Your people are your greatest asset, but in the case of a software implementation, they can also become your biggest liability. Employees who feel disconnected from a project may become adversarial to the project's progress or may disconnect entirely and find workarounds to avoid your new system. Especially in the case of Information Management systems, Change Management is an important cornerstone of your approach to help reduce the 'people risk' and align your staff toward the right goal.
So, let's pretend you have decided to implement SharePoint Online as your new Information Management system. While the technical configuration and testing will of course be a primary concern, there is also the matter of ensuring that your people- the Subject Matter Experts in your business - are ready to participate and collaborate with the implementation consultants. If your people are not ready to collaborate, the project is going to be an uphill battle that even the best of consultants will have trouble with.
Being the smart person that you are, you recognize this risk, and you have decided to lay the groundwork with effective Change Management to ensure all your people - whether involved in the project or not - are brought along for the ride, are ready for the change, and feel like the change will benefit them. Your change management approach is going to be effective at making your people feel like this change is being made 'for them' instead of 'to them'.
Below is some key guidance on how to shape a Change Management approach for your project:
Guiding Principles
Be transparent - give as much information as possible to your people to ensure they are apprised and feel included.
Communicate often - huge time gaps in communication drive disconnection and may cause people to forget updates on the project.
Be clear, concise, and to the point - Too much fluff will cause people to skip the messaging.
Focus on the user perspective - The messaging should be tailored to their perspective and give them information that matters to them, like the benefits of SharePoint Online and the timeline for their implementation.
Make it attractive - There should be some sort of eye-catching component to your messaging to keep people engaged. An 'IT notification' will not keep people's attention.
When to communicate:
Communicate before the project begins to build Awareness.
Scream the benefits of the new system from the rooftops to build Desire.
Once the project has started, build Knowledge by telling people when and how they will be impacted, and what resources will be available to help them through the project.
Train people to build their Ability.
Reinforce the learning and change with check-ins and refresher as needed to keep people engaged and assess issues that have popped up.
This is called the ADKAR model of change management, and it is an important industry standard tool that spans the entire project process.
What should You tell people?
Tell them about the tool:
SharePoint will be a single source of truth. One place to find all documents, no questions asked.
SharePoint search will help find documents quicker than ever, wherever they are stored.
Co-authoring means you can work seamlessly with your colleagues on a document at the same time.
Tell them the reasons why this is happening:
Organizational drivers such as compliance, cost savings, and/or risk avoidance can be an important value proposition for people.
Building a unified (or specific) case for change can help build the desire for change.
Tell them about the schedule for the project:
And specifically, if possible, about when their area will be impacted.
Tell them about successes:
Stories about how SharePoint has been successfully adopted (preferably within the company, but outside too) can help drive adoption.
With the above in mind, you should have the basic approach you need to start the change management process. Start as early as you can to build the Awareness and Desire, and that will set you up for success in the later stages of your project. Change Management is built into all our project plans, as we strongly believe that our projects are more successful with change management executed at all levels of a project.
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