Client Spotlight: Successfully Consolidating Customer Service Centres

The consolidation of four municipal service centres into one Customer Service Centre was a significant challenge because there were multiple locations, different ways of working, different cultures, and local governance structures to consider. Effective change management made all the difference.

Challenges of Managing Change

Going to one service organisation with four municipalities is a big change. The municipality of Dordrecht initiated the change, and as Executive Director of Services, Elo de Mul managed the change process. It was fun but challenging.

The project was under a magnifying glass from the participating organisations, which had unique cultures and histories with change. With previous initiatives, they had poor results without knowing the causes or sources of resistance. With this initiative, the change team knew right from the start it was important to engage the impacted teams in the change process. 

"Looking back, a year after the change, many people are very satisfied with the change process, and we did not even spend the entire budget. Our colleagues spontaneously say that they are positive about the change. The process went more smoothly than expected, and their work has become more rewarding."

—Elo de Mul, Executive Director of Services 

Structured Approach Provides Tools and Focus

"We had a lot of experience with change, but we had never used a structured methodology before," de Mul said. "The Prosci Methodology made it possible for us to tackle the change challenge differently this time."

The ADKAR® Model is a powerful tool that ensured their change team was informed. It kept them apprised about where teams were progressing and where they were experiencing barriers to adoption. It also gave them concrete actions to manage the change effectively.

Their key focus areas for the change included:

• Delivering targeted stakeholder communications about the change
• Engaging executives and managing their resistance
• Managing employee resistance behaviors

As a result, they were able to manage the change more effectively and, above all, to focus on what they needed to do. After deploying Prosci change management approaches, issues can now be addressed immediately.

A of Awareness

In all new minor and major changes, the organisation now takes into account that you must always start with the A of Awareness: Why is the change necessary?

The change team started to communicate early in the process and repeated the “why” question consistently. In addition, they were able to engage the executives more often to explain the purpose and necessity. They must explain the business reasons for the change because they are also the ones who can address and mitigate resistance.

Prosci also made it clear that change managers must repeat messages five to seven times—far more than most people feel comfortable with. But the power is really in consistent repetition.

"I find it easier now to involve the sponsors within the organisation and even outside it because Prosci provided the data that demonstrates the importance of their role and actions during change," de Mul said. "Getting sponsor engagement no longer feels like I’m asking for a favor from sponsors. Instead, I'm offering them an opportunity to manage the change process."

Embracing Change and Prosci Change Management

The entire project team completed the Prosci Certified Change Practitioner Program. That created a flying start, enabling them to easily talk about the change using the same conceptual framework and consistent wording. It also gave them a critical mass of people who embraced and adopted the methodology.

To make even more use of the Prosci Methodology, de Mul is considering training more people. "As an organisation, you must really focus yourself on using the method straight from the start of an initiative. Success makes it easier, but it remains tempting to lean back in old change behavior. Even change managers are just people. “