Tech Implementation Success – The Four Stages of Change Management: Training and Adoption
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 2 Barry explored:
- How leadership, culture, and project management shape successful implementation.
- Why keeping the original stakeholder involved avoids misalignment.
- The role of clear, continuous communication in easing change.
- Managing tradeoffs with the bigger business goals in mind.
- Staying focused on the vision as priorities and technology evolve.
Dive into part 3!
PART THREE – TRAINING AND ADOPTION
Across industries, employee adoption of software benefits from training and good transition planning. In multiple Gartner studies, companies suffer from underwhelming software adoption in places like customer service and supply chain, and media companies could avoid similar problems during the transformation to cross-platform unification by being thoughtful about their approach.
Once implementation is complete, actually getting employees to adopt the software can feel like an afterthought, rather than the beginning of the next chapter in company growth. Successful adoption requires a lot more than a few training sessions, but many implementations fizzle because the adoption phase lacks key elements. Without the right communication and post-implementation processes in place, employees come away feeling like they aren’t valued and that the new technology isn’t that important. Consider the risk of allowing linear sales teams to ignore new hybrid sales technology, or wanting to continue with separate workflows for linear and streaming. This prevents teams from recognizing the value of the new software, delivering value to advertisers, packaging cross-channel products and optimizing revenue.
A smart approach to training includes much more than a few sessions that walk people through the new platform, it includes evangelism, process discussions, follow-ups and even awards. Without these elements, employee adoption of the technology will be slower and stakeholders will be slow to realize return on investment.
Streamlining Employee Adoption
Many companies are wasting millions on under-used software because they didn’t have a plan for full adoption. Often, stakeholders encounter pushback and frustration that can be managed effectively with preparation
Here are typical problems that occur during the adoption phase:
- Poor communication: If communication is poor or minimal during the implementation phase, then employees will feel like the new technology is being sprung on them with no warning. Or worse, they’ll hear about roadblocks and issues throughout implementation and start to have a negative view of the new technology before they’ve ever used it. Training and adoption really begins well before anyone’s hands are on the keyboard with clear communication that highlights future improvements, shares new workflows and sets expectations clearly.
- Lack of conviction: Stakeholders need to set goals, dates and expectations early and often, then follow through with their plan. If old software is still available and no one is making people switch, they won’t. Stakeholders need to set a changeover date and mandate the switch, ensuring that people are well aware of the benefits so they understand why the change is so critical.
- Under-training: Today’s technology is incredibly robust, with many ways to customize, analyze and automate. All of this complexity means that most employees will need a lot of training to make the most of the new software.
- Moving on too quickly: Just because implementation is done doesn’t mean the project is complete. The goal is not to implement software, the goal is to increase ROI. Providing continued milestones that ensure employees are building out better processes, addressing bugs and continuing to innovate is the best way to get full value from the investment. Employees will also see that the investment is an important part of the company’s strategy and be more inclined to spend time on it.
Stakeholders can set up a plan to get in front of this natural resistance to change – that identifies and addresses potential sticking points and delivers decisive change with employee support..
Secrets to Adoption Success
The vision at many media companies today is a streamlined advertising business that empowers advertisers and salespeople with AI-driven automation, unified data and workflows, optimized delivery and on-demand reporting. This vision requires new technology of course, but also requires employees to embrace a new way of working.
Post-implementation should be a time when companies start to reap the rewards of their new technology, a time of celebration and collaboration. If stakeholders communicated effectively throughout the implementation phase, training and adoption will feel like a natural next step for employees.
Leaders can maximize the value of their investment by creating a strong top-down plan that gets employees on board.
- Prioritize Top-Down Evangelism: Leaders must explain the vision in a way that is compelling and reiterate that change is complete and non-negotiable. Ideally, the new technology fits into a broader company vision that employees can get excited about. A united front across the executive team is also critical to evangelize the changes throughout the organization.
- Maintain a Positive Vision: Change must be considered to be a “good thing.” Leaders must communicate the benefits that employees will have in the future. Many people dislike the transition process, and will have trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Leaders must continue to communicate the benefits, highlight examples of success and celebrate early adopters.
- Stick to The Transition Plan: Processes should be designed, dashboards built and reporting moved to the new software within a set timeframe, even if there are bumps in the road. Employees must be required to switch to the new platform within a specific time window as long as business can operate. Once the new software is good to go, old software should be turned off if possible, or at the very least, access should be limited.
- Deliver Consistent and Continuous Training: There is no such thing as too much training. Much of underused technology is a result of minimal employee adoption. Training is a must. Some of this can happen in groups, such as an initial walkthrough, but stakeholders should also take advantage of things like certification programs, one-on-one remote training sessions, as well as AI help and chat. Getting employees to become experts requires an entire program including incentives, and can take months. The investment will be worth it – as are awards, incentives and public call-outs to remind everyone of the end goal.
ProServeIT shares the “adoption curve” of different personality types. Only a small number of employees will be innovators who readily adopt new technology. The majority will naturally resist at some level. Understanding different personality types, planning for resistance and marketing benefits to different stakeholder personalities helps move everyone forward no matter how resistant they may be.
The Media Company Software Curve
Getting the company to embrace the future vision for the company is the key to success in our complex market.
The elements that propel media companies into the future have as much to do with company culture than with the technology itself. A leadership team with a vision to deliver seamless multichannel solutions through self-service and direct channels has a lot of work to do to change the habits and processes of a sprawling organization with decades of habits that need to be updated. Executives need to be empowered to mandate change and must have a plan to change many entrenched elements of their business. Employees become dramatically more invested in the company when they embrace its vision of the future and their investment in success.
When everyone is onboarded, the hardest work is in the rear view mirror. Now it’s time to optimize and expand. The next section talks about how to forge a lasting partnership that delivers long term returns.