Embedding Activities

You will have already identified and implemented opportunities to engage during the Manage phase of the X4MIS methodology.

The continuation of these engagement opportunities through the Enable and Embed phases will instil in the stakeholders (management and staff) the importance of the change with the end-goal being to convert the Resisters and Bystanders to become Adopters.

In order to assess how successful the engagement and adoption has been, you should regularly take Pulse Checks to assess how successful the change has been in the organisation.

Pulse Check

A Pulse Check survey is a quick and focused questionnaire given to the stakeholders (management and staff) to gather information about the transition programme.

Pulse Checks should be regularly done throughout the Manage, Enable and Embed phases.

The Pulse Check survey should be designed to provide the change team with answers to two extremely important questions. 

• What is the general feel of the change within the stakeholders.
• How successful the existing engagement opportunities and training is going/has been.

The results of the Pulse Check will provide you with evidence, good or bad, as to how successful your engagement with the stakeholders has been.

By taking Pulse Checks regularly, if you are not getting the results you had planned, it allows the change management team to pivot, reassess and change the engagement activities.

Pulse Check Survey Questions

By reviewing the Change Implementation Plan and maintaining the focus on the Vision and Values (actual article is called Link to the vision and values), have a brainstorming/whiteboard session with your change team to come up with a list of questions.

Your survey should not have any more than 10 questions and take 2-3 minutes to complete.

Try to include a range of questions that require different types of answers.

For example:

• The reason for the change are clearly communicated to me
• Yes / No
• Have you been told how the change(s) will affect you and your team?
• A: Yes, and I am comfortable with how the change will affect myself and the team.
• B: Yes, I have been told but I am still unsure about how it will work in the future.
• C: What change?

Make sure you always have an option for feedback where suggestions and recommendations for improvement can be recorded.

The following link provides a very wide range of change management survey questions you can select from. 

https://surveysparrow.com/blog/change-management-survey-questions/

If possible, make your survey anonymous so you can elicit honest, unfiltered and authentic feedback from your stakeholders. Without this authentic feedback, it is possible the results of the surveys will not provide a true reflection of how successful your change initiative is or not.

Collating the Pulse Check Survey Results

Assign one of your change team to collate the results so they can provide an honest picture of the feel of the change within the organisation. 

Did you get the results you were expecting? 

If not, review your Change Implementation Plan, including the Communications Plan to evaluate the results against your plan(s).

Share the results with your change management team and conduct a meeting with them to:

• Assess the quality of the questions.
• Assess the audience participation. Did everyone return the survey? If not, engage with the managers of the teams surveyed to identify there were any reasons why. There could be a number of reasons which may include:
• Staff on leave or around a long weekend
• A busy period of the week, month or year meaning their staff had other priorities and deadlines to meet.
• Revisit the Communications Plan to come up with ways to improve the quality and/or quantity of your communications.

Conducting this assessment and identifying ways for improvement allows the change management team to then themselves change and pivot to achieve the vision and values of the organisation and its transformation change.

Irrespective of the results, ensure the results are shared with not only with management but also with the Change Sponsor, making sure you include any proposed changes for future communications.