Focus on Implementation and Set Yourself Up to Fail

Research shows that projects are six times more likely to meet the objectives and budget when organizations managed the people side of change effectively.

What constitutes managing the people side of change effectively?  Many IT organizations believe communication alone is effective.  While communication is an integral part of any change initiative, it should be part of a much more comprehensive solution.

To manage the people side of change effectively, we must evaluate and address the overall environment.  The focus should be adoption of change rather than the implementation.  

IT organizations tend to focus on implementation.  When focusing solely on implementation, it is easy to neglect critical areas that can impact the success of the initiative.  

4 Critical Areas to Address
While the list below is not comprehensive, it does represent four critical areas that must be addressed to maximize the opportunity for success with your IT initiative.   Teams planning for change within IT or within the user community should evaluate…  

1)   the individual roles of those affected and the short and long term effects of the change on their jobs, their department, and the division

2)   performance and reward systems to ensure they are aligned and support the changes in behavior that are required for success

3)   how the changes can be anchored in the organization to ensure that behaviors and activities do not revert back to business as usual once the initial momentum has faded

4)   the skills and abilities of those responsible for managing the day to day operations while the changes are occurring to ensure they are adequately prepared to support the staff during a period of uncertainty

Notice that none of the areas noted above tie directly to communication related activities yet they are all critical.  All four of the areas are commonly overlooked.  

To maximize the opportunity for success, focus on the long term adoption of change rather than implementation.  Implementation focuses on a point in time activity while adoption focuses on reinforcing a long term commitment to the change resulting in embedding the new processes, procedures, technology, and behaviors into the foundation of the organization.

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At AdOPT, we are transformation consultants focused on strategy,  innovation, process, and culture to increase effectiveness, improve efficiency, and optimize costs.  We wrote the book on organizational change in IT.  For more information about our Change Adoption workshop, vision and strategy development, or other services, contact us at info@adoptitsm.com or by calling 520-591-2427.