ACES Change Management Lead — Workplace Safety & Insurance Board
ACES Change Management | WSIB
Change management lead on the Business Readiness Team for implementation of ACES (the Accounts and Claims Enterprise System) at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Ontario (WSIB), one of the most comprehensive workers’ compensation benefit systems in North America.
BACKGROUND
In 2013 WSIB was successfully employing several strategies to help injured workers "return to work and recover."
Implemented from 2013 into early 2016, ACES was part of a bold strategy to modernize WSIB operations, replacing multiple end-of-life systems with one new integrated and web-enabled system for administering employer accounts and managing worker claims.
After dismissing the initial change approach for ACES, WSIB needed a change lead to help build business readiness for ACES implementations.
PAIN POINTS
- History of cancellation of prior implementation attempts
- Silos impeding effective project coordination and collaboration
- Overall technical complexity resulted in underestimated technical effort leading to delivery uncertainty
- High public visibility raising the bar for implementation success
- High staff expectations for ACES
OUTCOMES
- Stabilized and integrated change approach into business readiness activities with all affected business areas
- Baseline engagement and communications approaches established to support ongoing implementation
- Knowledge transfer to business area readiness teams developed business confidence for implementation efforts
- Engagement and communications activity facilitated initial releases and strengthened executive confidence in the work of the change team
CONSULTING RESPONSE
Michael was appointed as the Change Lead within the ACES Business Readiness Team, directing change management, engagement and internal communications activities for ACES releases.
- Established flexible support models for change team to align with needs of affected business areas, coordinating the work of internal organizational change team and external change resources, and embedding change plan into readiness plans
- Built collaboration and trust with communications staff through co-development of internal engagement plan, core messaging and deployment calendars
- Developed approaches to assess change impacts for diverse business areas, working around sparse current and future process documentation from “agile” development process — completing assessment of change impacts in all areas
- Developed liaison with business executives, divisional leaders and business-driven readiness teams — and deployed a calendar to build executive alignment and visibility of messaging, engagement and core readiness activity
- Maintained liaison with program leads from all other areas supporting business readiness.
After leading the change team through ACES releases implementing new tools for managing accounts of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 employers, and preparing for worker claims implementation, Michael transitioned the Change Lead role to the manager of the internal organizational change team.