Leadership
Effective Change Management for Your Digital Transformation
Here’s how to anticipate and avoid three common change management missteps during your next technology project.
Here’s how to anticipate and avoid three common change management missteps during your next technology project.
Digital is the new normal. Digital experiences that are intuitive, integrated and differentiated will define the winners of tomorrow.
In response, companies are adding new technologies at an ever-increasing pace. But the success of a digital platform depends on how well you plan the rollout. Naturally, most companies focus on the technology itself and the implementation process. As a result, the human factor is often overlooked. That’s a mistake. Technology projects are never successful when they are done to people. They are only successful when they are done with people.
Customers, employees, suppliers and partners are the users of your new digital platforms. But you want more than users. You want adopters, advocates—even champions. That’s the art of change management. It improves your odds of realizing the full potential of digital transformation and helps you navigate roadblocks at every stage of your journey.
Potential roadblock: You’re up against a bit of a fixed-state culture. Employees may be resistant to technology change.
Why it happens: Employees don’t yet know much about the new technology, why it’s important to the business or how it will affect their work.
Solution: Bring people along from the start. At the outset, cultivate a mindset for change by communicating early and often. Share content about trends in your industry, best practices and how emerging technology is disrupting companies like yours so that people begin to see the business case for innovation. Talk about the why, the what, the when, the who: Why are we doing this, what does it entail, when will the change occur and who will be affected?
Potential roadblock: You invest lots of time and money in the new technology, but legacy processes and ways of working prevail..
Why it happens: Responsibility for the change lies with too few people. Change is often anchored by project teams that may lack business influence or subject matter expertise. With inadequate business and end-user involvement, there isn’t enough focus on the new processes, roles and ways of working that are required to harness maximum value from the new technology.
Solution: Don’t treat digital transformation as a technology project—treat it as a business project that has a technology aspect to it. Ensure the project is clearly woven into broader company strategies. And make sure there is a visible senior business sponsor as well as co-ownership of the project among key teams. Incorporate meaningful input from people at every level, particularly the end users most affected by the change. Give them a seat at the table and a voice during design, delivery, testing, rollout and beyond.
Potential roadblock: Employees aren’t using the technology to the fullest, preventing you from reaping the intended benefits.
Why it happens: Employees were trained in a one-and-done workshop.
Solution: Continuous learning is the new normal for companies that move to digital systems. It can take months, sometimes even years, to truly master new technology and get all the benefits out of it. To build real expertise, employ a variety of training channels. Include classroom learning, video training, webcasts, training manuals and even handy desktop cheat sheets. It’s also good practice to identify a “super user” on every team—that tech-savvy enthusiast whom other users can go to for help. Finally, embed usage of the technology in employee-performance objectives. Doing so will make it clear to employees that their participation is nonnegotiable. Recognize and reward the individuals who derive the most value from the new technology.
There is a clear upside to viewing your digital platforms and projects through a human lens. In doing so, you will transform your culture to one that’s more agile, more resilient, more ready. Bring everyone along and your most dedicated, experienced employees will become tech-fluent advocates and allies in your digital transformation. In a hypercompetitive business climate, that helps put you ahead.
