Change managers’ training and methodological support to Riga Technical University

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of the project “Institutional capacity development at Riga Technical University” is the development of institutional capacity of Riga Technical University (RTU) by ensuring the implementation of recommendations by external research assessment and enhancing the efficiency of governance and resource management all aimed at fostering the international competitiveness of RTU and improving the quality of research activities therefore facilitating the attainment of the overall strategic goals of RTU.

Selected as a result of a procurement procedure in the period November 2015 – December 2015 Dynamic University held the change managers’ training, as well as developed the change management governance model and methodological training material for a 4 months period therefore assisting in the process of the envisaged change management implementation and facilitating the attainment of the overall strategic goals of RTU.

Project task involved the assessment of the current approach to change management and the potential application thereof for the needs of the strategy implementation on all institutional levels, the definition of roles, duties and responsibilities of change managers in the process of implementing changes, as well as the definition of the change management model (inlc. stakeholders and areas of their responsibilities, methods of communication and risk management, etc.) and the drafting of methodology for undertaking change managers’ training involving the training modules of the so-called train the trainer methods.

PROJECT SOLUTION AND RESULT

For the purpose of reaching approval to the vision and strategic goals of change management, at the inception of the project multi-level interviews with the representatives of RTU management were held, specifying the focus of envisaged changes, identifying the potential challenges related to the implementation of changes, specifying other initiatives and processes taking place in the organisation parallel or simultaneously, therefore indicatively identifying the preparedness of RTU and its structural units for change, as well as the expected impact of envisaged changes.

To define roles, obligations and responsibilities of change managers in the process of implementing changes, firstly, the composition of the working group of RTU change managers was identified and approved. Moreover, the potential vehicles of motivation for a target-oriented and result-oriented involvement of change managers in the execution of the defined roles were defined.

Within the framework of the project the developed RTU change management model is composed of the following components:

• Goals and key performance indicators of change management;
• Tasks, stages of implementation and expected results of change management;
• Stakeholder mapping;
• Areas of responsibility of stakeholders and the governance structure (management team, working group, etc.);
• Resources required for implementing change, process supervision and quality management;
• Principles, formats and channels of internal and external communication, as well as the key communication messages to ensure awareness of the process by all stakeholders;
• Assessment of major risks and any adverse consequences of change at various levels of RTU, assessment of their potential impact, as well as definition of activities targeted at their elimination and management processes.

The second stage of project implementation involved the development of methodology for change managers’ training, incl. envisaging the train-the-trainer approach, consequently developing a tailor-made training programme for RTU taking into consideration the organisational culture and specific features of the university as a research institution, as well as its strategy including in the training programme modules the following topics:

• Fundamentals of the change management theory;
• Necessity of change at RTU and vision, status quo and goals and strategy of change management;
• Benefits of changes at RTU;
• Role of RTU change managers in the organisation;
• Roles of other RTU employees in the change process;
• Road-map of RTU change management, the main stages, tasks, incl. communication plan and messages to stakeholders;
• RTU change management monitoring elements;
• Success factors for change management (small or short-term wins, sustainability of changes – creation of new values, attitudes and new culture and its strengthening for a long-term);
• And others.

For the purpose of preparing RTU change managers for their roles and tasks after the methodology was developed a modular 24 h training to RTU change managers was provided, including both the theoretical lectures as per developed methodology and content for change managers’ training and practical exercises and situation  role plays.

At the conclusion of the project and for the purpose of ensuring the sustainability of the change management as per the developed change management model, a methodological training material or plan for implementing changes was developed stating that the outcomes of change management become an integral part of daily life of the organisation. Moreover, the methodological assistance was provided both to RTU management team and the nominated change managers at the respective structural units of RTU for a 4 months period.