Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/65226
Change Management An early snapshot such as this enables targeted change interventions specific to the task and region/country. Adoption feedback also provides insight into how to adapt existing change interventions. Initially, the team produced six regional versions of an English-language job aid, each customised with country-specific information, vocabulary and spellings (e.g. organisation vs. organisation) to help counter the perception of change being driven by the corporate centre. After implementation, adoption feedback indicated that day-to-day reliance on these materials had decreased, allowing consolidation of the regional versions, thus simplifying maintenance going forward. Change interventions also must evolve as strategic choices are made to improve the user experience of receiving HR services. "We continue to audit our procedures, tweak any differences, and simplify them over time," says Kevin Shigley, HR director of talent acquisition for The Coca- Cola Company. "We continuously look for opportunities, pilot these improvements in smaller areas, learn from the pilots, and then drive that change across the business." After all, going live is only the beginning of managing the path from change to a new "business as usual." Rich Litner is a change management lead for The Coca-Cola Company and Lester Levine is change management lead for Aon Hewitt. DON'T OVERLOOK SIMPLE THINGS: • Bandwidth Issues When delivering streaming video, remember that Internet speeds and access to computers can vary widely across different parts of the world, so plan for different delivery systems. Some locations in Asia and Africa could not view some of the leadership videos that had been posted on the web and required CDs for face-to-face meetings instead. • Geography-Specific Holidays or Events What may be a holiday in one part of the world may not be in another. Assigning work to British team members to carry during the American Thanksgiving week provided an extra burst of productivity, while planning a go-live for May 1 in Europe presented significant challenges since much of Europe celebrates May Day. • Telephone Numbers Everything communicates. Sometimes having a phone number based in-country versus a number based in the corporate headquarters' country can communicate the support of local leadership behind a change. Other times having a local number will allow for reduced charges from local mobile plans. Regardless, all of these factors must be considered when deciding how many different phone numbers to have and where those numbers will be. In the prior Asia-Pacific wallet card example, the team was careful to note when and where associates should use different numbers depending on whether they were on a mobile phone or in China, Hong Kong, or another part of the world. • Government Rules and Regulations For Europe, changes to organisations that impact associates legally must go through works councils, which can add significant time to project deployment. The works council must be treated as a separate stakeholder and be advised of communications prior to involving associates in work that could impact their positions. • Terminology What is a manager? The same term may mean very different things in China and Brazil. And sometimes the opposite is true—two different words can mean the same thing in different countries. Employees that "separated" from The Coca-Cola Company in the United States were called "leavers" in England, which in turn created challenges for the United States as an employee on "leave" is very different from an employee who leaves a company. Having an extended field team can help to highlight some of these differences. Sometimes it is important to speak multiple languages, even if that one language is English!