Organisations the world over are adapting and implementing new technology every day; devices of every shape and form generating infinite volumes of information and data being produced. With businesses investing heavily in implementing solutions to capture all of this information, all too often employees are either slow to adopt or the solution loses momentum and old methods are re-implemented – and the investment and opportunity is lost.
The focus for many implementations is a combination of what senior management understand the business needs and a focus on solution configuration and deployment. Little consideration is given to adoption and change management.
The adoption of new technology is key to the success of any implementation and to truly gain lasting value and ROI, building a digital organization needs to be more about changing the attitudes and behaviours of your workforce than about implementing technology.
Do less but do it really well – You can’t do everything at once. Consider how much change is too much for your team to adopt from the outset. Then communicate, communicate and communicate some more – everyone should understand the plan, timeline and value of what’s be adopted. While change does not have be something that is feared, it does need to be managed.
Adopt early: Get people’s hands on it as quickly as possible, even if you are only using a fraction of what’s to come
Lead from the front: Influence the transition to the new way of working by modelling the change you want to have happen
Engage believers from the start: Pulling in influential employees onto the front line is one of the most effective methods for promoting and gaining buy-in
Engage Organizational Development: Encourage any organisational development or operational leaders to take a leadership role in the transformation.
Plan the adoption from the start: Plan for what it will take to gain the benefits beyond the technology deployment. What is the overall outcome you are going after?
Align rewards and recognition: Transformation goals and measures are inextricably linked and should be key to your success. Additionally consider new forms of employee engagement, which can also yield positive results.