How To Engage Employees With Technology Based Change

When you think about the millions of dollars organizations spend each year on IT programs of work, wouldn't it be prudent knowing that employees actually understand and most importantly embrace the reason behind the changes?

There is one way of ensuring that employees and their managers have got the message and truly understand the reasons for the new system implementation.

And that is the means that you communicate change.

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Communicating Technology Change

Let's start with reviewing how most organizations manage technology-based change.

If your organization's approach to this type of change is new skills training and employee communication strategies that include stakeholder management (translated briefings), intranet and email updates then that's not managing change, rather it is focussed on the information.

So what is the difference and why do we need to do anything more than provide information?

Understand How Change Affects People and How to Help Them!

Communicate The Benefits

IT systems are not introduced for the sake of a new system itself, they are introduced because there are benefits to be realised from a business management perspective.

This may include more information on customer profiles and identifying other products or services clients may be interested in purchasing, the changes might focus on back-office systems such as greater information for human resources management or accounting or they may focus on the supply chain and logistics.

Whatever the reason there is a business reason for the change and this is what employees need to understand if the full benefits of any system implementation are going to be realised.

Devise and Manage a Change Programme so That it Sticks!

Let's Look At An Example

This financial services organisation was introducing a new back-office system. In the past employees worked in separate divisions so customers were transferred from one area to another to process their request.

The new system meant that all of the customer details were now available to employees and that they would now work in teams and "own" the customer from the commencement to end of any transaction.

It was a complete system and work style change so before specific system training was introduced a simulated work area was established and employees were taken through the customer experience.

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Customer Experience

It was important that they understood the benefits to the customer by looking at the changes through the eyes of the customer.

This way we created the "Aha" moment, employees got the message better than any intranet, information session or email bulletin could have conveyed it.

And when employees went into system training they clearly understood the benefits and business reasons behind the changes.

Understand How Change Affects People and How to Help Them!

Five Key Things To Remember

1. Clarity

Be very clear about the business reasons for the changes - who will benefit and what will those benefits be?

2. Benefits

Establish why those benefits are important? What will the impact be on the organization?

3. Key Messages

Decide the key messages for your information strategy - what will you need to communicate, to whom and when?

4. Engagement Strategy

Concurrently design an engagement strategy at key points in your project plan that will engage employees at all levels in the reason for the technology changes.

5. Business Reasons

Remember to ensure engagement the message is not about the system itself but about the business reasons for the changes.

Devise and Manage a Change Programme so That it Sticks!

Managing System Changes

Finally, as change management professionals can we take the same approach to managing system changes and apply it to every new organization?

The answer is clearly no because as every organization's culture is different, so it follows that every approach to change management and employee communication must be different to maximise the investment and potential of the system changes that are implemented.

Learn How to Cope With Change Quickly and Easily!

This article was contributed by Kevin Dwyer