image by syamastro, flickr artist
blog. wiki. ms excel file. ms project plan. ms sharepoint page. basecamp project.
they’re all tools. while people may prefer one tool over another, whichever tool it is will not take hold unless the culture there supports it.
i see a lot of proposed changes to current work streams and business processes fail because — even with support from leadership — the user base rejects those changes. there could be a few reasons why:
- it’s not simple. if the change is convoluted, adding extra steps to the workflow process or time to complete tasks, people are going to reject it – even if they agree in principle that the proposed new method is “right”
- they don’t understand it. if you make a change that people don’t understand the reasoning behind, they will have a hard time accepting and implementing it. #1 sign that you made boo-boos? hearing employees say, “uh.. why are we doing this again?”
- it doesn’t fit. if your changes contradict the way you do business, it’s only going to lead to confusion and frustration, and ultimately it will be abandoned.
if you’ve tried making changes to the way your team or organization does work in the past and failed, check the process again. look at what you’re trying to do, and see what your people think about it. when new tools don’t take hold, don’t discredit their use.
it’s the culture, stupid!
keep the tools and fix the culture.
#1 by Steve Radick on 21 December 2009 - 10:58 am
John – this is exactly what I’ve learned over my six years of going change management and strategic communication. It also sounds very much like the recent PROSCI certificate I received. It’s a change management certificate that teaches you the ADKAR methodology for change – ADKAR = Awareness that a change is needed, Desire to make the change, Knowledge to understand how to change, Ability to actually change, and Reinforement to maintain the change. (http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-adkar-overview.htm) Check it out – I think you’d find it interesting.
#2 by john on 21 December 2009 - 3:22 pm
thanks for the link, steve! i will definitely check it out. change management and knowledge management are definitely interests of mine.
i think a lot of people recognize that what they’re doing is not working and have identified at least some thing that they’d like to change or know will make them better, faster, cheaper, or more efficient. the ability to actually change seems to be where people get most caught up.
and not just from a top-down perspective. i think the true professionals (in business, sports, etc.) are the ones who can do that; they can unlearn the old ways and learn to adopt the new.