The 5 Phases for TSPs to Implement Operational Change
The TSP Advisory has spent years working closely with technology partners to implement operational change. It’s a core part of our work that involves helping businesses navigate the transformation journey to become true Technology Solutions Partners (TSPs), guiding them through the stages of operational maturity and the challenges that come with it.
Previously, we explored the six stages of operational maturity. Now, it’s time to dive into the next step: how to implement real operational change. And it’s more than making improvements – it’s a structured, five-step process that will require you to take a step back and approach change strategically.
Covering these five stages will hopefully enable you to identify gaps in your current approach and understand why past initiatives may have fallen short. Follow this proven process to apply it throughout all areas in your business and avoid common pitfalls.
Tips Before Getting Started
Set yourself up for success with the right mindset and preparation. Consider the following principles to create a solid foundation for change.
Make Progress, Step by Step
Skipping steps – whether that’s having unclear objectives, unrealistic expectations, or disjointed efforts – often leads to mistakes. The key is to slow down and take a deliberate approach. That means utilising things like strong business cases and clearly documented objectives, as well as ensuring everyone understands the “why”, costs, benefits and problems being solved.
Treat Change as a Holistic, Long-Term Strategy
The biggest snags TSPs tend to stumble on is either trying to do too much at once or focusing on isolated initiatives, instead of treating change as an integrated, long-term strategy. Setting a clear project timeline and defining milestones is not only an effective way to give people accountability, but provide them with the clarity they need for successful execution.
With these guiding principles in mind, let’s explore the first phase of implementing operational change.
The 5 Phases for Implementing Operational Change
Phase 1: Understand
The first phase, “Understand” involves building awareness. That is, gaining education around new concepts and best practices, so you can create a meaningful purpose, scope and assign responsibilities for driving change.
Without a strong understanding of what you're trying to achieve from the start (knowing what “good” actually looks like), it’s difficult to know what you’re aiming for. Skipping this vital first step can be detrimental to your progress, leading to confusion and misalignment before the real work even begins.
Phase 2: Document
Once you’ve achieved clear understanding, the next stage, “Document” is all about preparation. You know what you’re trying to achieve, what best practices are and who is responsible for driving change. Documenting this is key!
Here, documentation goes beyond recording goals or objectives. It’s about clearly defining:
- processes
- policies
- procedures
- specific actions you’re planning to implement.
Many TSPs we support are surprised by this step, thinking it’s something that should be done later down the track. But in fact, it’s crucial at this point in your journey. Why? Because documenting everything in detail creates clarity. It lays the groundwork for sustainable change, embedded throughout your business long-term. (Lacking the right documentation often causes initiatives fail over time – as the detail needed to run an operationally mature business is overlooked or missing.)
With processes, policies, and procedures in hand, you’re ready for the next step: communication and training.
Phase 3: Communicate
By this stage, you’re ready to gain buy-in from your team. This involves communicating upcoming changes clearly and effectively.
Often, businesses try to communicate changes either after they’ve been made or just before implementation – which doesn’t give your team members enough time to understand what’s happening. This is where your earlier documentation comes into play. You can share practical, pragmatic details with your teams to demonstrate exactly what’s being implemented and why. This allows them to grasp the full scope of the changes, have a frame of reference and understand how it will impact their work.
Importantly, it gives them the opportunity to provide feedback before changes are implemented and highlight potential issues or gaps that may have been overlooked. (Without concrete details to work off from the “Documentation” phase, they’ll likely find it difficult to provide meaningful feedback.) If you miss this step, it can mean missing out on valuable insights from your frontline teams.
The “Communicate” phase is a vital part of the process and creates a strong foundation for the next step.
Phase 4: Action
If you recall the introductory “tips”, all too commonly, technology businesses try to jump the gun by kicking off with this stage first – rushing into implementation without having fully planning the details, without understanding what “done” looks like, and without clarity on the goals. As a result, team members experience confusion, and implementation becomes prolonged and inefficient.
Only once you’ve followed the previous phases will you be ready to take action and execute your plan. You should have a clear implementation strategy, well-defined timeline, launch expectations and contingencies plans before moving forward with implementation.
The good news: When previous phases have been properly executed, this phase should actually be one of the easiest to implement, on time and on budget.
Many businesses imagine their journey of operational change is complete here. But we’re not quite done yet.
Phase 5. Inspect
The final phase, “Inspect”, is where we review the results of changes, learn from the process and make any necessary refinements. Even with the best preparations, there may be areas you’ve missed or issues that only became apparent after implementation. So, this is the time to refine and improve.
It’s also critical to ensure you (1) have measurements in place and (2) assign people with responsibilities for managing ongoing efforts. This supports changes to become embedded, and sustainable into the future. That is, they become part of “normal practice”.
Like most changes impacting people’s operational work methods, it typically takes up to 90 days to fully integrate these new habits, so they become routine. Empower your team members with the opportunity and time to “drive” these processes, embed them within the business and, hopefully, understand the process.
Yes, it takes work. But it’s far more effective than constantly rolling out new initiatives that lack structure, trying to reverse poor implementation or making things up as you go. (Hidden costs like these can be high, and often why businesses feel so “busy”, spinning their wheels without making real progress).
To achieve and ensure continued success, commit to this five-step process for every initiative.
Closing thoughts
The time it takes to implement change will vary depending on the initiative and level of change required, but this is part of the ongoing process of transformation. The great thing about having this awareness is that you can slow down or speed up processes to proactively embed change within your culture.
Overall, these phases will help you improve your TSP’s operational maturity – not only through the initiatives you deliver, but through the daily practices you consistently uphold.
Hopefully, this has provided you with valuable insights, helped you identify areas where things can go offtrack and encouraged you to follow a new, more effective way of implementing operational change.
Motivated to build sustainable, operational change in your business? Talk to the TSP Advisory.
