In Episode 51 of Razorleaf’s Stay Sharp podcast, Why 70% of Digital Transformation Projects Fail, co-hosts Jen Ferello and Jonathan Scott talk with SharePLM’s Maria Morris, whose roles have included managing business development activities and consulting on change management. This discussion is a natural follow up to Jen and Jonathan’s many conversations about “the people part of change,” because SharePLM, an independent consulting firm, is focused specifically on the people aspect of digital transformations. The trio waste no time diving into the why, what, how, and when of organizational Change Management (OCM).
Why OCM Is So Important
Maria explains why this conversation and the practice of OCM is so critical by sharing a truly staggering statistic. A McKinsey & Company study found that a whopping 70% of digital transformations fail, most often due to resistance from employees. This means that everything else can be done—excellent systems can be well-implemented by technical teams that ensure business requirements are met and systems are connected—but the projects still fail “because people simply are refusing to use them. Or they don’t understand how to use them. Or they simply have some form of resistance that is stopping them from wanting to get on board,” Maria says. Clearly, there’s a need for OCM that isn’t met often enough.
Where OCM Should Begin
OCM concerns itself with helping people adapt to changes within an organization, regardless of what kind of changes they are. Maria defines it further, “It’s helping organizations to minimize the resistance that they face when implementing a new change and building that buy in from all key stakeholders.” A common mistake is thinking of OCM as simply a few system-based training sessions at the end of the project, but those alone don’t equate to a full OCM strategy in Maria’s world. Where that strategy should begin is with a clear, concise vision and narrative around the digital transformation.
As Jonathan points out, “If you want an organization aligned to something, you’ve got to make sure they know what they’re aligning to. And it has to be concise.” Maria adds that the message may need to be segmented for different audiences or different stakeholders, because each group will have different drivers. Plus you also need to be considering what motivates each of them. While a core product vision is a step that organizations sometimes skip in project planning, Maria believes if companies can only do one piece of OCM, it should be this “clearly defined vision surrounding the change that is well communicated to all of the key stakeholders.” Jen notes, too, that there’s no point at which a company couldn’t create the narrative—even if that’s mid-stream or post-implementation, if the project is encountering resistance. “It’s not ideal,” she says. “It’s going to be a lot harder, but you can do it.”
Communication and Training Are Key
Neither communication about a project nor training on how to use it should be relegated to a one-time or one-size fits all activity. Maria says that communicating the message behind the change, what they can expect, and when, with the right stakeholders, “allows them to slowly get on board with it. They don’t feel like something’s been thrown in their face.” Consistently reinforcing and building the message as you go happens through regular communication, as well as communications done with different kinds of motivations and objectives.
“While a big side of communication is expressing what is happening and when it’s going to be happening, it’s also giving all of the stakeholders a place in which they can voice their own feelings, opinions, concerns, hesitations, points of potential resistance to the change as well. Communication shouldn’t just be a one-way stream,” Maria says. Creating that space and willingness to give and receive feedback means that project leaders can adapt a communications—or an implementation—strategy for better results. And be proactive about user engagement instead of reactive.
Like communication, training should also occur throughout a project, not just at the end. And more importantly, it should occur beyond the project. “Once the system has been implemented, training should be a very regular occurrence because systems aren’t stagnant, they have to develop, they have to change,” Maria says. “Training should be regular to keep people informed and up to date, not only on the system itself, but also on the processes.”
Learn More About Managing the Full Product Lifecycle
The full podcast contains more discussion and details on a variety of topics, including why training should always be role-based instead of system-based, why it’s so important to build a knowledge base, how to convince skeptics of the value of OCM, and more.
Check out the full conversation in Stay Sharp Episode 51: Why 70% of Digital Transformation Projects Fail, and join us each week for a new podcast.
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