Guest Post: 6 Change Management Tips for Achieving AI Success in Workers’ Compensation

However, successful AI implementations often require a strategic change management process to manage the unique challenges involved. Implementing AI into workers’ compensation programs is like being a tour guide. You wouldn’t start leading a group without first planning the route, checking the weather forecast, and knowing the hours of operation for points of interest. Similarly, thoughtful change management activities will help your organization successfully prepare for the journey of AI implementation.

Consider these 6 steps as your playbook for success. Your plan details may vary, but having an intentional and structured approach in place removes the worry and supports successful adoption.

Step 1: Pre-Planning Activities

Pre-planning should start 30-90 days before the change initiative.

• Complete Change Management Overview
  Understand the fundamentals of change management and familiarize yourself with tools like the ADKAR model, based on the principle that organizational change can only happen when individuals change.

• Review Best Practices for Leading Change
  Consider the importance of your managers and leaders in creating your plan. Prosci Research shows that most employees prefer to receive personal messages about changes directly from their managers.

• Get to Know the Change Management Resources Available
  Leverage your internal change management tools to simplify the change process.

• Create a Change Management Community of Practice
  Implement a Community of Practice to share experiences, issues, and success stories. This is a great way to learn from peers and other change management stakeholders. Consider this to be like your favorite travel blog or online travel community.

Step 2: Change Preparation

Change preparation is the first step after preplanning and will run concurrently with other steps as your plan ramps up.

• Identify Stakeholder Group
  Identify stakeholders and determine their required level of engagement.

• Evaluate Stakeholder Change Readiness
  Complete a stakeholder mapping exercise to understand the level of impact of the change on each stakeholder team and to determine their readiness. This is also a perfect time to complete a baseline change readiness survey.

• Facilitate Discovery Sessions
  Gather insights from key stakeholders to gain a wider perspective, as an early way to communicate the upcoming change, and to determine the level of communication and involvement expected and needed.

• Coordinate with the Technical Project Manager for Alignment
  This step helps align technical and change management implementation activities and timelines.

• Create an Initial high-level Change Plan
  This will help keep things on track and assist in other steps. In addition to the Change Plan, this is a perfect time to complete a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) assessment to align all change team members, internal and external, on roles and responsibilities.

Step 3: Change Impacts

The purpose of this step is to identify and assess key business process changes to incorporate into your Change Plan as mitigation strategies. Typically, you will start this step shortly after Change Preparation and they will run concurrently as the project progresses.

• Complete a Change Impact Assessment
  Work with the core team that will be impacted as well as upstream and downstream teams to identify key process changes. This is like calling out detours and highlights on your tour route.

• Develop and Incorporate Mitigation Strategies into the Change Plan
  Understanding the new business process changes and risks will allow you to develop mitigation strategies to support success and minimize risk.

• Consider Impacts to People, Process, and Technology
  This includes changes to how, when, and where work gets done; customer impacts; skill gaps and related training needs, and more.

Step 4: Communication

Build awareness, understanding, and successful adoption. A comprehensive communication plan will deliver the right amount of communication to the right stakeholders at the right time.

• Develop an Initial Communication Plan
  This plan will involve multiple channels of delivery and will be customized to each stakeholder based on the prior work you have done. Be consistent and timely with your communications.

• Tailor Communications to the Right Stakeholders
  While the messaging and content may be similar, the level of detail, the timing, and the format of the communication will likely look different for different stakeholder groups. Tailor communications to optimize their impact.

• Utilize Leaders, Managers, and Change Agents
  Meet people where they are. Leverage current team meetings and other current communication forums to spread the word and keep everyone updated. Remember that most employees would rather hear change news and updates from their direct manager.

Step 5: Training

Training may look different for each organization and specific implementations, but there are some best practices to follow. Consider training your Change Agents first.

• Conduct a Training Needs Assessment
  Determine who needs training, what do they need to learn, and the best delivery methods. Tailor training to specific roles. Define what successful training looks like. Are there other learning events and job changes to consider?

• Develop and Deliver Training
  Consider just-in-time training to promote retention and quick practical use of what they have learned. The plan should be detailed and should build staff confidence while addressing any knowledge gaps.

Step 6: Organizational Readiness

Organizational readiness begins with your first survey and stakeholder interviews and continues throughout the change cycle.

• Readiness Assessments
  Conduct the initial assessment as a baseline and follow-up readiness assessments to gauge preparedness. Use informal feedback, conversations, and surveys to identify gaps. Those gaps could be awareness, skills, sponsorship, organizational culture, and more.
  
  
• Pulse Surveys
  Regularly distribute pulse surveys to track progress and address any emerging issues. Balance the frequency to avoid survey fatigue.

Post AI Implementation: Sustaining the Change

Post-implementation, it’s important to keep your process changes moving forward smoothly to ensure long-term success. This involves continuous measurement, after-action reviews, and a solid sustainment plan.

Key post-implementation activities include:

• Measuring Success-Use predefined metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the change and identify areas for improvement. Think of it as asking tour participants to fill out feedback surveys at the end of the tour to improve future experiences.
  
  
• After-Action Reviews-Reflect on what worked and what didn’t to learn and improve future initiatives, like reviewing the tour with your team afterward.
  
  
• Sustainment Plan-Ensure business-as-usual resources are in place to support ongoing training needs and address any post-deployment issues, much like ensuring your tour guides are always prepared for the next group.

Implementing AI into a workers’ compensation program is a complex but rewarding endeavor. By following a structured change management process, organizations can overcome resistance, build stakeholder engagement, and achieve successful AI adoption, leading to enhanced workers’ compensation outcomes.

About Jim Bowers
Jim Bowers is the P&C Senior Solutions Consultant at Gradient AI, and brings over 25 years of leadership in the Workers’ Compensation and P&C insurance industry. He collaborates across teams to deliver innovative solutions that drive profitable growth and enhance customer experiences. With a background in underwriting and claims leadership, Jim is recognized for his expertise in implementing technology-driven strategies. He’s had numerous speaking engagements at industry conferences, publication in leading journals, and receipt of the MPower award for pioneering programs. Jim was a 2024 speaker at the NCCI Annual Insights Symposium and a prior speaker at the National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference. He also previously received the MPower award with his team for an innovative medical bill review straight-through- processing program. Jim has a bachelor’s degree in business from Grove City College, and an MBA from Bowling Green University.

This article first appeared on WorkCompWire.