Effecting change in an organisation is essential for driving the business forwards and future-proofing operations. But each time you introduce new features, processes and ways of thinking, there is also the risk that these changes will cause disruption and negatively affect your output.
A recent survey found that only 43% of employees believe that their business is good at managing change. The consequences of this can include a reduction in business performance and employee engagement.
This is where the change advisory board (CAB) comes into play. The CAB coordinates and oversees the process of implementing change in a manner that will benefit the business and improve outcomes. This means that, when the CAB convenes, they need to be productive and make the right decisions. A successful CAB meeting means more effective change management, but it can be challenging to get right.
This article explains the benefits of holding regular CAB meetings and the steps you should take to improve meeting outcomes.
Meeting agenda, annual plan, board resolution and more templates to use in your meetings
Benefits of holding regular CAB meetings
There are numerous benefits to holding CAB meetings on a regular basis. They include:
| Benefit | Explanation |
| Improved change control | Rather than delegating change to various teams and departments, regularly convening the CAB provides a centralised and structured oversight process for managing and controlling the changes being implemented within the business. |
| Reduced risk of disruption | By collecting together your experts in change management on a regular basis, they can provide oversight on each aspect of change you are implementing, helping them to identify potential disruptions and minimise their impacts. |
| Enhanced communication | Your change stakeholders might not work in the same location or department, so being able to bring them together for meetings helps them communicate and collaborate more easily, ensuring everyone is aware of forthcoming changes and facilitating the free flow of problem-solving ideas. |
| Increased accountability | In a CAB meeting, you can assign responsibilities and designate action items so stakeholders can take ownership. This allows you to monitor their progress and hold them accountable for completing their tasks. |
| Faster issue resolution | Your meetings create a forum where the board can act promptly on problems and issues that arise in your change management process. Rather than having to pass a query up the chain of command, you can gain an expert answer to an issue in the meeting room. |
Steps to an effective CAB meeting
Define the meeting objectives
Before you call the meeting, ensure you have a clear objective for it. Without a clear purpose, the discussion can be unfocused and, therefore, less effective. You need to know where you want to be at the end of proceedings.
For example, your objectives could be:
- To review change requests
- To assess the impact of changes carried out after previous meetings
- To assess the risks of ongoing projects
- To understand the benefits and challenges of projects
- To decide whether to go ahead with a project
- To prioritise change requests
Once you understand where the meeting needs to go and what decisions need to be made to benefit the business, you have a framework in place that you can begin to flesh out.
Prepare the agenda
The meeting agenda details the stepping stones you need to reach the meeting’s objectives. The motions included should aim to provide information and insight, promoting discussion and idea sharing, with the purpose of making the well-informed decisions you need to move forwards.
A typical CAB meeting might deal with a number of change requests in order before moving on to other related topics.
Include presentations that relate to the change requests you will discuss, talking points and areas in which you need to take a vote of the CAB members. Set it out in a template to show the running order, the time allocated to each item, the stakeholder leading each section of the meeting and how you will decide the outcome. Include the date, time and location of the meeting too and attach any relevant documents that will help CAB attendees prepare.
Meeting agenda, annual plan, board resolution and more templates to use in your meetings
Distribute the relevant documentation
Once you have the agenda and the relevant documents, reports, change requests, risk assessments, impact analyses and any other items that will help your member prepare for the meeting, you should distribute them.
Try to send these out well before the meeting, as attendees need time to read the documents and formulate their opinions and ideas. Have your meeting participants review the agenda and documents as soon as possible so they can flag any problems and you can rectify them.
Review change requests systematically
Move through the agenda topic-by-topic, looking at each change request in detail. Consider the objectives of the request, the impact it is expected to have on the organisation, the risks of implementing it, the risks of not implementing it and the resources it requires to work. This will help the board come to a decision over whether it offers sufficient value to the business.
Take into account the impact on the business’s operations, how it interacts with the existing systems, how users will react to it, how you maintain data integrity and what effect it will have on your compliance efforts.
Create a structure by which you evaluate changes within your CAB meeting so that you ensure you consider all aspects and create a level-playing field for comparison.
Decision-making
For each change request discussed and motion on the agenda, you should take a vote of members to decide whether to proceed or not. Once stakeholders have read the documentation and discussed the case in the meeting, take a poll on whether you approve, decline or defer the change request.
Each CAB will have its own threshold for approving requests. You might agree that there has to be:
- A simple majority, where there need to be more than 50% support for a request to approve it
- A three-quarters majority, where 75% must be in approval for it to proceed
- A consensus, where all stakeholders must agree to the request.
You should implement the voting rules that work best for you and your organisation.
Assign action items and owners
After you make the key decisions, you need a process in place to ensure they are actioned. This involves assigning action items to specific individuals or teams and letting them take ownership of the next steps.
Clearly outline what is required for each approved change request to happen, who will take charge, what they need to do and when they need to do it. Deadlines are important to allow you to track progress towards completing actions and to hold stakeholders accountable.
Document the meeting minutes
The meeting minutes are your document of the meeting, the discussions that happened and the decisions and resolutions made. Capture the essence of the conversation, make a note of the votes and decisions and ensure you clearly state the action items.
Write up the minutes as soon as possible, while the meeting is still fresh in the mind, and distribute them to all stakeholders. They should review them, flag any issues and approve them, with any necessary amendments, before the next meeting.
Follow up and review
Monitor the implementation process to ensure that the actions designated are being carried out correctly and on time. Evaluate the impact of their implementation and bring that data to the next meeting. Schedule a review of changes to update the CAB at the next meeting. Discuss what went well and identify areas for improvement, considering how the meeting process could be improved to create better outcomes.
FAQ
What is the difference between CAB and other committees?
The CAB focuses specifically on evaluating and approving changes, typically within IT systems. As such, its remit is quite narrow, compared with other committees that have broader strategic and operational remits.
How often should CAB meetings be held?
Regular meetings should happen often, but the frequency will depend on the volume of change requests and how critical they are to the company’s operations. You might also need to hold emergency CAB meetings to address urgent, high-priority changes that arise.
Who should attend a CAB meeting?
You will have a regular team of stakeholders, including managers, IT leads and other experts, who attend your CAB meetings. You might also need to invite specialists for meetings where there is a topic for discussion that requires outside input.
What are the key challenges in running effective CAB meetings?
You need clear communication to ensure a smooth running CAB meeting. This includes ensuring all stakeholders are prepared when they enter the meeting room. In addition, there can be conflicting priorities amongst your stakeholders and sometimes the timeframe in which a decision is needed can be tight.
How can we make remote CAB meetings more productive?
For remote CAB meetings, using a high-quality video conferencing solution or a board portal, such as iBabs, will reduce disruptions and help keep discussions on track. You can also use iBabs to register votes digitally, which smooths that process. Any tool that allows collaboration between meetings fosters the sense of teamwork needed for an effective meeting dynamic.
What is the relationship between ITSM and a CAB?
A CAB is a core component of IT Service Management (ITSM), setting in place the change management process by reviewing, approving and overseeing changes to IT services and infrastructure.
What is a CAB (Change Advisory Board)?
A CAB is a group of stakeholders who review and authorise changes to IT systems or business processes, ensuring they are managed effectively and with minimal disruption. They play a key role in the change management process and develop an effective change schedule in the best interests of the organisation.
Purpose of CAB meetings
The purpose of CAB meetings includes:
- Risk management. CAB meetings help identify, assess and mitigate potential company risks associated with changes before implementation.
- Stakeholder alignment. These meetings ensure all relevant stakeholders are informed and aligned on the changes being proposed.
- Change impact analysis. CAB meetings allow teams to evaluate the potential impact of changes on business operations, systems and users.
- Approval and prioritisation. They provide a formal process for reviewing, approving and prioritising changes based on organisational goals.
- Compliance and governance. CAB meetings ensure that all changes comply with regulatory, legal and internal governance requirements.
Conclusion
For an effective CAB meeting, you need to have procedures set in place to ensure that all stakeholders have the time to prepare fully, can communicate with each other, can vote and can be assigned action items that you can monitor to ensure decisions turn into real change.
iBabs is a meeting portal that creates a streamlined workflow for the entire meeting process. You can create a CAB meeting agenda with attached documents in minutes and distribute them to meeting attendees’ accounts immediately. Stakeholders can collaborate on the platform, there is voting functionality and the option to attend meetings through video conferencing. In addition, you can monitor the progress of members towards completing their action items and easily distribute, review, amend and approve minutes. Request a demo of iBabs today to see how you can optimise your CAB meetings.
