What does that Change Team do, anyway?
I do love a good dollop of visual management to raise the profile and demystify the change activity for the rest of the project team and stakeholders - and of course, it adds enormous value to the Change Team too - making the status of work, key performance indicators, and potential issues visible to everyone, promoting transparency and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
I am particularly fond of a good old fashioned Kanban board - on the wall for all to see. There are digital versions of course, but unless projected and highly visible these do not have the same impact in engagement of the wider project team and stakeholders.
By leveraging Kanban to visualise work, reduce bottlenecks, and standardise communication processes, I have found teams can significantly improve the flow of information, leading to more efficient collaboration and better outcomes.
For me, Kanban is a particularly good way to unblock information sharing:
By visualising tasks on a Kanban board, everyone can see what work is being done, what’s in progress, and what’s completed. This transparency reduces the chances of information getting stuck in silos.
Tasks or projects that require attention can be flagged visibly, allowing team members to easily access the information they need without having to ask or wait for updates.
A shared Kanban board acts as a central hub where information related to tasks, progress, blockers, and deadlines is available to all team members. This reduces dependency on individual team members to share updates.
Kanban encourages collaboration across different functions by visualising dependencies and encouraging team members to work together to move tasks from one stage to the next.
Kanban establishes a clear process for moving tasks through stages, which standardises how information is shared and ensures that everyone follows the same communication protocols.
By limiting the amount of work in progress (WIP), Kanban ensures that team members are focused on completing tasks before taking on new ones. This focus helps prevent information from getting lost in the shuffle of too many ongoing activities.
When fewer tasks are in progress, it’s easier for team members to notice when information isn’t being shared or when tasks are getting blocked, leading to quicker resolutions.
By actively managing and unblocking tasks, Kanban helps maintain a continuous flow of information and work, reducing delays and ensuring that all team members have the information they need to do their jobs. It provides a great indicator of how far we've come and what's left.
Importantly, as a visual management tool, it helps tell the change story and creates a great conversation starter with colleagues, PMs and Sponsors - making it easy to share just what the Change Team does!