the timeline of the plan. A plan that is communicated effectively will create a team that is willing to push through and move forward with the steps and phases needed to be successful. If the employees are positive about what is happening, they will help to improve the structures and processes rather than just sit back and let others do the work. The attitudes of the employee through the change will also affect how they perform and in customer service to the clients. This is going to be a change for the clients as well, therefore you want the employees to back it up in a positive way to convince the clients that it is a good thing too.

References Cawsey, T. (2012). Organizational Change [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. : Sage Publications. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, AET/560 website. Cawsey,T.F., Deszca, G., & Ingols, C. (2012a).Action planning and implementation. In Organizational change:An action-oriented toolkit (2nd ed., pp. 299-342).ThousandOaks, CA: Sage Publications.