Hoping to convert these random thoughts into something that resembles a blog post soon 🙂
Jotting down thoughts on benefits realisation
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Tag Archives: technology adoption
Want successful change? Define failure!
‘No one is using the system’
‘This is not working’
‘Everyone is facing issues’
‘This is not working’
‘We need to go back to the drawing board’
I am sure all of you have heard these statements before – typically after the euphoria of a new technology, solution, process settles down and it all starts to move towards the dreaded BAU !! Around this stage, you suddenly start getting (premature) judgements on your months worth of work. More often than not, someone in an influential position declares that ‘this just has not worked’. Ever wondered why this almost always happens? Here is the answer – ‘We do not spend anytime defining what Failure looks like’
Projects often spend considerable time defining ‘what good looks like’. Everyone (in the project team) is keen to declare success and is even more keen to know how will success look like. While there is nothing wrong in that, here is an unintended consequence –‘Everything that does not look like success is failure!’
This obsession with ‘what good looks like’ creates an illusion of everything else being bad. We enter into a binary world where projects are either success or failure but nothing in-between. I doubt if the world that we live in is so binary. I think there are different degrees of success ( currently termed as failure) as well as failure and it is important that we acknowledge that. As far as I am concerned, most of the so called failures are not failures at all. Those are just undefined stages of success. This is not to say that there are no absolute failures but those tend to be much less common.
While defining ‘good’ or ‘success’ we usually miss 2 key aspects
- Journey – Typically projects define ‘what good looks like’ at the destination and the destination could typically be months and in some cases years away. I must clarity that I am not talking about project planning or execution. I am talking about success after the go-live. I am talking about change, adoption and ultimately business benefits. These are typically defined in terms of the destination which is the ‘BAU’. Most of the projects, do not define what success will look like on the journey to BAU. How will things look like 3 months from Go-Live and then how will things look like 6 months from Go-Live and so on.. This makes destination our only reference point and it usually results in the feeling of defeat, despair and desperation!
- Context – For me success or failure is usually is a function of context. Something that is viewed as a success in one environment might be a out right failure in another. The second issue with the practice of ‘what good looks like’ is that it is usually without the context or is meant only for a single context. For defining success, I would love to see a scenario analysis. We all know the risks and sure we all have plans to manage risk . What we don’t have is – if this risk materialises how does our definition of ‘good’ changes? I am sure all of you will agree that if we have defined our success without context, we will always view it as a failure if the context changes. Context definitely impacts outputs so it should impact expectations too!
If you want successful change then here is how I suggest you define ‘what good looks like’
- Have multiple definitions of ‘good’ for different checkpoints after go-live
- Have multiple definitions of ‘good’ for different scenarios based on your risk register
Your ‘what good looks like’ definition should help you answer this one question – ‘Am I close to where I would be given the circumstances?’. If you are close, then it is not a failure. It is just taking you one step closer to success!
Want successful change? Pick the right problem!
- Pick a problem that is of the right size
- Pick a problem that is worth solving
- Pick a problem that can be solved and in finite time
- Pick a problem that can be quantified
- Pick a problem that impacts lives
Ask these questions because people will only change if they see you solving their problems. They know that some problems are too big and cannot be solved here and now. They also know that there are problems that can be solved and solved in near future. If they see the proposed change as something that will solve the later problems, they will be willing.
For me the success or failure of a change initiative rests on choosing the right problem to solve. Too often organisations set change initiatives to solve problems that are too big or too vague. These problems are either not understood by an average employee or are at too higher level to impact the life of any average employee. Let me explain this with an example
‘To sustain in the current market place we need to adopt a culture of innovation’
That actually means nothing. If you test this problem against all the conditions that I stated at the start of this post, you will realise that this one fails on almost every test. Can I change the culture in short term? Is the problem of right size? Can the problem be quantified? Can the problem be solved in finite time? Answer to all of these questions is ‘No’ and that is why usually such big statements do not get enough engagement and reaction.
We need to break these big statements into smaller pieces. Each of these pieces needs to pass all the tests that I mentioned at the start of the post. Let’s relook at our statement again.
Here is how I can look at the same problem in pieces
‘To generate at least 100 innovators and 1000 viable ideas from within the organisation’
Now that is a problem that can be solved and is worth solving. It is also a problem that can be measured and benefits can be felt. Employees can get excited about this problem and the impact can be felt. Will this lead to the desired culture change? The probability is good. People can rally behind such problems as these are much more tangible than the vague statements of vision.
Give the concept a chance. Take a look at how you have defined your ‘change problem’. Check your definition against the tests I mentioned. If it fails then maybe it is worth redefining your problem. After all if your problem cannot be measured, solved in finite time and cannot impact lives directly, why bother?
Stop asking me to wear that shirt (or use that technology)
Once upon a time, my mother bought me a shirt. More often than not, I hate clothes bought for me and this shirt was not different. For no particular reason I resisted wearing that shirt. May be it was old-fashioned or may be I did not like the colour; something about that Shirt did not sit right with me.
For years my mother kept asking me to wear that shirt. With every reminder, I hated that shirt more. My mother is a persistent woman but finally she gave up and stopped asking about the shirt. Here is what happened after that
One fine day, I ended up in a situation where I could not find any clean/ ironed shirt to wear (yes that happens to me) and as fate would have it, the only shirt available to me was the one my mother gave me. I gathered the courage, put on the shirt and went on with my day.
‘Hey, nice shirt!’
‘Why don’t you wear such shirts more, they look good on you’
‘This definitely does not look like your shopping. Looks good’
Some of the things I got to hear that day. Not sure all of them were compliments but I will live with that.
I came back home and tried my level best to figure out why I hated that shirt. The best I could come up with was this –
‘I was a young rebellious kid who did not like the fact that his mom bought him something without asking him first’
Now replace the shirt with technology and my mother with any change/ transformation managers in your organisation. You will get the same situation
- You will mostly hate the technology procured by the organisation
- You will hate it more as a result of the ‘adoption stats’ and constant reminders to ‘use the technology’
- You will one day be forced to use the technology and if everything is right, you will actually find it beneficial.
- You (and the change manager) will be wondering why you hated the technology so much to begin with.
I think we as change managers need to ditch the traditional adoption measures and focus on creating situations where there is a reason or at least an excuse to adopt the technology. We also need to find ways to ensure that end-users feel that they bought the technology along with the organisation. It is a difficult thing to achieve but I think it is mission critical.
As humans, we have tendency to hate new things when those are forced on us. Asking ‘why you are not using it’ just adds oil to the fire. I am sure none of us want that. My mother knew that shirt will look good on me, she just could not find a way for me to try it on. In my case luck helped and I ended up wearing that shirt, I am not sure if organisations can depend on luck when it comes to technology adoption!
How I learned to drive and what it means for technology adoption !
My wife has been following up with me for past 8 years to learn driving. I never took her seriously till 2016 and by end of 2016 I have become a fairly confident driver. You must be wondering what changed in 2016?
- My wife gave me the final ultimatum in 2016?
- I watched F1 and was inspired?
- I got fed up of the delays on Southern Railways 🙂 and decided to drive to work?
Nope. None of the above. Here is the real reason – I moved into a new home
There isn’t a single grocery store within walking distance of my new home and that meant for the first time in my life I felt ‘the need to drive’. To begin with, I had to learn to drive and it took me a while. I think it took me the longest among my friends to learn driving. I failed the driving test once and bumped my car into my own driveway during the initial few days.
What happened next was interesting – I actually started enjoying driving! Granted that it did not happen overnight but as my confidence grew I finally decided to go on a ‘long drive’. I dreaded it but it was a nice experience. There were moments when I felt that driving is not all bad and then when I was cruising on one of the beautiful roads, I said to myself – ‘I can enjoy this’ . For 34 years of my life, I hated travelling by road. I properly hated driving and always looked upon it as additional work which someone else can do for me. If I can somehow like driving then for me anything is possible.
Here is what I learned from my driving experience and I think it is applicable to any and every technology adoption program
Users have to feel the need to use the technology. In my case it was my new home but every user has to have a solid reason to use the technology you are offering. Only few will use the technology offered by an organisation because they like to. Others will wait till they have to!
Not everyone will adopt at the same pace. There needs to be time, money and resources to support different needs of different users. I needed more time to learn driving and it was Ok. The important thing is that we all finally make it.
Even with the need established, it will not be easy. I bumped my car and your users will make similar mistakes. That should be acceptable as long as they are making progress. Creating environment where users are allowed to make mistakes is crucial.
There will be moments when every user will think ‘this stuff works’. Those moments need to be nurtured, harnessed and celebrated. These are the moments which become stories and will be told across the organisation.
Enjoying technology is the epitome of adoption. It is the most difficult trick in corporate technology adoption. I thought I will learn how to drive, will actually drive but never thought I will ever enjoy driving; I actually did. The key for me was to have an experience that I felt good about. You need to aim for those experiences for your users. If they get it, they will enjoy the technology and not just use it!
Change and Me 