Ch.3 Usage Matters. Change management in HR technology. White paper

Ch.3 Usage Matters. Change management in HR technology. White paper

Usage matters Critical steps for user adoption of HR software Chapter 3 : Change management in HR technology When changing business processes and systems, we all focus on the technology and it is easy to forget about the human aspect. People are crucial to the success of any system. Companies that are most successful in implementing a new process, consider change management right up front. As Peter Senge once said, People don t resist change. They resist being changed! It is always surprising when we look to improve our practices, that our people become highly attached to the way things are. They don t want to change. They re perfectly happy. It works fine for them. There are numerous blocks and barriers that take time, patience and empathy to manage. To end on an older quote this time back in 1532, There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." In this chapter, we look at the role change management plays in the adoption of HR technology. Happy reading Mark Barlow CEO 1 Niccolo Machiavelli. The Prince. 1532 Page 1

Managing change When Bombardier, a world-leading manufacturer of innovative transport solutions, was considering implementation of a new HR technology system for its 35,000+ people in 23 countries it knew that it would have to focus on user adoption. Julie Lecomte was brought in to oversee the specification, implementation and user adoption of its new technology. She is the Senior Strategic Adviser on Change Management. It wasn t about new software. It wasn t about HR processes. New technology was about managing change moving people from one way of working to another and then sustaining that change. If you d like to find out more about Julie s role and her experience in implementing new HR technology, please go to Can user adoption be engineered? for a recording of a webinar that featured Julie alongside William Tincup, a global authority on HR software adoption, on the 7th February 2012. Change management process People resist change. They question why we want to upset with the status quo. They demonstrate attachment to how things are and resist, often at any opportunity, the reasons for change. Or sometimes they just don t buy-in because nobody has explained, What s in it for me?, and they see it as another bureaucratic HR overhead. Sometimes we can think that a change in systems or process is not real change. It s just about more effective tools to do the job. If you re in a fast-paced technology aware organization the impact of new technology might not be scary but to many people it will be. Especially if you re making the transition from pen and paper to online! New technology was about managing change moving people from one way of working to another and then sustaining that change. Ronald Sharpe, Change Management Lead, Business Excellence Team, Cabela, said at a Forrester Business Process Forum, I would offer that sustaining a change program begins at the start of the project. Too often change management is not brought into a project until the deploy phase or when the wheels start to come off the effort during implementation. At this point, the change management lead often hears, Come in here and fix these people. Two key components on the front end of the initiative are selecting an effective project champion/sponsor and highly skilled change management resources. 2 http://blogs.forrester.com/claire_schooley/11-09-15- making_change_management_work_three_practitioners_offer_some_guidance Page 2

Change management is not a simple pacifier. 70% of change management projects fail. In the main this is down to people not accepting the need for change, or indeed just dismissing it outright. Claire Schooley from Forresters suggests 6 principles of change : 1. Vision and detailed planning 2. Strong executive stakeholder support 3. Continuous and varied communication 4. Assessments to gauge successful milestones 5.Many training approaches and informational activities 6. Reinforcement until the process becomes part of the new culture. The change curve We ve identified in Chapter 1 that people respond to new innovations in different ways (early adopters laggards). Likewise, every person will have some emotional reaction to the change. The Change Curve developed from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross s The Five Stages of Grief in 1969 best epitomizes this. Figure 1: The Change Curve. Melcrum Publishing Ltd Page 3

Sustaining change It takes time as people move through the change curve. It is vital that change management is sustained and actively managed before, during and beyond this emotional transition. As we ve mentioned previously, these systems are not part of daily working for the majority of employees, so constant reminders, training and help will need to be available. If the system is not having the traction required within the organization, don t react to this by wanting to change the system. Don t just blame the software In CedarStone s 2011 HRS Survey it found that 21% of survey respondents would change their HR software. This is compared to just 9% in 2010. Could this increase be a knee jerk reaction to a system that hasn t delivered the expected benefits to the business? Potentially, because as we ve said, usage is what matters and many organizations have not put in place a program to encourage user adoption. It can be easy to blame the technology. As a relatively new industry, many vendors are focused on getting new sales rather than taking care of existing customers. This can end up in a volatile situation where an organization s frustration is escalated by the lack of attention by vendors. As a relatively new industry, many vendors are focused on getting new sales rather than taking care of existing customers. This can end up in a volatile situation where an organization s frustration is escalated by the lack of attention by vendors. The authors of CedarStone s survey gave this warning, We would caution organizations to look at your processes and whether your organization does good change management when you make a vendor change, as you may take your bad practices along with you and be in the same state of discontent you are with your existing vendor with your new vendor in a few years. We hear horror stories about SaaS implementations being slammed in as a technology implementation only with no change management to ensure user acceptance. Change management is a critical success factor. Onboarding With any type of change we have to manage anxiety. Your old way of working might have just needed some updating or it might have needed a total overhaul. Whatever the state of the way before, people will have become attached to it and will be more attached the minute you mention change. To move people to a new way of working, we need to firstly create understanding, so people can see that this is a carefully considered move and not just done to make their overstretched working life even harder. 4 CedarCrestone 2011-2012 HR Systems Survey. HR Technologies, Deployment Approaches, Values and Metrics. http://www.cedarcrestone.com/media/whitepapers/cc_2011-2012_hrs_survey_wp.pdf 5 William Tincup. Can user adoption be engineered? February 2012. https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/497205766 ge Page 4

To move people to a new way of working, we need to firstly create understanding, so people can see that this is a carefully considered move and not just done to make their overstretched working life even harder. We ll also need to carefully transition them. This is about managing expectations and not blind-siding them. So, communicate before you do anything. William Tincup talks about setting expectations Yesterday you did. Tomorrow you ll do. We ll cover more about communication in the next chapter. A good onboarding experience will create awareness and excitement around the new HR technology. Celebrate the change, have a party, create a fantastic event. First impressions last, can you can be dealing with this on either a positive or negative side for a lifetime. Conclusion Taking a thoughtful and considered approach to the implementation of new HR software is particularly key. Julie Lecomte at Bombardier symbolized this approach when the project team implemented a new global performance management system. Critical to this program, was the total alignment to corporate strategy through to talent management strategy. This provides the reason why the change was needed. Bombardier also identified key stakeholders within the organization and tailored communication directly to them. They also thoroughly tested the system, trialing it with HR departments around the world so there was local knowledge and endorsement. Finally, the communication was ongoing and relentless. Managing change to new HR technology is closely linked to communication. This is the subject of our next chapter where we look at how to communicate to different stakeholders in the organization, as well as identifying different groups of employees, creating communication that resonates with them. Page 5

About AppLearn Ltd Embedded within HR software, AppLearn streams consistent training and communication to your employees wherever they are in the world, in any language, on any device. Through our consultancy services we collaborate with you to deliver change management, communication and training strategies with the overarching goal of driving up user adoption. AppLearn s roots are deeply embedded in HR software implementation, gained from more than 10 years experience. The management team founded AppLearn on the premise that there must be a better way to deliver application training and employee communications. AppLearn s platform delivers three key benefits: Enables organizations to communicate corporate strategy, values and ethos as well as reinforcing why new processes are important. Delivers just in time training for the new process in any language, at any time, on any device. Improves skills for managers by using training to raise soft skills such as delivering feedback on appraisals. Shared Vision. AppLearn works with customers who believe usage matters. Collectively AppLearn clients employ several million people around the world. AppLearn delivers thousands of training hours per month in multiple languages at any time of the day, or indeed night. Contact us www.applearn.tv info@applearn.tv Facebook: www.facebook.com/applearn.tv Twitter: @applearntv Linked In: AppLearn