Written by Timothy Lopez
Capturing the story is about understanding and defining how things are done around here, what's happening now, and the direction to move in to achieve the required future state. The old and new stories are used to identify and analyse the change people will make for the Transformation Initiative. Capturing the story is like process mapping, as it serves to create blueprints for the way things will be done and to ensure necessary experiences are not overlooked, the difference being:
Note: Antecedents in this context, an antecedent is an event or condition that describes what or how things must be done before the start of a process or next step.
It could be a trigger, a cause, a guide or instructions that sets the requirements before things are in motion. At the simplest level a road sign, stop, give way, or road works is an antecedent. It's the instruction before you take the next action, driving forward.
The process is usually completed early in the Change Management Cycle, and the new way of working message is used in communications to support the Transformation Strategy and Business Goals. It can, however, be used independently at any time using the Template below.
It is crucial to have a good understanding of the way things are currently being done and to define the new way things will be working, to understand the improvement and opportunities. Capturing and sharing the new way things will be done, ensures all stakeholders are on the same page and everyone knows what needs to be done and why. It can proceed independently of other project activities but can also occur in parallel with any planned business process mapping. Both will seek to achieve efficiencies through the project. While the process mapping phase defines how to complete the new process, analysts who complete the mapping can specify which experiences and people should best be interviewed for their stories.
One benefit of capturing the activities together is it identifies behaviour improvement opportunities in parallel with process improvements and how they may optimise each other to achieve the programme objectives. Additionally, operational errors can be avoided by identifying factors contributing to quality issues.
For each interview, choose the following questions that best fit with your organisation and Transformational Initiative:
For each interview, choose from the following questions that best fit your organisation and Transformational Initiative:
Select business areas and processes that have important stories to tell. Use your stakeholders to brainstorm and define what or where is most important, then prioritise these for interviews.
It is common for multiple individuals to work in an investigation area, ideally encouraging as many people as possible to participate in defining the stories. Communicating the why and how of the interview is critical to success. Individuals must understand the interview focus is on future improvements for the planned Transformation Project technology, process or strategy. Comments are confidential. Names are not recorded, only the current ways of working. Their feedback will help to define the new way of working.
Ask the selected questions. Motivate stakeholders to actively share since they understand the existing issues and opportunities better than anyone. Document the responses to the chosen questions to create the current story. Determine inputs and outputs which affect the overall quality and satisfaction of the job.
Ask the selected questions, seek feedback and suggestion on how & why people will work together in the future, and identify points for improvement.
Create a new way of working message to be used in communications to support the Transformation Strategy and Business Goals.
While not included in this activity, a cause and effect diagram is another optional process to understand and define the current role and how it works. It is a tool that helps identify, sort, and display possible causes of a specific problem or quality characteristic. It is also known as a "fishbone" or "Ishikawa" diagram. This type of diagram emphasises the relationship between an effect and its potential causes. An advantage of this tool is that it helps identify possible causes of a problem and sorts them into meaningful categories.
Next, identify specific issues and errors in the existing process that you want to address with your changes. Once you understand what needs to be changed, develop a new process that eliminates these problems.
Free On-Line Change Management Methodology that enables individuals and organisations, especially those previously without access to effective change management programmes, to deliver more effective community and country programmes which improve prosperity and save lives.