Executive briefing: Managing change during an outsourcing initiative

Contents

Managing change: The four principles

1. Visionary leadership

2. stakeholder analysis

3. Continuous and open communication

4. Detailed planning and tracking

Conclusion

About the author

About Trestle Group Research

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This executive briefing from Trestle Group Research focuses on successfully managing change during an outsourcing initiative, with an eye toward increasing productivity, satisfying customers and motivating employees.

Recipe for success: The four principles for successful outsourcing change

• Visionary leadership

• Differentiated stakeholder analysis

• Continuous and open communication

• Detailed planning and tracking

1. Visionary leadership

Clarity

Clarify the vision of the outsourcing initiative and its rationale. Everybody involved on both sides (outsourcing organization and service provider) needs to know how the project was initiated, who stands behind it and what the goals are.

Project sponsors have to be very clear about their outsourcing vision, the scope of each project, the details of budget, resources, milestones, governance, etc. and then need a forceful communication strategy. There are metrics and surveys to measure the clarity and the success of outsourcing communication. They look at each stakeholder group and ensure their understanding of the initiative, their commitment to it, and their readiness for action.

Visibility

Allow for as many face-to-face meetings as possible. The outsourcing project leader should regularly visit the remote delivery centers. It is hard enough to get mindshare, clarity, and commitment from people with whom we meet face to face and the difficulties multiply when the
process is located offshore.

The problem of getting attention, mindshare, clarity and commitment increases dramatically when working in a virtual team. The need for project management discipline in a virtual project set-up
cannot be overstated!

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