IT Change Enablement Specialist

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. It was named the nation's No. 1 hospital for cancer care in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021-2022 rankings. It is one of  the nation's original three comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute.

Change Enablement professionals provide knowledge and experience related to the skills, structures, tools and support mechanisms needed to manage change and to foster an environment conducive to sustaining that change.  

The IT Change Enablement Specialist serves to create deliverables for the organizational change management activities on IT projects. Strong facilitation and communication skills are required to effectively transition all project stakeholder groups from project awareness to project buy-in/adoption. He or she ensures that organizational change activities are conducted, that dependencies with other implementation activities are identified, and that synchronization takes place from the business process management perspective. 

The IT Change Enablement Specialist is primarily responsible for documenting the process changes, ensuring that human and organizational risks to the implementation of the identified business process changes are identified and that actions are put in place to mitigate these risks.   He/she will get guidance and direction from more senior Change Enablement Specialists to help ensure that they are following change methodologies, including the MD Anderson ABLE model.

Guiding Organizational Change  
Measure effectiveness of change management plans and make adjustments where necessary throughout all project phases.
Identify, develop and implement approaches, processes and tools to monitor change adoption along the change curve prior to and post implementation at each phase of deployment
Identify key stages to implement change adoption monitoring (i.e. baseline, pre/post training, shortly after deployment, 6 months post deployment)
Incorporate quantitative sustainability measures post deployment to supplement pre-deployment change adoption monitoring tools
Assist with development and definition of change measurement practices.
Develop plans for deployment of business process changes    
Support deployment of business changes - support the transition team (including HR) in transitioning to future state as employees prepare to take on new roles, jobs, and teams
Assess application and training readiness for application deployment. 
Document and maintain deployment plans and provide regular updates to the project team
Gather and analyze information (for example, employee relations, HR policies and processes, and regulatory requirements) on the organization’s environment and systems for impacts to change effort
Align organization and business processes - ensure the business process designs are adjusted to reflect business roles and necessary organization changes
Assess skills and knowledge - assess if workforce has knowledge and skills to adapt to new business objectives
Design and conduct skills/competency assessments
Assist in designing and implementing learning and performance support programs to ensure that the organization has the knowledge and capabilities to deliver the change
Work with project leadership to design structure, define jobs, and organize teams - adjust conceptual organizational structure to reflect organization changes
Work with project team members to gather and analyze detailed information about the process design and the impact on the roles and stakeholders affected

Influencing Others  
Identifies resistance and performance gaps, and works to develop and implement corrective actions
Ensure activities are increasing stakeholder readiness through assessment and monitoring
Work with project leadership to identify implementation risks and develop action plans to mitigate risks
Promote realistic expectations of the organization with regard to new systems and processes, e.g. capabilities, features, etc.
Assist in planning for risk mitigation planning for all risks related to change management and stakeholder adoption.
Establish and maintain strong working relationships across all areas of the institution impacted by the project

Communications/ Customer Service    
Conduct stakeholder analyses and develop plans to ensure stakeholder readiness
Accountable for ensuring completion, presentation, and approval of stakeholder analysis documentation in accordance with program guidelines and integrating with readiness activities.
Interacts with and communicates with stakeholders to manage expectations and reduce resistance to change at all levels. Provide support to project managers and team members to facilitate all aspects of the change. Generate and maintain advocacy at the leadership level of the respective organizations and stakeholder buy-in for the implementation project.
Works with project teams, training, and communications to integrate change management activities into the overall project plan

Other duties as assigned