Managing Change: 5 Ways a Writing Agency can Help with Change Management

Change is everywhere. It is one of the few things one can consistently expect. Stopping change is virtually impossible. Therefore, professionals must find a way to adapt to change and thrive from it. In this regard, change management is a crucial task that organizations must master.

Getting change management right can have a significant impact on an organization’s overall performance. Successful knowledge transfer during transitions can lead to seamless shifts.

Nevertheless, finding the most efficient ways to implement change management can pose a challenge.

What is change management?

Change management is a consistent practice that all organizations undergo. Nevertheless, some organizations conduct change management more effectively than others. Thus, it is worthwhile to define change management as a business practice.

According to the Michigan State University Change Management Learning Center,  change management is  “the process, tools, and techniques to manage the people-side of business change to achieve the required business outcome, and to realize that business change effectively within the social infrastructure of the workplace.”

The definition above underscores the importance of establishing a system that incorporates processes, techniques, and tools that enable the achievement of business objectives.

As a result, organizations must strive to avoid building ad-hoc methods of addressing change.

Organizations must, instead, strive to create a structured methodology to address change efficiently.

By effectively addressing change, organizations can minimize the negative impacts change events can have on their objectives. Change management allows organizations to embrace change instead of fleeing from it.

What are the benefits of a structured change management methodology?

Developing a structured change management methodology yields several benefits. These benefits enable organizations to take advantage of change, leading them to boost their performance. Moreover, effective change management fosters seamless knowledge transfer.

Here are three key benefits of effective change management practices.

  • Change management allows organizations to prepare for expected and unexpected changes. In particular, change management allows organizations to address issues proactively before they occur. Moreover, organizations can mitigate the negative impact stemming from unforeseen change events.
  • Change management boosts performance by providing directives staff can follow. Effective change management practices also allow staff members to reduce the time needed to react to change events.
  • Change management fosters leadership among staff members. Specifically, clear change management practices allow staff members to avoid guesswork. Staff members can become more empowered within their respective positions by having a clear picture of what to do.

Overall, change management is a great way of enabling organizations to deal with change effectively instead of merely reacting to it. This practice provides organizations with the opportunity to thrive from change as opposed to surviving it.

What are the principles of successful change management?

According to Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business, there are four key principles scaffolding effective change management. These principles provide the cornerstones needed to implement successful change management processes.

Here is a look at these principles in detail.

Change management creates an environment of change.

Indeed, change management primes staff members for change. Effective change management practices remove the uncertainty and anxiety associated with change. Instead, clear change management processes allow staff members to have the tools needed to react amid any change event.

Change management drives innovation.

Effective change management practices breed innovation. When staff members no longer fear change, they are free to pursue change openly. In turn, organizations can utilize change to drive innovation.

Implementing a change management process allows staff members to improve communication by removing ambiguities.

Establishing a change management process enables organizations to determine clear roles.

And when roles are clear, adapting to change becomes a much easier situation.

Change management sustains innovation.

Organizations that remain stagnant inevitably fall behind their competitors. Consequently, failing to embrace change may lead organizations to lose ground.

In contrast, an effective change management system enables organizations to keep up with change, thus sustaining innovation. The most agile organizations can sustain innovation for extended periods of time. This approach enables market leaders to remain atop their respective domains indefinitely.

Change management is a learning opportunity.

No change management process is perfect. Nevertheless, it enables organizations to derive lessons from mistakes. As a result, implementing an effective change management process enables organizations to continuously improve their processes, techniques, and actions to better deal with change.

Ultimately, effective change management creates a positive feedback loop that breeds ongoing learning and development.

Building an effective change management process requires organizations to commit resources. Unfortunately, valuable lessons may get lost during change events. For instance, staff turnover may cause useful insights to leave the organization. As a result, adequately documenting change management practices is a pivotal step in implementing a solid change management system.

The question, though, lies in understanding how to document change management practices.

Merely writing down processes and building flowcharts may prove insufficient. Practical change management methods require a conscientious and focused documentation process.

This documentation process often exceeds the scope of most staff members. Therefore, organizations must find the most effective way of documenting their change management processes.

How can a writing agency help with change management?

The key to a successful change management approach lies in successfully documenting processes and procedures.

Effective documentation enables organizations to create a body of knowledge for reference purposes. Consequently, all staff members have a standardized binder they can rely on for accurate information.

However, the question remains: “Who will document the organization’s change management doctrine?”

The answer to this question is two-fold.

First, tapping incumbent staff members may represent adding tasks to their current workload. Thus, additional tasks such as documenting and writing a change management policy guide may lead to overwhelming workloads. Staff members may fall behind on their core tasks when this effect occurs.

Second, incumbents may lack the knowledge and experience in documenting processes.

While they may be experts in their respective domains, staff members may not have the practical skills needed to produce policy guidelines. As a result, the documentation process may become slow and needlessly complex.

A writing agency can step in to document change management policies and guidelines to help organizations streamline entire change management processes.

A writing agency has the experience and skill sets required to produce effective documentation, such as policy guidelines within a tight turnaround. Moreover, a professional writing agency can handle research, writing, and editing to produce top-quality documentation that ensures successful business practices.

5 Ways a Writing Agency Can Help With Change Management

There are five ways a writing agency can help with change management. As a result, organizations can rely upon a professional writing agency to take the burden off their staff so they can do what they do best. In the meantime, a writing agency does what it does best: produce high-quality documentation.

Here is a look at the five ways a writing agency can help organizations create effective change management policy guidelines and manuals.

1. A writing agency has the knowledge, experience, and skill sets needed to produce high-quality documentation.

A professional writing agency boasts expert writers, researchers, and editors who can tackle virtually any type of project.

The experts at a writing agency can hit the ground running with any type of project. Due to their degree of expertise, there is no need for training. The professionals at a writing agency know what to do to produce the best possible results.

Additionally, writing agencies employ a diverse expert team. As such, this diversity includes a variety of backgrounds that suit documentation processes such as producing change management policy manuals.

Ultimately, combining experience, knowledge, and skill sets enables a writing agency to tackle virtually any documentation process, including change management.

2. A writing agency helps save time and effort when documenting processes.

Documenting a change management process, particularly from scratch, requires time and effort. After all, it is no easy task to systematize, catalog, and summarize extensive business practices.

When staff members take on documenting change management processes, they may find themselves investing a considerable amount of time in addition to their routine tasks.

As a result, this ancillary demand could lead to overloading staff.

Employing a professional writing agency can drastically reduce the time and effort needed to produce high-quality change management documentation.

Moreover, the toll on staff members falls significantly. Staff members’ roles can focus on ensuring the information contained in the documentation accurately reflects the organization’s change management policies and guidelines.

3. A writing agency can translate highly complex processes into plain language.

Change management, like any other business process, often entails highly complex processes and technical language. As a result, disseminating this information throughout the organization may prove challenging.

When change management documentation does not adequately communicate the organization’s philosophy regarding change, staff may be unclear about what to do when they encounter change events. This uncertainty can lead to negative impacts such as information loss during knowledge transfer events.

A writing agency can spare organizations from unfortunate miscommunication. Professional writing agencies have the talent to translate complex, technical language into a digestible format. In doing so, a professional writing agency helps organizations ensure effective communication across the board.

Ultimately, effective communication allows staff to manage change efficiently. In the end, effective communication enables organizations to manage change events with minimal impact on their objectives.

4. A writing agency works in tandem with an organization’s subject matter experts.

A professional writing agency does not work in isolation. On the contrary, a professional writing agency works in tandem with an organization’s subject matter experts to craft change management documentation of the highest quality.

How does that work?

A writing agency’s expert scribes work with organizations’ experts to accurately capture their change management processes.

This approach requires describing actions correctly but also utilizing language that clearly transmits the organization’s voice, core values, and vision.

Most important, professional writing agencies can take an organization’s diversity into account to produce the best possible documentation.

Indeed, a writing agency strives to become a seamless part of an organization’s overall machinery.

Professional writers endeavor to immerse themselves in the organization’s culture to depict its essence accurately. That essence, in turn, becomes embodied in its official change management documentation.

5. A writing agency is a trusted partner in ongoing change management.

Change management is not a one-and-done proposition. Effective change management is a process that demands ongoing refinement and continuous improvement. As a result, change management documentation must undergo updates, revisions, and modifications at one point or another.

A professional writing agency can become a trusted partner throughout the entire journey.

Professional writing agencies not only handle the initial production of documentation but can also tackle the ongoing refinement process. This partnership ensures that documentation remains up to date while following the most appropriate business practices and industry standards.

Best of all, writing agencies, as trusted members, can assist organizations during staff turnover events. Thus, having a trusted writing agency on call ensures that no information falls through the cracks during knowledge transfer processes.

GET YOUR CONTENT WRITTEN TODAY

One Final Thought

Effective change management is a hallmark of a great organization. Industry leaders know that managing change requires a systematic approach based on clear guidelines and accurate documentation. A writing agency can help organizations ensure their policy documentation meets the highest industry standards.

Change management is an ongoing process. Consequently, organizations cannot ignore the need to strive for continuous improvement.

The commitment to excellence underscores the need for a trusted writing agency that can accompany organizations throughout the entire change management process. Working in tandem allows organizations to work on what they do best. Meanwhile, a professional writing agency can get to work on what it does best, too.

Updating Training Materials Quickly and Efficiently

If you have ever managed a company, you know that training materials are a necessity. However, ensuring that those training materials are up-to-date can be an overwhelming task.

Medium- and large-size organizations face content consistency challenges all the time. We know that overcoming these challenges may feel like an uphill battle or a backburner project constantly overshadowed by more urgent needs, but it does not have to be so difficult.  With the right strategies, updating, and more importantly, maintaining your training content can become easier, faster, and more efficient.

But, how do you get started?

Cross-Referencing

First things first, you have to take stock of all the training materials and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) you have. Once you have located all of your SOPs and training materials, you need to figure out which SOPs are referenced by which training materials and record this information in a clear, usable way. Knowing exactly which SOPs are referenced where can make the updating process significantly faster and easier. There are a couple of ways to do this, and it can be useful to incorporate both methods.

Reference Language and Inline Citations

It’s a best practice across all fields and types of content to keep references to outside documents relatively high-level and exclude specific information that’s likely to change often. This elimination of specific content will reduce the number and frequency of required updates in your training materials. Reference language and inline citations are extremely useful because they can provide specific yet brief cross-reference information.

For example, if a certain department has training materials that talk about travel policies and expenses, those training materials should exclude specific information that’s included in the SOP, such as rates, and just refer the trainees to the travel SOP. The training content can contain simple reference language such as “See SOP 2.1.4 Travel and Expenses for further details including rates.”

Inline citations serve the same purpose but use an even shorter format. Training material covering travel policies and expenses can contain specific policy information in parentheses or brackets that usually appear at the end of sentences or paragraphs. For example, a bullet point or paragraph about travel reimbursement could be followed with a citation like this: [SOP 2.1.4 Travel and Expenses]. This citation tells the reader where more information can be found and the content manager(s) exactly which SOP is associated with this content.

Tagging

While references and inline citations are useful when you’re looking at each document individually, you also need an easy way to find all training materials that reference a particular SOP. If SOP 2.1.4 is updated, you don’t want to have to read through every training document searching for references and citations to see which of the documents need changing as a result. You want to glance at a file and know which SOPs it references and be able to search and find all documents that reference a particular SOP.

A great solution that allows you to search for particular content across numerous documents is a tagging system. You can create meaningful tags, or labels, that can be searched and sorted and attach these tags to your documents. Tagging is a relatively simple yet extremely useful bit of technology that can save many a headache and hassle. As Zapier.com puts it, “With a couple of tags, you can instantly categorize and label files for hassle-free searches down the road, and then find all of those files again easily no matter where you save them.”

Let’s say that the sales department’s Business Travel Training Handbook is 30 pages long and contains multiple references to SOP 2.1.4 Travel and Expenses. It could even contain references to other SOPs. You don’t look forward to reading through a 30-page document (or your other 10 training materials) just to find out if you need to make changes to them. And you won’t have to if you add a reference tag to the Business Travel Training Handbook.

In Microsoft Word, for example, you can create these tags by editing the metadata (information associated with the document that isn’t part of the document’s actual content or filename).

Adding a Tag to an Open Word Document:

Click on the “File” tab in the top left (blue in the screenshot below). Then click on “Info” (in the left column under “File,” also blue in the screenshot below). In the far right column, look under “Properties” and find “Tags.” Click on the field beside “Tags” (it will say “Add a tag” before you click) and type in your tag name (in the orange circle in screenshot below).

You can also add a tag while you’re saving a document. After you click on “File” and “Save As,” you can click on “Add a tag” in the pop-up box (in orange circle in screenshot below) and add your tag before you save the document.

Adding a Tag to a Closed Word Document:

Right-click on the file you want to add the tag to and click on “Properties.”

Then click on the “Details” tab (in orange circle), click beside “Tags” (in blue), and type in your tag name.

You can also use any of these methods to remove a tag—just delete the tag name.

How to Search for a Tag:

Now that your training documents are tagged with all of the SOPs they reference, how do you use the tags to find what you need? When SOP 2.1.4 is updated, how do you find all of the training documents that reference it and may need updating?

Quickly and easily, that’s how!

First, make sure that the “Tags” column is displaying in File Explorer. Right-click at the top where the other column names appear and make sure there’s a checkmark beside “Tags” (or click to add the checkmark).

Now you can search for files you need. Click on the down arrow/carrot beside “Tags,” and a list containing all of the tags in use appears.

Now check the box beside the SOP tag(s) you want to search for. If SOP 2.4.1 has just been updated, then you’ll want to find everything tagged with “SOP 2.4.1.” When you select this tag, every document with the tag shows up.

Useful Note: If you select more than one tag in your search, any document with at least one of the tags will show up. Say you selected “SOP 2.4.1” and “SOP.1.3.4.” The documents that show up could contain either tag or both tags. In other words, this search wouldn’t exclude documents that only have one of the tags.

Tag System:

You’ll need to establish some rules/follow some best practices for your tag system, or things could quickly get out of control and super disorganized (not to mention confusing).

For example, you’ll want to establish a standard for creating tag names (similar to your file name standard). If there isn’t a standard way to name a tag, you could end up with several different tags that mean the same thing. “SOP 2.4.1,” “2.4.1,” “SOP 2.1.4 Travel and Expenses,” “Travel and Expenses,” “Travel and Expenses SOP,” and “2.4.1 Travel” are just a few examples of that tags that people might create without instructions.

You may also want to think about limiting what tags can be created for (SOP references only, all external document references, etc.), creating a running list of tags being used, and assigning one person or a select few to create tags or allowing the entire department to create tags. The more people involved, the clearer and stricter the rules need to be in order to maintain organization and clarity and avoid repetition.

Check out Zapier.com’s full article, Forget Folders: The Best Ways to Organize Your Files with Tags and Labels, for more details about establishing a tagging system and creating tags in different software programs.

ESTABLISH PROCESSES

Now that you’ve gathered and organized all of your training materials in one place and cross-referenced them with any relevant SOPs (and other external documents), it’s time to establish your processes.

Review of Organization Processes

You begin establishing processes and conventions/best practices during the organization phase by establishing cross-referencing and tagging systems.

These organization-based processes lay the foundation for successful content management. The next processes that need creating and implementing will determine how this newly organized content is managed—immediate updating, regular review cycles, etc.

Immediate Update and Review Cycle Processes

Now that you have established processes, it’s time to decide who has which role(s), what will happen and in what order, and when it will happen.

Immediate updates should be triggered by SOP updates. As soon as you know that an SOP has been updated, newly added, or removed, you need to see if any of your training documents may be affected and make any necessary updates.

You have to decide who is responsible for checking the training documents when an SOP is updated, who will read through the document(s) to find what needs changing, who will make the changes, and if someone else will review the document to ensure that the changes made are accurate and well-written.

Will tracking changes in a document and saving a new version of the document be sufficient record keeping?

When it comes to establishing a regular review process, you have to ask and answer many more questions, such as:

Who will be in charge of reviewing the training material? Will all of the documents be reviewed together by one person and passed along to another person for a second review? Is there a technical writer in the company who is available to lend assistance?

Will there be a regular review? Do certain training materials need reviewing more often than others?

Who will kick off this process at the beginning of each review cycle, and what will the process entail? Will reviewers and editors follow a checklist?

And how is all of this going to happen? Back and forth in a hundred emails or by using a project management system like Wrike or Trello (or the many others out there)?

A Quick Note About Technical Writers

All of this can sound (and become) overwhelming even if you don’t have a ton of training content. This is where a technical writer can make a huge impact.

Many larger companies have a technical writer on staff, and those who don’t could definitely benefit from hiring one. Technical writers can be a central resource within the company for all kinds of content and documentation. They can help departments and/or entire companies develop efficient processes, assist with reviews and writing/editing, create templates to help everyone get organized and relatively consistent (or just started in the first place), and help maintain consistency and improve quality across the company.

Maintain Communication

Establishing processes is essential, but all of that hard work will amount to little or nothing without implementation. And the key to implementation is effective communication. This is another area in which technology, including project management software, can be helpful.

SOP Owners

It’s a good idea to maintain communication with the people in charge of the SOPs. If changes in SOPs don’t trigger department or company-wide training, an email should at least be sent out to inform people about the update. After all, if you don’t know when an SOP is updated, you won’t know to check and update your training materials.

Between Departments

Departments can share useful information about SOP updates they’ve heard about, their training updating processes, their file organization systems and departmental roles, and ideas for collaboration and establishing consistency with other departments. Establishing productive relationships with as many departments and colleagues as possible can help many things run more smoothly, and adult peers tend to learn well when they learn from each other.

Within Departments

This is probably the most important aspect of communication because the processes are likely taking place entirely within the department. For that reason, it’s a good idea to provide one or more training sessions on the new processes and rules/standards. When everyone understands the responsibilities, steps, expectations, and smaller details involved, training materials will get updated more quickly and can be maintained more easily. It’s also important to consistently provide updates on process and responsibility changes to keep things running smoothly and obtain feedback in order to continuously improve processes and standards.

Technical Writer

Finally, if there’s a technical writer in the mix, maintaining communication with him/her can be extremely helpful. A technical writer can help with writing, editing, consistency, and creating and improving processes. They are also skilled at involving others in the process, keeping people on-task, and trying to hold people accountable to deadlines.

Ready, Set, …Oh, It’s Already Done?

Updating and maintaining current training materials is a big task that often gets pushed to the wayside, but by getting and staying organized, establishing and consistently following processes, and maintaining effective communication, you can update your training materials quickly and efficiently anytime an SOP is updated. Now that you can do it like a pro, you can use that extra time to do something else productive, like savoring your training content management victory.

Software Handout for Users

Employee Training, Workflow Procedures and Manuals

Are you looking to streamline your employee orientation materials?

Have you recently merged with another company, and you need to consolidate operating procedures?

Do you need to develop a welcome packet for new franchise owners?

Do your dated corporate manuals need a refresher?

We’ll take all your information and compile your company’s processes into clear copy. We work with you to identify your target learning objectives and overall corporate goals to create engaging training materials, procedures, and company manuals that your staff will actually remember.

We do the difficult work of deciphering your message so your readers don’t have to; the objectives will be clear to them from the get-go. We have experience writing instructional copy that boils down the essentials into training materials that are quick to read and easy to understand by:

  • Writing for your audience. Keep their needs and characteristics in mind, writing the copy to them using “you” throughout the instruction and sticking to an appropriate writing level accessible to all your staff.
  • Using terms your entire audience will understand. Realize that new employees might not yet know the specialized language of your field. If jargon is the only option, make sure to explain it fully – don’t assume it makes sense.
  • Using conversational language. It might seem to make sense to go with a formal style for training materials, but it’s harder for the audience to read.
  • Avoiding big words and complex sentences. Why use a big word when a shorter, more familiar word will do? Why opt for complex sentence structure when it can cause confusion?.
  • Keeping it simple. Only include as much as necessary to reach your learning objectives. Most people can only keep 4-7 snippets of information in their short-term memory, so don’t try to overload them.
  • Telling stories. People like stories; people remember stories. Engage your staff by telling a story – better yet, place them within a learning scenario.

Think Outside the Binder

If you’re still relying on the same 3-ring binder of employee training manuals that your company created in 1985, you’re likely missing the mark with your workforce today. Regardless of the information you present, an outdated presentation will leave them glassy-eyed and disinterested.

In addition to the typical read-along modules, consider introducing a “blended learning” approach that appeals to a variety of your workers’ senses (not just sight) and includes training in several different formats. A popular option in today’s corporate training space is video .

Video training can be particularly useful for organizations with multiple locations. Regardless of where your employees are located, you can link everyone and provide the same experience. This equates to serious time- (and cost-) saving by avoiding repeated training sessions. The possibilities are endless, but video training can be used for new employee orientation, new product training, and major company announcements, to name a few.

And remember that advice about recall? (No? “Most people can only keep 4-7 snippets of information in their short-term memory.”) Video lets your employees learn at their own pace and re-watch portions they missed.

Request A Quote
or
Call 713-465-6860


Related Sample

Software Handout for Users

Software Handout for Users

Shave the Fluff Off Your Copy

Lots of copywriters love fluff. They gravitate toward it instinctively because it sounds good.

Check out this sentence:

“At Acme Pet Supplies, we offer superior customer service to match our outstanding products.”

You might be thinking, “Oooh – that sounds so good! Everyone wants to see that a company has ‘superior customer service.’ Anyone who reads that Acme has ‘outstanding products’ will be persuaded to shop at Acme Pet Supplies, right?” Wrong.

Though it sounds appealing on the surface, that statement is weak. First of all, that sentence could be describing almost any business in any industry. It’s a fluffy generality that could be describing an auto repair shop or a deli.

Secondly, “superior customer service” and “outstanding products” are unsubstantiated claims. Consumers are bombarded by statements like these all the time and tune them out. Instead of padding your copy with fluffy phrases, use solid details to sell your products.

Take another stab at that first sentence:

“Recognized for outstanding customer service by the American Pet Supply Organization, Acme Pet Supply stocks everything pet owners need – from canary food to chew toys.”

No more fluff. Readers are left with a verifiable fact about Acme Pet Supply that proves Acme excels in customer service. Plus, this new version tells readers the most important thing they need to know: they can get all their pet supplies at Acme.

The next time you’re tempted to use an empty phrase, remember that your copy will be stronger if you shave away the fluff and leave only the facts.