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**Table of Contents**
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**Leadership Alignment Interview Guide**
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**Why do we conduct leadership interviews?**

*   To assess effectiveness of Cloud Migration leadership communications and involvement activities and gauge consistency across the organization.
    
*   To ensure that organizational issues and potential risks are identified early in the Cloud Migration.
    
*   To define the amount and type of support required from the Cloud Migration project team during the change process.
    

**What are the expected outcomes of the interviews?**

*   Refine Cloud Migration sponsor, director, and team leader communication/involvement plans to address any communication gaps.
    
*   Clarify expectations about the level of sponsorship that is needed or expected.
    
*   Prepare leader action plans to assist leaders in communicating and demonstrating sponsorship.
    
*   Document issues around priorities, competing initiatives, resources or other high level risks.
    
*   Inform steering committee of issues around priorities, competing initiatives, resources or other high level risks
    

**Confidentiality**: Information from individual interviews will remain confidential within the Client Migration project leaders & managers. A summary of consolidated information will be presented back to senior managers, however, nothing that will be attributed to named individuals.

### **Interview Structure**

*   The interviews are scheduled for 30 to 60 minutes.
    
*   The interviews are informal in nature and need to be non-threatening as possible. If there are issues or misunderstandings, we need to take responsibility for them.
    
*   It is important to record thoughts and perceptions during the interview so plans can be assembled to deal with issues.
    
*   It is important to leave knowing what communication (frequency, medium, content) they expect and that they are comfortable with the next steps and follow up actions.
    

### **Interview Approach**

There are four sections to the interview that need quantitative scores so that we can compile a "snapshot" of global leadership alignment.

1.  Understanding of the Cloud Migration project
    
2.  Current issues and experience of change
    
3.  Leadership/Sponsorship Role
    
4.  Change Readiness and Culture
    

The quantitative scores are a summary of the interviewees' thoughts and comments. It is important to get their feedback and thoughts around the questions and conduct a rating for each section during the interview. This does not need to be shared with the interviewee during the interview. A summary of the interview with our assessment of the ratings will be provided to the interviewee for their comments. The questions are scored using the following scale:

*   5 High No issues
*   3 Medium May need some follow up
*   1 Low Risk area, definitely needs follow up
*   N/A Not Applicable

The final section of the interview covers the next steps and describes what use will be made of the information obtained. Any actions requiring follow up should be reiterated in this section.

### **Suggested Interview Opening - sample**

_**Discuss "what is the Cloud Migration"**_  
"The Cloud Migration creates **common global processes** and implements **common technology globally**. This is to **maximize the benefits** of the investment. The project will be rolled out in X waves over the next X months/years. The team is working on building a **Global process model.** With important initiatives such as the Cloud Migration, it is vitally important to prepare the people at the organization for the change. This preparation will be a continuous process throughout the cloud migration at every level in the organization."  
_**Discuss "why The Cloud Migration"**_  
"The Organization has made a **significant investment in the Cloud technology rollout** and has determined that employing technology in additional business units can **leverage this investment**. All of the organization's regional applications are highly customized to support local requirements. This customization means that our systems are expensive to maintain and cannot continue to serve as the backbone for our global future. It is absolutely critical that we address this situation immediately."  
_**Discuss "what is Leadership Alignment"**_  
"For this Cloud Migration to be successful we have to make sure that the key influencers and leaders within the organization are aligned around the changes. Specifically, there must be **common agreement on expectations, priority, timing, resource needs, and how this project fits into the overall organization's objectives**. Since leadership is so important to a project like this, we want to make sure that **key leaders have the right info and tools to be visible sponsors**. We are beginning to assess these areas during the planning phase of the project so we can determine where we need to focus our efforts in communications and involvement with the leaders. Once the current situation is understood, we will complete an approach and the associated action plans in an effort to institute the leadership alignment process."  
_**Discuss Interview Structure**_  
"The Leadership Alignment interviews are being conducted with IT leaders globally. The interviews are structured as a **series of intentionally open-ended questions** that focus on specific themes. This approach is intended to **facilitate wide ranging, but still relevant discussion during the interview** regarding issues, concerns, and suggestions.  
"We ask open ended questions to facilitate discussion. We want to hear **your thoughts and perspectives** and hope that this interview provides the framework to spark ideas and improve mutual understanding."  
"What questions do you have before we begin?"  
_**Discuss Next Steps**_  
"Once all of the leadership alignment interviews are complete we will develop a series of next steps based on the data gathered. We will be looking for areas where the Cloud Migration team needs to focus more attention and developing strategies and action plans for involving and communicating with our CLIENT leaders, thereby increasing our ability to succeed.  
"We will be **conducting a subjective "rating" of the different sections** so we can determine the level of effort to be spent on each area. These ratings **will be provided to you for your feedback following the interview**.  
"We will follow up with you to discuss results of the interviews and specific action plans. The format for these reviews will be determined after the results are analyzed from a global perspective."

### **Leadership Alignment Interview**

**Section 1 – Understanding of the Cloud Migration**  
_**(1=low/needs work. 5=high/no issues)**_

| Question | Response / Rating |
| --- | --- |
|   a) What has been shared with you about the reasons for this Cloud Migration (scope, rationale)?   |     |
|   b) What is your understanding of the priority of the Cloud Migration at globally and within your own organization or region?   |     |
|   c) To what extent do people in your organization understand how the cloud migration aligns with the goals and objectives in your organization?   |     |
|   d) What are your expectations of the Cloud Migration – results and benefits?   |     |
|   e) How would you define success for the Cloud Migration from a "Company" perspective? What about from your own perspective?   |     |

**Section 2 – Current issues and change experience**  
_**(1=low/needs work. 5=high/no issues)**_

|   Question   | Response / Rating |
| --- | --- |
|   a) Have you been involved in or managed any change initiatives in our organization recently? How were you involved?   |     |
|   b) What was your experience? Did you achieve the expected results? What was done well? What was done not so well?   |     |
|   c) Would you say your experience was typical for how significant change is achieved at our organization? How well does CLIENT implement changes overall?   |     |
|   d) Based on your experience, what are the most significant obstacles and success factors in the change process?   |     |
|   e) As it relates to change, where will we likely encounter resistance? What will it look like? What are the project risks?   |     |
|   f) There are a large number of change initiatives and projects underway at our organization. How big a risk is this? Do you have any suggestions on how we can address this?   |     |
|   g) Do you have any concerns about the Cloud Migration approach or methodology?   |     |
|   h) Do you think the project is appropriately resourced with the appropriate staff?   |     |
|   i) Does the team have the organizational credibility to make this project a success?   |     |
|   j) Who is accountable for the Cloud Migration success?   |     |

**Section 3 – Leadership/Sponsorship Role**  
_**(1=low/needs work. 5=high/no issues)**_

| Question | Response / Rating |
| --- | --- |
|   a) What could/should your role be on the Cloud Migration effort?   |     |
|   b) What do you think is an appropriate level of involvement for you in the cloud migration, and what could some key components of that involvement be?   |     |
|   c) Broadly, how do you believe the Cloud Migration will impact your organization (process, people, and technology)? How big is this impact?   |     |
|   d) How will the Cloud Migration change the way you approach your work or conduct your daily activities?   |     |
|   e) What concerns do you or people in your organization have regarding the Cloud Migration?   |     |
|   f) What barriers or challenges are likely to exist to the Cloud Migration during the implementation phase?   |     |

**Section 4 – Change Readiness and Culture**  
_**(1=low/needs work. 5=high/no issues)**_

| Question | Response / Rating |
| --- | --- |
|   a) Does the culture at our organization encourage people to get involved in change initiatives? How?   |     |
|   b) Are people encouraged to take risks and make mistakes?   |     |
|   c) Are you involved in decisions that are outside your control (ex. Corporate level decisions)?   |     |
|   d) How are these decision communicated and accepted?   |     |
|   e) Are you satisfied with the methods by which decisions are made? Do you think the process is effective?   |     |
|   f) Please describe your perception of the relationship between regions (or business groups) within our organization and between organization headquarters and those groups as it relates to decision-making?   |     |

### **Next Steps**

**Support Required from the Cloud Migration Team**

*   Do you have any other thoughts or concerns about the Cloud Migration in general?
    
*   How would you like to stay informed about the Cloud Migration and how can we most effectively communicate with you? What suggestions do you have for providing ongoing feedback to the Cloud Migration team?
    
*   What kind of support do you expect the global team to provide from outside your country/area? (Regional only)
    

**What happens after the interview?**  
The information from this **interview will be documented** and **provided for your review** and confirmation. At that time, you may **add to your comments** and suggest further ideas and/or action plans.  
A **consolidated report** will be prepared with all interview results. The information will be used to identify collective issues facing the Cloud Migration. It will be presented in a summarized and non-attributable manner for use by the Cloud Migration project management.  
Initial **leadership alignment and action plans** will be prepared based on this information. A change management action plan will be prepared to address the implementation support requirements you have identified. Supportive actions proposed as a result of this exercise will be presented to you for your review and agreement prior to the execution of any activities.  
Any required **follow up logistics** on how we will work with you to review the results and action plans **will be determined after assessing results**.  
Reminder – **Your direct responses will be kept confidential**

 **Attachments:**