The Nolan Company has always espoused three key factors that a company must take into account when embarking on a redesign effort: Process, Technology, and People. For any major redesign or reengineering effort to be successful, a company must be prepared to analyze and address potential improvements in all three areas. Key process issues need to be identified and addressed in order to select and implement appropriate technology solutions. Technology should support the defined business processes and practices. The goal is to ensure that systems are designed so that a company can take full advantage of the technology while supporting the business strategy.

Any modification to process or technology impacts people. Jobs change, often the organizational structure is impacted, and metrics and measures need to be defined to capture the expected benefits for service and productivity. Often training is required to prepare employees for the process and technology changes.

Over the years, my experience as a consultant has allowed me to participate in numerous redesign projects for various clients. If I were to focus on an area in which I feel many companies fall short, it would be the "people" aspects of the project. Nolan's participative workshops engage people in the redesign process and allow team members to craft recommendations to improve processes or to outline potential gaps in technology's support of the business strategy. This approach also gives the team an opportunity to assess the impact that the proposed future state will have on roles and responsibilities, to identify training that will be needed to support the changes, and to put in place metrics and measures that track the outcome of change.

My experience has been that companies tend to focus on the implementation of the process and the technology recommendations that come out of the workshops, with well-meaning intentions to follow through on addressing the consequences to staff. But during the planning process, somehow—and I would suggest that it is because it usually comes toward the end of the project—by the time the implementation team has turned its attention to the "people" aspects of the project, the staff has already begun to feel the impact.

There are several steps a company can take to avoid these pitfalls:

1. Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of any position impacted by the future state and work with Human Resources to evaluate how the proposed changes would affect current job design.
2. Complete a skills assessment of all employees impacted by the redesign. Use this assessment to identify skills/knowledge gaps and develop training plans to address those gaps. Preparing the staff in advance of any roll-out is time well spent; the effort can minimize employee frustration and maximize the anticipated benefits.
3. Identify anticipated changes to the organizational structure and put a plan in place to implement the new structure. This plan should align with the implementation of the proposed process and/or technology changes.  
4. Define your measurements for success.
   1. What are your baseline metrics?
   2. How will you measure the impact of change against the baseline?
   3. If jobs or the structure of the organization are going to change, what are the expected results?  
   4. Will the mix (professional, technical, clerical) of the staff change significantly?
   5. Do you need to work with Human Resources on changes to pay scales or broad-banding?
   6. How do you assess your training needs and prepare (train) employees for their new roles within the organization?

People, Process, and Technology—a change to any leg of the triangle requires an analysis of the impact on the other two. As you embark on your redesign effort, don't forget the people! Their ability to perform effectively in the new environment and management's ability to measure the impact of change will be tied directly to the success of your project.