Tech Implementation Success – The Four Stages of Change Management: Implementation
Barry Dyer, SVP of Services at Operative, has helped many enterprises implement large-scale technology solutions. From his experience, success or failure often depends less on the software itself and more on how companies manage change before, during, and/or after the process.
Successful software implementations are highly dependent on strong leadership, coordinated rollout, communication and training, which is required across 4 stages of tech implementation. Buy-In, Implementation, Training, and Ongoing Management.
In Part 1 Barry explored:
- Buy-In – This early stage is when a company selects a technology.
- A strong leader must act as stakeholder and lead the charge for the length of the project.
- A clear vision must be communicated to the organization
- Expectations of change without option must be set
- Priorities for implementation and ROI must be set
Read on for Part 2!
PART TWO – IMPLEMENTATION
After buy-in is established, it’s time to get to work. The beginning of implementation is often filled with high hopes of a great project. Calendars and roadmaps are created and teams are introduced. But even at the very earliest, most optimistic stages of implementation, a project can very quickly get derailed.
Media companies come in all shapes and sizes and a lot of different elements weave together to create scenarios that can help or hurt a tech implementation.
- Leadership: Leadership style varies immensely. Some companies have very strong leadership with a unified vision and an appetite for innovation. Many others have a more varied landscape. Some leaders on the team might want to invest in new technology, some may want to build it in-house, while others are skeptical of any change. In some cases, leadership might be skeptical while regional or mid-level stakeholders are interested in change.
- Culture: While all employees should be empowered, it’s important that there is a clear voice from leadership mandating changes. For example, a skeptical team may not want to use the new system. Every company culture is different, but should not get in the way of smart business decisions. This will ensure the project stays on track, and everyone is working towards the same goals.
- Project management: A company with an organized project management style will be more likely to have a formula for evaluating tradeoffs throughout the process, keep implementation on track, and understand how to communicate to employees throughout. Established project management best practices enables clear goals and deliverables for cross-team and partner transparency.
It’s important to assess the leadership, culture and project management elements before implementation begins to understand what processes need to be established and developed.. Approaching the leadership team first to discuss employee concerns or objections will be more effective in the long term. Early on, it’s possible to plan ahead, gain new skills or bring on a partner to help.
Getting The Handoff Right
Ideally there is no handoff. The stakeholder that created the vision and led the vendor selection process is usually best suited to lead implementation, especially if they are senior and empowered. Rather than a handoff, the original stakeholder should bring in other important stakeholders to create a team that is aligned from the start. This team needs to not only know the goals, but be totally bought in on the goals to drive the project in the right direction.
The strong vision and top-down leadership that is so important in the Buy-In phase is just as important throughout implementation. There must always be an empowered leader running the project, or even the best plans can quickly fall apart. A strong leader is key for several reasons:
- Keeping teams focused on top priorities
- Communicating the steps and stages of the implementation
- Getting feedback and managing expectations
If the original stakeholder can’t lead the implementation, they should work very closely with the team who will, ensuring that they understand what the end result needs to be for the implementation to be successful, and keep the project on track. Ideally the original stakeholder should still be involved as much as possible.
A tech implementation should never feel like a TV show with a ‘big reveal’ that surprises everyone at the end. Continuous communication to explain what is being done, why and what changes it will create gives employees time to process the change and prepare for it sooner.
Keys To A Successful Implementation
Once the project is kicked off, there are several elements that need to be continuously managed in addition to the technology itself:
Tradeoffs – Inevitably there will be parts of the technical implementation that don’t go perfectly as planned. Maybe certain data can’t be accessed without a separate development project, or a certain integration isn’t as easy as people hoped, creating potential for a delay. Or perhaps a certain dashboard or workflow needs to be designed, changing how the platform will be used by the team. These tradeoffs need to be considered with a business-minded approach, keeping the larger goal in mind. Too often, tradeoffs become a battleground, with people fighting for their personal preferences rather than what will deliver the biggest return to the company.
Communication – A tech implementation should never feel like a TV show with a “big reveal” that surprises everyone at the end. Continuous communication to explain what is being done, why and what changes it will create gives employees time to process the change and prepare for it sooner. This will dramatically reduce the time it takes to get everyone onboarded and using the new platform. Communication also includes input and feedback. Often, employee feedback presents viable input that can easily be addressed or put on the back burner without any loss of value to the larger project. One team might feel miffed if their workflow has to change in a way
that they don’t like, but if the company will experience huge gains in efficiency or revenue overall, that needs to be communicated so they understand the big picture.
Focus – A major tech implementation could take anywhere from six months to three years – a lot can change in that time. A company could change what they sell or who they sell to. They might go through a merger, a new client need might arise, new technology innovations might come out (for example AOS rolled out new AI features during several large implementations.) The project leader needs to process these elements through the lens of the original business vision and ensure that everyone remains focused on how to deliver the right goal. This is a natural part of the process and should be built into the project to maintain the overall focus.
The beauty of the implementation phase is that there is room to learn and improve over time. Perhaps early on, employees feel like they are in the dark, which means the stakeholders need to provide more clarity. Or perhaps some teams are against the project, so leaders need to make the mandate for change more clear. Ideally, the team meets regularly to establish a feedback loop and keep their finger on the pulse of the project to address issues as early as possible.
Technical implementation is the “end of the beginning.” The next phase, training and adoption is when the real value starts to materialize. The next section discusses the strategies and tactics for maximizing the first phase of hands on keyboard for the organization.