This guidance note presents the key components of change management programs, together with several country cases, in order to assist practitioners in the design of change management and adaptive leadership programs as an integral part of country specific PFM system reform projects.
Key findings:
- Key challenges for mobilising a large group of individuals (reform teams) to work together effectively and achieve reform objectives include:
- high level political support (continuity of strong interest and commitment to reforms)
- developing adaptive leadership skills (sharpening problem solving skills of reform teams)
- stakeholder mapping to identify key actors (commitments) and support/resistance (constraints)
- development of a shared vision (direction) to clarify what will be achieved and when
- communication strategy (alignment) to coordinate and integrate different components
- well-defined deployment plan (specific milestones, and incremental achievements)
- capacity building plan and appropriate institutional framework
- system integration and transition capacity (capacity building and knowledge transfer)
- managing resistance (active engagement, empowerment, building trust)
- assessing risks (integrating risk management into governance framework)
- There are a number of options to manage change effectively depending on the country and reform context and constraints. In some cases, an incremental approach may be better suited. In others, more radical changes may be more feasible and desirable. When facing an incremental approach, it is important that organisations do get “change fatigue”, and there is a danger that adapting too much for culture can dilute the desired outcomes of the change.
- Functions such as procurement and contracting cannot be outsourced completely, and each institution should have some basic capabilities to be able to develop and maintain their information systems, manage relevant contracts and ensure sustainability of FMIS platforms.
- There should be necessary monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to follow the progress during the development of FMIS solutions, and assess risks and compensation measures accordingly. Stakeholders should receive regular updates about the progress, challenges and results achieved to build trust and support.
