Date Published May 16, 2017 - Last Updated December 6, 2017
In January 2017, HDI presented the Top 25 Thought Leaders in Technical Support and Service Management. To help you get to know them better and learn what it means to be a community leader, we’ve interviewed each of our thought leaders. Today, we hear from Karen Ferris.
Briefly describe your day job and also how you are involved in the community.
I am a service management and organizational change management consultant. I am a director at my own consulting company, Macanta Consulting. I spend my days assisting various organizations of all shapes and sizes in their service management and organizational change management endeavours.
I try and give back to the service management community as much as I can. I write blogs and also host a regular Karen's Conversations with industry thought leaders. I contribute to various conversations on the Facebook page BACK2ITSM and on LinkedIn. I regularly speak at events, webinars, and conferences with six events already in the diary for the first half of this year!
What motivates you to be active in the community?
I love this industry and the people in it. That's why I like to give back as much as I can. I love to see other people grow and blossom, and if I can help in anyway, I will. I have a thirst for knowledge and if I can satisfy someone else's thirst, then that is great.
What suggestions do you have for tech support professionals interested in getting more involved in the community?
If people want to become more involved in the industry, I suggest they look at events hosted by organizations such as itSMF and HDI. They should become members of these sorts of organizations and get involved. Follow some of the people in the HDI Top 25 Thought Leaders list on Twitter. Check out their blogs and conversations and hear what they have to say. Join in the conversation! If possible, attend some of the conferences on offer—get involved in workshops, panel discussions, and the like.
What trends do you anticipate for organizational change management and its relationship to service management over the next few years?
I think (hope) we will see more organizational change management (OCM) being applied to service management initiatives going forward. It has been a slow journey to the recognition that any change initiative—be it change in process, tools or technology—impacts people, and we have to help people transition through change. If any improvement initiative is to be a success, it has to become embedded into the DNA of the organization and that only happens when people accept and embrace the change as the new way of working. This is achieved through OCM. We have to surface the resistance to change—and there will be some—and put in place tactics to remove the resistance and get people on board. Up to now, many organizations have paid lip service to OCM or made the assumption that it is just about communications. It’s much much more than that. The research is out there that tells us that 70% of change initiatives fail due to lack of OCM. So it’s time to stop being a statistic!
Change management has to become embedded into the DNA of the organization.
Amy Eisenberg is the editor for HDI where she works with industry experts and practitioners to create content for technical support professionals. She has worked in B2B media and scholarly publishing for more than 20 years, developing content for print and digital magazines, print and email newsletters, websites, conferences, and technical seminars. Follow Amy on Twitter @eisenbergamy, and connect with her on LinkedIn.