The management of change in a business.
A process that happens all the time (the only constant is that everything changes) and one that so many feel like they lose time and time again. Usually in a chaotic whirlwind of emails, spreadsheets, and frantic meetings.
And this is probably more common than you think, with many sources quoting that over 70% of businesses fail their proposed changed projects. However, this is a bit of a dated statistic, dating back over 30 years.
The best way to think of it is in your own business operations. How many times have you tried to implement something new, improve something, or just make something better? How many times has it turned out and been onboarded as intended?
The success rates of that process are what we’re trying to fix.
And there is a better way when you have the right tools for the job. A way to tame the chaos, streamline your workflows, and actually enjoy the process of change.
And guess what? Your secret weapon is probably already sitting right there in your tech stack. I’m talking about your trusty help desk software.
It’s more than just a tool for troubleshooting and resolving tickets; it’s a powerful engine for driving smooth and efficient change.
In this guide, we’ll explore seven game-changing strategies for mastering change management with your help desk. Let’s get into it.
What is change management?
Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organisations from a current state to a desired future state.
It’s all well and good to say that you want to upgrade some of your technology, onboard some new software, or upgrade your workflows, but actually making sure this change is implemented smoothly and effectively is a whole other ball game.
Now, you might be thinking, “Why bother with all this formality? Can’t we just wing it? Perhaps problem-solving as you go?”
Well, sure, to a degree, you will, as you can’t plan for everything, but managing this process, no matter what comes up, is how you’ll succeed.
If you can find the balance between being effective and, planning ahead and being prepared to efficiently handle whatever comes up, you’ll maximise your chances of success.
This is through:
- Increased efficiency: When change is managed well, it leads to smoother transitions, reduced disruptions, and, ultimately, increased productivity.
- Reduced risk: A structured approach to change helps identify potential roadblocks and minimise the risks associated with implementing something new.
- Improved employee buy-in: Change can be scary! A well-managed change process involves employees, addresses their concerns, and increases their willingness to embrace the new.
- Greater agility: In today’s fast-paced world, businesses need to be able to adapt quickly. Change management helps build agility and resilience.
But here’s the catch: change management is often easier said than done. We’ve all been there, right? Drowning in a sea of emails, struggling to keep track of approvals, and wondering who changed what and when. Some of the most common challenges include:
- Lack of visibility: It’s hard to manage change effectively when you don’t have a clear picture of what’s happening.
- Inconsistent processes: Change can become a chaotic free-for-all without a standardised approach.
- Poor communication: Miscommunication and lack of transparency can lead to confusion, resistance, and, ultimately, failed initiatives.
- Difficulty tracking approvals: Chasing down approvals can be a major time suck and create unnecessary delays.
Getting the right strategies in place can help maximise the benefits while overcoming the apparent risks and challenges. And it could all be as simple as repurposing your help desk platform.
6 help desk strategies for change management mastery
Strategy #1 – Centralise communication
Recall the feeling of desperately searching through your inbox for that one crucial email about the new software rollout. Or trying to decipher a colleague’s scribbled notes about a system update.
Yeah, not fun.
Using help desk software means you can enjoy all the benefits that come with having a central hub for all change-related communication. A single platform where everyone involved in the change process – from the IT team to project managers to end-users – can access information, ask questions, and provide updates.
No more scattered emails, missed messages, or frantic phone calls.
Benefits:
- Reduced confusion: Everyone knows where to go for information and updates.
- Improved collaboration: Teams can easily work together, share ideas, and resolve issues.
- Easier tracking: All communication is documented and easily searchable, creating a clear record of the change process.
Actionable Tips:
- Set up dedicated ticket types and categories: Create specific ticket types and categories within your help desk for different types of change requests.
- Use Watchers: Ensure the right people are notified about updates and requests by using the watchers feature.
- Encourage active participation: Foster a culture of open communication and encourage everyone to use the help desk for change-related discussions.
By centralising communication, you create a single source of truth for all things change-related. This reduces confusion and fosters a sense of transparency and collaboration.
Strategy #2: Automate workflows
Let’s imagine a change request lands in your inbox.
You then have to manually route it to the appropriate approver, send follow-up emails, and update spreadsheets.
This sounds exhausting and time-consuming, and it’s totally prone to human error and mistakes.
Now imagine this instead: the request arrives at your help desk, automatically gets routed to the right people, and triggers notifications at each stage of the approval process.
Much smoother and more efficient.
Help desk automation is like having a personal assistant for change management. It takes care of those tedious, repetitive tasks, freeing you up to focus on more strategic initiatives.
Benefits:
- Increased efficiency: Say goodbye to manual processes and hello to streamlined workflows. A McKinsey study found that at least 50% of all work can be automated, so it’s worth checking to see what can be improved.
- Reduced delays: Automated approvals and notifications keep things moving quickly. Another study found that employees can save up to 30% of their time through automation alone. Imagine having that many hours back.
- Minimised manual errors: Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. Automation helps eliminate those human errors that can derail the change process.
Actionable tips:
- Create automated workflows for different types of changes: Set up specific workflows for things like software updates, new equipment requests, or process changes.
- Use templates for common requests: Standardise the process with pre-built ticket types with custom fields for frequent change requests.
- Set up automatic reminders: Ensure approvals don’t get stuck in someone’s inbox with automated reminders.
By automating your change management workflows, you’ll not only save time and reduce errors, but you’ll also create a more consistent and reliable process. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Strategy #3: Maintain a detailed audit trail
One of the most important aspects of the change management process is recording everything happening along the way. This includes auditing, seeing what changed and when, who was involved, and the timeline of all the events.
This allows you to see what’s happening, what problems were caused and when and, most importantly, what you need to fix or improve.
Yet, keeping and recording such a trail is nearly impossible if you don’t have a setup for it.
Imagine a critical system goes down, and nobody can quite remember the last changes made to it. Or perhaps you need to demonstrate compliance with industry regulations, but you can’t easily track the history of a particular process.
Your help desk can act as a meticulous record keeper, logging every change request, approval, implementation, and even rollback. This creates a comprehensive history that you can refer to at any time.
Benefits:
- Increased accountability: Everyone knows their actions are being tracked, encouraging responsible decision-making.
- Improved traceability: Easily trace the origin of any issue or change, making troubleshooting a breeze.
- Easier auditing: When it’s time for an audit, you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips.
Actionable Tips:
- Ensure all changes are logged with details: Encourage users to provide comprehensive information about each action, attached to the change request ticket.
- Regularly review the audit trail: Make it a habit to review the change log to identify trends, potential issues, and areas for improvement.
Strategy #4: Leverage attachments and linking
Just like having all your communications in one place can help optimise the change process, so you can have all the details. You’ve probably been in a position where you’ve received an email or change request, but you’re left scratching your head, wondering what on earth it was about.
Maybe it’s led to you digging through multiple emails and documents to piece together the necessary information. It’s nothing short of frustrating and a waste of your time.
Most modern help desk systems allow you to attach files directly to change requests, which can rid you of this problem completely.
Think of detailed specifications, diagrams, screenshots, or even video walkthroughs. This means all the relevant information is right there in one place, easily accessible to everyone involved.
You can also link out to other relevant resources, like internal wikis, knowledge base articles, or project management tools. This creates a rich, interconnected web of information that provides complete context and clarity for every change request.
Benefits:
- Improved context: No more ambiguity or guesswork. Everyone has a clear understanding of the change being proposed.
- Reduced ambiguity: Clear and detailed information minimises misunderstandings and ensures everyone is on the same page.
- Easier reference: All relevant information is readily available, eliminating the need for time-consuming searches.
Actionable Tips:
- Encourage users to attach relevant files: Make it standard practice for users to include supporting documentation with their change requests.
- Link to internal knowledge base pages: Connect change requests to relevant articles and resources for easy access to additional information.
- Use visual aids: Diagrams, flowcharts, and screenshots can be incredibly helpful in explaining complex changes.
By leveraging attachments and linking capabilities, you transform your help desk into a comprehensive knowledge hub for change management. It’s like having a one-stop shop for all the information you need to navigate change effectively.
Strategy #5: Facilitate collaboration and feedback
Change shouldn’t be a top-down dictatorship. It’s not about imposing new processes or systems on unsuspecting employees. Instead, it’s about bringing everyone along for the ride, making them feel heard, and incorporating their valuable feedback.
With this in mind, your help desk can be a fantastic tool for facilitating collaboration and feedback throughout the change management process. It can act as a virtual town hall where everyone can share their thoughts, concerns, and suggestions.
Benefits:
- Increased buy-in: When people feel involved in the change process, they’re more likely to embrace it.
- Improved decision-making: Gathering diverse perspectives leads to better, more informed decisions.
- Reduced resistance to change: Addressing concerns and incorporating feedback helps minimise resistance and smooth the transition.
Actionable Tips:
- Use the help desk for feedback gathering: Use private notes to discuss the change outside of the actual workflow. This gives everyone somewhere to share ideas and ask questions.
- Encourage open dialogue: Foster a culture of open communication and active listening.
By using your help desk to facilitate collaboration and feedback, you’ll create a more inclusive and participatory change management process. It’s about turning change from something that’s done to people into something that’s done with them.
Strategy #6: Monitor, analyse, and optimise
One of the best things you can do is to think of your change management process as a living, breathing thing. It’s not something you set and forget.
To truly master change management, you need to constantly monitor its performance, analyse the data, and make adjustments along the way.
Your help desk can be your secret weapon in this continuous improvement journey. It’s packed with valuable data and analytics that can provide incredible insights into your change management process.
Benefits:
- Identify bottlenecks: Are there any stages in your change process that consistently cause delays? Help desk analytics can help you pinpoint those bottlenecks and address them.
- Track key metrics: Monitor important metrics like change request volume, resolution times, and approval rates to get a clear picture of how your process is performing.
- Continuously improve processes: Use data-driven insights to identify areas for improvement and optimise your workflows for maximum efficiency.
Actionable tips:
- Use help desk reporting to track change request volume, resolution times, and identify trends: Regularly generate reports and analyse the data to spot patterns and areas for improvement.
- Set up dashboards to visualise key metrics: Create visual dashboards that provide a quick and easy overview of your change management performance.
- Conduct regular reviews: Schedule periodic reviews to assess your process, identify challenges, and brainstorm solutions.
By actively monitoring, analysing, and optimising your change management process, you’ll ensure it’s always running smoothly and effectively. It’s about embracing a data-driven approach to continuous improvement.
Final thoughts
Let’s do a quick recap:
- Centralise communication: Keep everyone on the same page with a single source of truth for all change-related information.
- Automate workflows: Streamline processes and reduce errors with automated approvals and notifications.
- Maintain a detailed audit trail: Create a comprehensive record of all changes for accountability and easy tracking.
- Leverage attachments and linking: Provide context and clarity by attaching relevant documents and linking to other resources.
- Facilitate collaboration and feedback: Encourage participation and gather valuable input from everyone involved in the change process.
- Monitor, analyse, and optimise: Continuously evaluate your change management process and make data-driven improvements.
Now, it’s time to put these strategies into action. Issuebear is probably the best place to start. 🥰
Remember, change is inevitable. But with the right tools and strategies, you can navigate it with confidence, efficiency, and even a little bit of excitement. Use help desk software to your advantage and watch your business thrive in the face of change.
