In this section we share some of the theories that may help you understand change better. Change happens in all shapes and sizes. It could be large scale organisation changes or implementing new technology.

ADKAR

A – The awareness for change. This is done through communicating the need for change with full rationale. Simple stating that change is happening is not good enough.

D – Creating the desire for change. Here we focus of the benefits of the change. This should consider how does it impact the volunteer on a day to day basis. Why should they be interested?
Digital Champions can influence this by communicating not only the need for change, but also the benefits of changing too.

K – Knowledge is built up through training and education. We are providing tutor lead training to all support line operators for bringing in this new system. We will also look to bring on more trainers who can support us with this.

A – Once someone has the knowledge from their training, volunteers should then practice this to boost their ability. This can also involve the ability to access the systems through logging in.
OneLogin can be a bit of a headache for us here.

Digital champions have a strong place in coaching an individual to use the system and boosting their confidence.

R – Finally, we continue to reinforce. At this stage we have to break old habits and make sure the new system is embedded to ways of working.
We can reinforce the use of the database positively by celebrating success and helping correct mistakes which might be made.

Bridges Transition Model

The below transition model is very popular for demonstrating how people react to change. This can be personal or workplace change. Think about the last time something in your life changed. Can you relate that to this model?

Generally speaking it is normal to for their to be frustration or even fear at the point that we announced the changes from one system to another. This may happen at different times for people and for some it may not even happen at all!
Perhaps as Digital Champions you are already in the ‘new beginnings’ section. We don’t want to tell a story of misery here, however, it is helpful to just have this in mind when you are speaking to individuals who may respond differently.