Discover one CSP’s story in navigating a FedRAMP and Security Level 4 DISA certification
The last update on our FedRAMP story was shortly after we achieved our FedRAMP Ready designation. Since then, we have started moving toward the most difficult stage of all – the review.
Let us share with you how we got here.
Topics: change management, fedramp
Discover one contractor’s story in navigating a FedRAMP and Security Level 4 DISA certification
As well prepared as our team came into the FedRAMP certification process, we could never have been prepared for the difficulty of navigating the road that is FedRAMP+/DISA certification.
Before making it appear that we are complaining, allow us to clarify that FedRAMP itself has admitted that the process is still too time-consuming and costly for most small businesses. In fact, the FedRAMP expert we hired to initially guide us through this process told us, “You are crazy to try: you might not be able to sustain it financially as a small business and should consider whether this opportunity is worth the risk. By the time you get through the whole process (esp. with the DoD involved), you might not be a business anymore.” At the same time, FedRAMP is an unusual Government organization in how committed it is to improving this—since 2011, there have been many changes for the better.
Topics: change management, fedramp
Part of our Series on our FedRAMP journey
One contractor’s story in navigating a FedRAMP and Security Level 4 DISA certification
Why tell our journey of going through FedRAMP?
We’re sharing our story to encourage you regardless of how you’re involved in technology and modernization:
This series of articles will hopefully tell an interesting story and shed some light into the process.
Topics: change management, fedramp
Part of our Series on our FedRAMP journey
It's become all too common (and usually justified) for private industry to believe that over time, Government programs grow in scope and budget, and not only fail to achieve their goals, but become a hindrance to their stated purpose.
If you scrutinized FedRAMP just a few years after its creation in 2011, you would have come to this same conclusion. Instead of helping Government agencies achieve IT modernization, factors had come together to make the FedRAMP process a bureaucratic morass that was difficult and costly to navigate toward authorization.
It was surprising then that in 2015, the directors of FedRAMP did something unfortunately rare in our industry: they reflected on their program and with brutal honesty admitted that it was failing. This was the first and most important step the in the process of rebuilding the program from the ground up.
It’s because of this bold action that FedRAMP is seeing more and more success in helping agencies move to the cloud and helps FedRAMP stands out as a program that is (if slowly) successfully moving closer to the goal it was created to achieve.
Topics: change management, fedramp
Part of our Series on Leading & Adopting Change
Finally, we come to the final stage of the 8-stage process of transformation, a proven method created by John Kotter to help organizations effectively change.
In summary, the goals of Stages 1-7 are to create a new vision, recruit a leadership team and generate new behaviors – all of which lead to gradual transformation across the organization. The goal of Stage 8 is to firmly ground these changes in the organization’s culture. Stage 8 ensures that these changes are sustained long into the future. Without it, organizations will automatically regress to old patterns and the changes will be lost!
Regardless of how intelligent and competent an executive team is, if no one teaches them about organizational culture and its powerful influence on behavior, it’s natural for executives to allow a major transformation effort to regress.
Topics: change management
Part of our Series on Leading & Adopting Change
As we shared in the previous article, short-term wins are vital for the success of a long-term transformation effort. After each victory, it’s important to celebrate the hard work your team has done, yet at the same time, to use that energy to start the next project. Beware of big celebrations, which spread the message “We’ve done it! Everyone can relax now,” because as soon as people begin to believe they have arrived, complacency can begin to creep in, and urgency is lost.
Major transformations take a long time, and there are several factors that can slow down or stall this process:
In a very short time, years of work can be undone. Instead, during Stage 7 of transformation, leaders must do 3 things:
Topics: change management
Part of our Series on Leading & Adopting Change
The primary purpose of the first 6 stages of the transformation process, as developed by John Kotter, is to build up enough momentum to break through the dysfunctional barriers that prevent organizations from change.
When we ignore any of these stages, we put the entire effort at risk. Especially in Government, the process is tenuous and time consuming – it usually takes years to complete. Stage 6 is, in part, a culmination of Stages 1-5, taking all the work together to start making small, measurable changes to the organization.
If you initiate a transformation effort for your Agency, from the beginning you will get a few zealous believers in your vision, who will be willing to stay the course no matter how long it takes. For everyone else, however, the effort will need to provide measurable performance improvements along the way, showing that the effort is moving your organization in the right direction.
Topics: change management
Part of our Series on Leading & Adopting Change
A major transformation effort cannot succeed without broad support, in attitude and in action, across your organization. In order to get this support, people need to be inspired by the vision and empowered by leadership – in this case, “empowered” means that employees feel capable of helping, that their help is needed, and that organization structures, systems, and supervisors are also in alignment with the vision.
Stages 1-4 of a transformation effort are:
These four stages can inspire people to support the transformation effort, but there are numerous obstacles that can still block them from having the power to do so.
In this article, we summarize Stage 5 of John Kotter’s Leading Change, sharing how leadership can remove these obstacles and enable the people in their organization to give vital support needed for success.
Topics: change management
Part of our Series on Leading & Adopting Change
What good does a powerful vision do if no one hears, understands, or supports it?
A great vision can accomplish goals even if it’s only understood by your key leaders, but real transformation happens when that vision sinks deeply into the minds and hearts of most of the people in your organization.
In this series on leading and adopting change, we’re summarizing the book by John Kotter, Leading Change, chapter by chapter. Our goal is to inspire and equip you to bring about lasting change in your Agency – whether that’s successfully navigating a modernization initiative, becoming a leader in innovation, or fundamentally changing how fast or effectively your organization can solve problems.
Topics: change management
Part of our Series on Leading & Adopting Change
Successful transformations are not built upon fear of an organization’s future, a charismatic leader, or perfectly made plans. They are built on a vision that inspires people to turn their ideas into reality.
When an organization has established a sense of urgency that something major needs to change, and has formed a coalition to guide that transformation, then it needs to adopt an effective approach to organize each member’s actions around the effort. There are many approaches leadership can take to accomplish this, but here are three common approaches outlined in the book Leading Change by John Kotter.Topics: change management
