Written by : Lata Hamilton on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
It’s no secret that digital transformation is the hottest thing since sliced bread, and everyone wants a piece of this money-making pie.
Whether it’s going to make your company money or save your company money, the future is new technologies that turn old, manual processes into faster, simpler, automated magic.
But what happens when your digital transformation dream goes up in smoke, and you’re left holding the ashes? You’ve spent bucketloads on innovation and development but for some reason your amazing platform, system or app hasn’t hit the mark, isn’t being used properly by your staff, customers or clients, has run over deadline, and left you feeling you’ve wasted not just money, but also time, effort, energy and hope.
You wouldn’t be alone.
A massive number of digital projects fail. A 2020 Forbes article found that the number of technology projects which experience serious issues in things like cost, schedule, and goals can be up to 60%! I’ve seen it myself on major digital transformation projects that I’ve worked on with some of Australia’s biggest companies.
But there is a silver lining. The same Forbes article found that the secret to reducing technology project failure rate is often: people.
How?
Through the power of Change Management – which can not only transform your transformation, but also your results.
My simple definition of Change Management is: “moving people from one way of doing something to a new way of doing something, through communications, training, and business readiness, to realise the benefits of the change.”
People are the users of any digital technology – they are the ones that unlock its potential. The sad truth is that people are hard-wired to hate change.
Even when a new technology could save time, effort and expense, most people will still resist it.
Change Management encourages inviting people in to co-create and co-design what the change will mean for them, give them, and bring them. It builds trust instead of fear, empowers your people to own their future, and helps them get ready for a new way of doing things.
Here are some practical Change Management-inspired approaches you can use to help launch your digital technology more successfully with staff, customers and clients:
- Co-design the features and processes of the new system with actual end users so it’s fit-for-purpose, user-friendly, and loved before launch.
- Get your teams ready for the new way of doing things by clearly explaining to them how their processes and tools will be different and what they need to do to prepare.
- Build a microsite and provide regular project updates, news, training tools, and resources – as well as a countdown to launch and a forum to ask questions!
- Do live demos of the technology all the way through development – seeing is believing!
- Give people the chance to get hands-on with the system before it’s launched – even if there’s still bugs, it will help build confidence in the solution.
- Create an exciting launch event – bring it to life with a quiz, competition, or lucky draw that requires people to try out the new system, with super cool prizes on offer.
Bringing people on the journey not only changes your experience of leading a digital project, but improves the likelihood of success.
The Forbes article also suggests building soft skills, supporting leadership, and offering better training experiences – which are all things a great Change Management expert can provide.
If you want to learn more about the power of Change Management, download my free “Change Hackathon Planning Workbook” here which steps through how to crowdsource and co-create future ways of working during transformation and change.
Name and title:
Lata Hamilton – Change Leadership and Confidence expert
Bio:
Lata Hamilton is a pocket rocket burst of energy with a big heart… and big hair! She helps women carve their own paths for change in their career, leadership and life. Lata is a Change Leadership and Confidence expert, the creator of the “Leading Successful Change” program, and the Founder & CEO of Passion Pioneers.
Websites:
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