Change managers are expected to be early adopters
Change Managers often work on projects to introduce new technologies. They intimately understand the resistance to technology change adoption intimately, and are expert at navigating this. In fact, this is really what they are paid for: to increase change adoption, without adversely impacting productivity while the changes are underway. Or in other words, to move from the “old world” to the “new world” so that the transition is as easy for people as possible.
Since Change Managers understand technology change, they may be expected to embrace digital change easily themselves. In fact, some may even expect Change Managers to be early adopters of new technologies such as Generative AI tools.
Change Managers have already adopted many digital tools
Change Managers, like many other knowledge workers, have been traditionally worked primarily in a manual way. Change analysis was often generated through discussions and paper-based surveys, then manually analysed by people, with the help of spreadsheets.
With the growth of digital tools over the last 5-10 years, Change Managers have adopted these tools to make their work easier. Change Management Platforms such as ChangePlan offer a valuable digital enterprise-based approach for analyzing, managing, tracking and reporting. There are also a range of other digital tools being adopted by Change Managers, including digital employee feedback tools, survey tools and digital collaboration tools and whiteboards.
Trending now: AI Tools in Change Management
Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, Generative AI (Gen AI) now offer Change Managers new types of useful, practical and accessible tools. This is a transformative technology, which is literally “changing the game” for Change Managers.
Prosci conducted a recent survey and found that increased efficiency is the number one benefit from Gen AI for change management work, cited by 30% of those surveyed. 19% expect improved communication and support in creating change management content, while 14% believe it facilitates idea generation for change managers. Prosci suggests the biggest barrier in adoption is a lack of understanding of AI tools for change management. This article aims to improve the understanding of Change Managers, to encourage experimentation and usage of this technology in the workplace.
Adoption of Generative AI tools is growing with over 75% of knowledge workers now using Generative AI tools (LinkedIn and Microsoft study). However only a small portion, 7%, are using AI every day and saving more than 30% of their time (Behbahani, based on Section research).
There is a therefore a significant opportunity for Change Managers to be ahead of the adoption curve, and improve their own productivity. The top 5 use cases for AI Tools in Change management are presented below, including some suggested AI tools.
Top 5 use cases for AI Tools in Change Management
Here are some of the most useful types of AI use cases for change management:
1. Change Planning
Change Managers can use Generative AI tools to enhance their change planning. For example, they can use a tool such as ChatGPT to do the following:
- Generate a list of tasks required for a specified change project.
- Predict issues that are likely to emerge on a specified project.
- Predict risks and sources of resistance that are likely in changing from an old to a new process or system.
- Generate components of change plans or entire change plans.
The output of ChatGPT should only be used by a Change Manager as an outline to spark ideas. While you can improve the quality of the output by regenerating your request, it is unlikely that the output can be used in its “raw state” for your deliverable, and will require change expertise to fine tune it.
2. Stakeholder Consultation
Most Change Managers get involved in extensive stakeholder consultation exercises. A tool such as ChatGPT can be used for the following:
- Generate suggestions on stakeholder groupings.
- Generate ideas for the types of stakeholder research to be undertaken.
- Synthesize a set of interview notes to identify key themes.
- Analyze employee feedback comments to extract quotes on various topics.
- Rank the themes from most common to least common.
- Create a table of stakeholder information.
3. Analysis of quantitative survey information
Change Managers will sometimes collect information in spreadsheets, or have a spreadsheet of survey responses to be analyzed. This is time consuming work.
A tool such as ChatGPT can be used to analyze this information. As always, you will need to double check the calculations are correct, as ChatGPT is not reliable at sophisticated quantitative analysis.
You can cut and paste into ChatGPT a spreadsheet or upload it, depending on the version you are using. You can then ask ChatGPT to:
- Analyze the spreadsheet and extract key themes.
- Sort the responses based on different methods to find trends.
- Analyze subsets of information (eg survey responses by different demographic cuts).
- Make recommendations based on the data.
4. Drafting Change Management documents
An alternative product to ChatGPT is Claude Sonnet. This produces well written, plain English information and can be preferable to ChatGPT for drafting correspondence and documents.
Change Managers can draft initial outlines of content such as:
- Emails to a specific audience (such as changing the wording to suit an older or younger audience)
- Suggesting subject headings to increase engagement
- Agendas for meetings
- Training workshop outlines
- Staff announcements or brochures
- Invitations for workshops to maximize attendance
5. Generating graphics for change management communications
There are a range of tools that can be used to generate graphics. This author has found that DALL-E 2 to be the most versatile and practical tool for generating graphics suitable for change management communications. It is only currently available on the paid plan for ChatGPT but some free users may soon be able to use DALLE on a limited basis at no cost with ChatGPT.
Use cases include:
- Developing a project logo
- Generating a graphic to make a staff communication or newsletter more engaging
- Creating a communications theme (using ChatGPT), then creating a graphic for this theme using DALL-E.
The field of AI is fraught with risks and it is important to gain an overview of the topic of AI ethics and risk management. For more information on this, see the podcast hosted by ChangePlan with AI governance expert James Gauci.
Implications of Generative AI for Change Managers
As work becomes more complex, Change Managers will need a more extensive set of skills to succeed in the future. The use of Generative AI tools in Change Management is one of “5 Key Trends in Change Management” described by the author in a discussion paper.
Change professionals who experiment and use emerging AI and digital tools will be more efficient and have a significant advantage. Based on the research emerging from other knowledge workers, it is likely that Change Managers can save up to 30% of their time by using Generative AI tools.
Change Managers can also use Generative AI to increase their own creativity in developing ideas to improving employee engagement in projects, and reducing resistance. By adopting Generative AI, Change Managers will be able to use their time saved to focus on more valuable tasks, to positively influence their workplace and build a reputation for successful initiatives.
Lisa Carlin is a Strategy Execution Specialist, for projects where stakes are high. She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to design and deliver over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business, working with prestigious global organizations and technology firms. Lisa is Founder of The Turbochargers and runs a Strategy Execution Bootcamp for experienced Change Professionals. She is the author of globally acclaimed Turbocharge Weekly, which has over 8,000 subscribers.
