TiER1 Performance True adoption of new technology platforms can be elusive. Too often, organizations focus disproportionately on getting the technology and process pillars right, meanwhile shortchanging the third pillar of any successful system implementation—people readiness. It won’t really matter how efficient your systems or processes are, if your people aren’t ready and able to work in the new ways required. Maybe that’s why “75% of transformation efforts don’t ultimately deliver the hoped-for results,” as cited recently by the Harvard Business Review.
Preparing people for any large-scale organizational change, especially the integration of a new system into their daily routine, takes a convergence of ongoing leadership and stakeholder engagement, intentional communication, thorough impact analysis, prepared Super User networks, role-based training, quantitative and qualitative evaluation, and other alignment activities—all through a human-centered lens.
It sounds like a lot, and it can be. To help you navigate this complex convergence to achieve true people readiness, here are some key considerations and watch-outs to inform your next implementation.
Involve senior leaders and management at all levels throughout the implementation process. Generally, end users believe, “If my leader doesn’t care, why should I?” That’s why it’s critical to bring in influencers and decision-makers early in the timeline, spending focused time framing and discussing the business case clearly to secure buy-in. Being clear about the resources you need to be successful, and articulating the impacts of not getting those resources (longer implementation time, lower quality, more issues, more help desk calls, longer hypercare, greater time-to-competence after Go Live, productivity loss after Go Live, etc.) is also key. Without the support and engagement of senior leaders and management, employees will experience misaligned priorities and won’t give the change the focus it needs.
Understand your influencers through a stakeholder analysis. Identifying who needs to be aligned across business functions and developing strategies and a cadence for gathering (and addressing) their input over time will help position your initiative for success.
Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of the frontline leader as a change enabler. Frontline leaders have both the budgeting authority to provide necessary resources and tools, and the decision-making authority to remove barriers to change where needed. It is always a good idea to position frontline managers as “change leaders” by engaging them regularly through their established channels, addressing concerns head on, and coaching them on how to actively guide their people toward new ways of working.
Create a strategy and plan for transparent and ongoing communication from project launch through post-Go Live. Change communication is about taking people on the (sometimes bumpy) journey to adopt change over time. The key is to be transparent. You don’t have to have all the answers yet, but if you don’t intentionally shape the narrative, the proverbial “watercooler” will.
Put time into developing a compelling narrative for the change. You can avoid miscommunications by rooting the change story in WHY the change is needed. Once that’s understood, leverage clear, concise key messaging that’s light on conventional “business speak” to address the what, when, how, and who. By using empathy, we can put ourselves in the shoes of our audience groups and tailor supporting messages that will resonate with their perspective and help rally minds and hearts behind the desired future state. Consider not just end users but executives, managers, customers, vendors, application developers, project managers, and the larger project team (as the change team also often drives project team communication). The content should become increasingly more targeted and tactical as the project progresses and role-based change impacts are identified.
Leverage a variety of channels to effectively reach every audience. By tailoring your communications approach to how each audience most effectively receives information today, you’ll be able to create compelling stories and visuals that support clarity and info retention while cutting through the clutter. It’s so important to arm managers with the tools to easily reinforce your message—concise slides, talking points, graphics, one-pagers. With some qualitative and quantitative follow-up activities, it’s wise to confirm that cascaded communications are reaching those at all levels of the organization. Giving leaders and managers a “preview” of content before it is sent to their teams keeps them in the know and better prepared to address questions that arise.
Document and articulate change impacts, then put that information to work. Identifying the “today” versus “tomorrow” view of processes, behaviors, roles, terminology, workload shifts, etc., is critical to set the scene for successful training and overall adoption. People need time to work through what’s coming. In advance of training, socialize critical information such as how things will look or feel different, so that people have space to ask questions and work through the natural emotions associated with change. They will then be able to focus on learning the “how” of the system and related processes during training and other learning events.
Help individuals understand how things are changing at different levels. When documenting impacts, include both the foundational, broad-scale, cross-functional changes that the new system will necessitate (data integration, standardized data conventions, data accuracy, etc.), as well as the more detailed change impacts by function and role, as appropriate. Consider how interactions between various company functions will change (not just how the system will be different), along with implications for customers and suppliers. Armed with a set of change impacts, you can then communicate these changes in digestible ways with progressive detail to ensure understanding around what’s changing, what tradeoffs will be required to be successful, what is needed from specific end users, and how to be successful using the new system and processes.
Reiterate key changes several times through different channels. This could look like meeting presentations, one-on-one role discussions, online reference material, digital posters, along with training events—whatever works for your environment and end users. Remember that often it’s less about “what’s in it for me,” and it’s more about “what’s in it for us” as an organization. Effective change impact communications help employees connect the dots to see that, when the organization does well, everyone benefits.
Designate a cross-functional group of strong performers to engage early and often with the system. Getting these knowledgeable users involved is CRITICAL to success, as they become valuable eyes and ears “on the ground.” As Super Users they may convey project updates; support solution design, configuration, and testing; inform and help deliver change impacts; answer system questions before and after Go Live; conduct instructor-led training; and gather and escalate feedback to the project team throughout the process. Consider how Super Users will be onboarded, supported, and enabled along the way, and create a steady cadence for touchpoints that combine project updates and two-way dialogue.
Make sure Super Users are appropriately seeded across the organization. When sizing the project team and Super User network, consider the number of end users, the level of change, and resource-intensive project phases (e.g. when testing overlaps with training).
Be very clear about the roles and responsibilities up front. One crucial step is to secure buy-in from Super User managers and business unit leaders regarding taking on this role, with an estimated percentage of the time it will take to do it well. Often it will be lighter on the front end, and the time investment increases with testing participation and before and after Go Live. Once your Super Users are confirmed, be sure to reiterate that time invested up front makes Go Live smoother and decreases time-to-competency after launch. And, for multi-year implementations with staggered Go Lives, don’t wait—bring the later-phase Super Users into the process early to build up-front experience and learnings. It may be tempting to keep them focused on their day-to-day until later, but this time investment can significantly increase the success of later launches.
Align training to organizational needs for people readiness. After considering the type of learning needed – based on organizational learning preferences along with the technical and physical infrastructure – determine the right modality (eLearning, virtual, instructor-led, etc.) and curriculum. There will likely be a mix of foundational courses that everyone needs, as well as function- or role-specific courses that address specific processes. Your materials should provide big-picture context for processes up front—especially for ERP systems where upstream and downstream impacts are so significant. Remember to think through the support tools (job aids, quick reference guides, etc.) needed for end user practice and ensure that learners know which Super Users are available to help afterwards. If possible, leverage Super Users to deliver or directly support training events. Facilitating Train-the-Trainer sessions will position them for success.
Document how many processes or transactions need to be taught, and to which audiences. This will give you a rough estimate for the total amount of learning time, but this estimate almost always gets adjusted over time as new transactions, processes, and system characteristics are defined. If doing role-based training, inquire into the number of system security roles, with the understanding that while training roles need to closely align, there are generally fewer training roles than system roles.
Determine who will be responsible for training logistics. Even in the best of times, scheduling training for large-scale implementations can be a daunting task. To address coordination complexities, it’s important to identify who will be responsible for creating and managing the training schedule and invites, and what software or tool they will be using. For in-person training, know who will coordinate the details of the classroom (physical space, hardware/software and IT needs, room setup, managing print materials, etc.). Confirm availability of test data for hands-on practice during and after the sessions as well as how you’ll assess learners based on your objectives. This can range from instructor observation of transactions and thought processes to formal computer-based tests.
Align change management efforts to the business outcomes and success metrics defined for the overall initiative. In addition to tracking project-wide metrics over time, it takes a combination of qualitative and quantitative feedback mechanisms to gauge how adoption is going throughout a project and inform go-forward approaches or change management interventions to course correct and mitigate gaps.
When creating an evaluation strategy, make sure you can answer the following questions:
Deliver an end user change readiness survey after broadly communicating the “why.” This effort can help you gauge basic understanding of the business case while providing an early benchmark to compare progress against future surveys and project milestones (e.g. after change impact communications and training). Example readiness survey prompts include:
Consider separate Super User surveys to “check the pulse” of what this key group needs to be successful over time. Another option is to use demographics to build in specific questions for Super Users as part of broader end user survey completion. Qualitative insights from Super User meetings, executive committee meetings, and Stakeholder interviews should also be leveraged to continually improve change management efficacy. And, since there’s nothing worse than feeling like your feedback went into a black box, share out the key trends from the survey, including the high-level actions you’ll be taking to address what you heard.
Manage between the lines of the project plan. Good change management involves deep involvement in the project, along with nuanced influencing at all levels. Project leaders need strong networks within the organization to marshal support, rally resources, and mitigate risks effectively.
Make readiness the criteria for Go Live. To avoid the mistake of managing only to budget and timeline, make data quality, systems readiness, and people readiness your drivers of a go/no-go decision. There’s always risk involved when going live, but the project team, project leaders, executives, and other stakeholders should all give the green light in a “go/no-go” meeting—so everyone feels ownership of the decision—before commencing cutover tasks.
Sustain the change by capturing success stories and reporting frequently on metrics post-launch. Individuals appreciate transparency about what’s working well and where you need to make adjustments, including where additional human support interventions may be needed.
Support and reward your project team. Take time to build a strong foundation for mutual trust and teamwork. Whether you’re an end user or project team member, implementations are not for the faint of heart. In all phases of the process, plan celebrations and rewards for the project team, Super Users, and end users to celebrate progress and key milestones on what is often a very long and arduous journey.
The time, effort, and resources required to apply these people-focused principles will enhance your ability to deliver on the projected business outcomes of your implementation, while reducing the extent and duration of the inevitable productivity dip that should be expected and planned for after Go Live. That’s the power of driving people readiness through systems adoption.
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