One of the keys to managing change is creating a Change Advisory Board, or CAB, which will help a business balance the need for the changes with any inherent risks. The members of this board will give the change management team the input necessary to help you make the best decisions for your company.

The job of the CAB is to review and prioritize any potential changes, keep track of the change process, and provide feedback. The board will also make sure that all the stakeholders including IT, security and business analyze the changes. The board will help ensure that the changes are implemented without disrupting your customers’ operations.

But once the CAB is established, what can be done to ensure that the board’s meetings are as productive as possible?

For one thing, the Change Manager, who convenes the meeting, must make sure that someone from the essential departments in the company are at the meeting. The Change Manager, who is responsible for change management, serves as the leader and facilitator of the CAB. If board member disagree about how best to prioritize changes, the Change Manager can resolve those disputes.

The CAB must meet on a regular, published schedule, typically weekly, to authorize changes. Hold meetings at a time that is convenient for board members. But they should be held at the same time and same day every week for consistency’s sake.

No one in the company should schedule a meeting that conflicts with the CAB meeting. And, if at all possible, CAB meetings should not be cancelled. Decide whether every board member needs to attend every meeting. Members new to the board should receive an orientation before they begin. The orientation should include the board’s bylaws, work plans, and descriptions of their roles on the board.

In order to make the meeting run smoothly, the topics for discussion should be distributed to each member of the board before the meeting. Too much time will be wasted if the members are required to review this information for the first time at the meeting.

These topics include:

• The requests for changes that have been submitted

• Minutes of the last meeting to be reviewed

• Updates of the status of changes that the board has already approved

• Review of the changes that have already been completed

Taking part in a Change Advisory Board requires members to listen to the ideas and opinions of other members. And they should discuss those ideas and opinions before making any final decisions. Sometimes it’s hard to work together as a group but here are a few tips to help board members feel more comfortable with one another and become a cohesive board:

• Ensure board members know each other’s names and a little bit about each other

• Encourage all board members to participate in the discussions and brainstorming sessions

• Ensure that each board member respects the opinions of fellow board members

In order to keep the CAB meeting moving forward as efficiently as possible, the Change Manager has to take charge and own the meeting. He must let members know he plans to keep the discussion on topic and on time. Having a clock nearby lets members know he values their time. Keeping to the schedule of agenda topics, and setting a time limit for each agenda item, will also help the Change Manager keep the meeting on track. If the members start to discuss something that’s not on the agenda, the leader must refocus their attention to the task at hand.

For the meeting to be most productive, the Change Manager has to be sure to get input from all the board members. He should treat all board members with respect and not immediately reject ideas or opinions he believes are worthless. And he must not impose his opinion on the group.

Before the meeting ends, the Change Manager should ensure that all the board members understand the next step or steps. Additionally, he should ask members if they thought the meeting was useful and stayed on track and what could be done differently at the next meeting. He could also follow up with board members individually to gain insight into his meeting strategies.

Finally, the Change Manager should ensure that the appropriate people understand what happened at the CAB meeting and what decisions were made. In addition, the Change Manager should have a system in place to track the board’s decisions and what, if any, tasks individual members agreed to undertake so he can follow up with them to make sure things are proceeded as scheduled.

Share on Facebook