Change management
You probably heard and read a lot about user adoption and change management. A lot of big companies publish data about these topics. Many of these articles discuss the ROI of change management and a list of critical success factors.
Well….they are all true ;)
Everybody recognises the importance of change management these days, but how to apply it practically? Well user adoption is not about finding a logo for the project, or a colour and gadgets (you can of course buy these, but it is a very nice to have).
User adoption has a very specific goal: every user must use the new system correctly from day one.
In order to realise this, we have developed a practical approach based on the ADKAR methodology. Out 8 steps approach guide you towards a successful implementation of the user adoption framework.
Just to remind you, change management/user adoption is not difficult. It is just a lot of work. On average, it takes 66 days to change your behaviour. In a project environment this can be even longer.
These 8 steps are
- Vision: what is the vision and what are the strategic objectives of the sponsor? These are the guiding structures for your project.
- Definition of stakeholders: who are your stakeholders in this project, who will use the system, who are the key users, managers, involved departments, etc. Create an organigram.
- Communication plan: create a detailed plan of communication actions. Who will communicate when, to whom, how? Important to state that the right communication must be performed by the right person at the right moment
- Sponsor roadmap: work actively on the involvement of managers. This is the biggest challenge in a change track !! A lot of managers fear change and can be your biggest resistors. Together with your project sponsor, you need to tackle this challenge.
- Training: this one looks obvious, must it is very often not done well. Training takes a lot of preparation and planning.
- Coaching: the whole effort does not stop at the end of the project. Consider your (big) investment as a product, not as a project. Make sure that your people keep on getting support after go live, and ideally set up a structure for continuous improvement.
- KPI: define the right KPIs during and after the project to measure user adoption (3 types of KPI) and the realisation of your strategic objectives (typical business KPIs)
- Celebrate success!!!
Blog articles
How to save a lot of money on your CRM implementation
3 reasons why managers are crucial in change management
Change management has a clear goal: every enduser must apply the new system correctly as of day 1 (so it is not about finding a nickname and gadgets). A first condition to realize this objective is that you have access to these users.