Improve Implementations with Effective Change Management

Anyone who has gone through a software implementation knows that while the payoff can be large the process can be challenging. To help reduce some of the pain of implementing new technology, a thoughtful change management process is invaluable. Change management practitioner and implementation expert Chad Teague offers his thoughts on five common questions and concerns around implementation, and how organizations can improve the process.

1. What are the key first steps when preparing for an implementation?

You need a coherent goal as to what the project is trying to do, and you need as many people on board with that goal as possible. Goal congruence in the public sector is very difficult compared to the private sector. Having a consensus on what you're trying to accomplish through the project is critical.

A lot of times in RFPs there are grand objectives that are identified, but often those RFPs are put together by a small group of people and not necessarily all the departmental directors or staff. People don't necessarily have a say in what those objectives are. A comprehensive change management approach fills this gap.

2. Who are the key people to have at the table?

You need the sponsor to be at the right level of the organization; the higher the level, the better.

A lot of times a sponsor may be the IT director or the finance director who is tagged as the sponsor. They have no authority over the other department or division directors and yet that person is somehow supposed to get other people on board who are at the very same level as him or herself –the HR director, the purchasing director, the transportation director, utilities director.

I always try to get sponsors who are over the entire structure being impacted, such as the superintendent, assistant superintendent, county manager, assistant county manager, city manager, or assistant city manager.

An important aspect a sponsor needs to be aware of is that the sponsor doesn't need to go to project meetings all day and every day. Sponsors have a key role by inserting themselves messaging-wise into emails, videos, and in person at the appropriate time for the appropriate audience so that people understand the project is still a priority.

There's also the structure of the project team, which can sometimes be too narrow. A lot of times I see where even if we have a good sponsor, we have a very small project team that may only be made up of finance and IT representatives when the project is really going to touch everybody in the organization.

I usually suggest a coalition structure. I call it a coalition structure versus a steering committee because a coalition member may not have active participation in decisions on the project, per se. But a coalition structure helps you communicate to all those different areas in the entity that aren't directly involved in the project. That way, everyone feels as if they are getting information. They feel like they're being heard, which is an important concept in change management.

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3. What are the core components of an implementation communications strategy?

A best practice is to use a sponsor messaging guide, which looks at the project schedule and maps out when a sponsor needs to message certain audiences at certain times.

There are typically three levels of communication audiences (the core project team, the directors, and the entire organization.) We look at the sponsor messaging guide, and we sit there and say, "OK, when do we need the sponsor to do XYZ with one of these groups?"

You can also push messages out through a coalition structure. For example, if you have a horizontal structure of all the directors, the information may go to them, and they can then echo that messaging downward.

This repetitive messaging from different sources amplifies the messages and increases the likelihood that messages are received. Staff hears messages from different perspectives and from different levels of the organization, which tends to reinforce the importance of it. In fact, it typically takes people five to seven messages before they really understand and absorb information, according to PROSCI, a leader in change management certification.

4. What's the most common challenge of an implementation?

Many times, the sponsor just assumes that everyone understands everything that's gone on during the long process of creating an RFP, and then analyzing, evaluating, and then finally selecting a vendor.

So, we're often three years into a project before a vendor is selected, and the people that have been involved in that selection process just kind of assume that everybody understands the history, the reasoning, the logic, why they selected this vendor, and what the objectives are.

But a change management communication strategy and effective leadership will continually inform staff via communication channels throughout the project, from the beginning and throughout the project. Change management is about the “people side of change,” and we must treat people in a way that helps them embrace the change.

For staff to adopt the technology, or anything new, you have to get them to care about it. For people to care about it, they need to understand how it's going to help them.

Proper communications will answer the key question for staff: "What's in it for me?"

5. What’s a good strategy for positive implementation outcomes?

An implementation is a heavy lift and requires realistic timelines to set good expectations.

If not, project fatigue and change saturation ensue, and most government entities are already short-staffed just to get the daily work done.

If the vendor is trying to coach you to go slower and take a little bit more time, the end result will be better versus trying to get it done quickly. There's just no way to postpone or skip the core work. For example, if you have to convert data, the data is not going to convert on its own. Someone knowledgeable has to scrub the data, convert that data, and then validate the data – and that all takes time.

I'd recommend that people listen to people who do this all the time that say, "A 12-month timeline sounds good, but it may not be realistic based on this, this, and this."

At least take that advice and measure it carefully.

Chad Teague, MBA, CCMP, joined Tyler Technologies in 2013 as an implementation consultant focused on implementing Enterprise ERP. He then worked as a project manager and has been working solely in helping clients with change management during implementation of various Tyler product suites since 2018 and is a certified change management professional. Chad has experience in the public sector, including having been the executive cost analyst for the Georgia Technology Authority. He has also had roles with Gwinnett County, Georgia, as deputy chief appraiser and budget director, among other public sector jobs.