Q and A with Angela Knobloch, Finance Transformation’s Change Management Lead

Just a week into her new role with the Finance Strategic Transformation project team heading up change management, Angela Knobloch chatted with us about her new role, processing change, hiking, and reading recommendations.

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What led you to pursue a role in change management?

I have a background in talent management, so the people component of the transformation was attractive to me. In the end, people will be using the tools and systems, so enabling, coaching, and partnering with people is vital to the future success of finance across UVA. Also, through my work with Organizational Excellence, I’ve had the pleasure of building relationships with many people across Grounds. I’m excited that this role offers me an opportunity to help us to continue to change and grow our culture to the point where continuous improvement is just second nature.

Change is ever-present at UVA (and most places, if we’re being honest). How do you see our colleagues reacting to Finance Transformation?

People across Grounds are speaking up about their concerns as well as previous experiences and challenges, and that willingness to speak up is valuable. It’s a tremendous opportunity for us to listen and respond. People are less concerned about the technology itself than they are about what it means for them, their role, and how they do their jobs. It’s not about what buttons they will push.

People in the different units and departments across Grounds are heads down, grinding out the work, doing what they have to do, but at the same time, it’s hard to be fully aware of the end-to-end processes and how a decision in any one area affects another area. Part of the change management challenge we have is establishing a broad perspective on how everything fits together, and make more connections for folks across Grounds.

Click the image for a larger view.

Where do we go from here?

Now we have to deliver on truly demonstrating that we value, hear, and respond to our colleague’s concerns. As we head into Phase 3, we’ll take the dialogue from the big questions into the specifics, and having conversations about what all this will mean, practically speaking – how this will look, specifically, for people in different job roles. Organizational change is only achieved through individual change. The people interacting with these processes are very much on my mind.

You said that the change is about more than just a new system. Can you elaborate more on that?

Well, when you think about the future of work, we know that increasingly, machines will do transactions. The new world of work requires my ability to think and problem solve and interact and connect and ask questions. Part of this transformation is that we’re preparing people for new ways of working – that it’s less about me “hitting the button” and more about the larger picture of who my work is for, what it is for, and how it connects to UVA’s overall mission. We want to be great and good, and part of us being good is connecting with one another and doing my work well. My vision for change management in the project is to help all areas be effective going forward. We all get to help determine what the future state is, and we can all look beyond our own areas and focus on what’s going to help UVA be successful.

Angela, her husband Brett, and their
dog Roxy, who loves hiking as much
as they do!

What advice do you have to those who are weary of change?

Don’t think of change as something to be endured. Change is about managing transitions from the old to the new – instead of thinking “I’m being forced to change,” think about it in terms of co-creating the future together. How can we best partner together to provide the best possible future for us all? Participating in the change makes it easier (and more enjoyable, honestly!). We may not all participate with the same energy or speed, but we should think in terms of navigating it together. The old way of doing things isn’t going to meet our needs as a University, going forward. Instead of thinking about what we’re losing, we can think about how we can contribute to a better future. But people can only contribute this way if they feel they’re heard, valued, and responded to, which is where this role comes in. In the end, it’s not about loving the change – it’s about having the confidence to do it, and about the change making sense, and not just making people’s lives harder. If we’ve got a good business case and we’re actively partnering with our stakeholders and listening to them, we can navigate the new world together.

Any recommended reading or listening on the topic of change?

Recently I’ve been listening to a podcast called Navigating Change, by Howard Teibel, which focuses on change in a higher education environment.  Especially episode 218, in which he emphasizes the importance of thinking in terms of possibilities instead of problems for the future and changing our focus from being problem solvers to future creators. 

Recommended reading for undergoing change:

·        Switch:  How to change things when change is hard, by Chip and Dan Heath (of course this one – it’s so good)

·        Managing Transitions:  Making the most of change, by William and Susan Bridges