| | SEPTEMBER - 2023MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM9appropriate resourcing is achieved and expanding investment in the project from HR to the entire organization.Technology is ever-changing, and its use varies by industry, organization size and specific business needs. Leverage external expertise to enhance your review of the technology to incorporate best practices in software and your industry without the bias and urgency of internal stakeholders or the software provider team. Partnering with an external resource can strengthen your business case through external benchmarking and best practices, support process optimization efforts and vet your project plan.Is your organization ready for the change?While it seems, in theory, to make a lot of sense that without people, you cannot achieve a successful solution, change management is rarely done well. A lack of change effort has historically compromised the success of a project. Change management efforts focus on understanding the impact of the technology on people, processes, and technology for each user and developing a plan that considers communications, training, and support. Build a champion network throughout the organization with employees at all levels to promote the solution's value, act as early adopters and influence adoption.A change management plan should mirror the project management plan's effort, planning and resourcing. This involves a detailed approach to implementing the change, defining the outcomes, and communicating a clear definition of success. It should be documented and tracked with ongoing communication with your project team, and everyone impacted. By involving a diverse network of employees both in the project itself and the change plan, awareness and understanding of the need for the solution are increased, and buy-in is secured earlier. This also ensures that you can identify roadblocks sooner and pivot accordingly. Understanding the change saturation of your organization is another layer to determining whether your organization is ready for the change. This includes an inventory of current and future projects happening/ being considered, any other competing demands for time and confirming the user's capacity for change. Understanding the context within which this project will be released and the mindset of end users can have implications for the timing of the project and the overall change plan.Change management does not happen in isolation. Leverage the cross-functional team you have developed and incorporate the employee voice as often as possible. Ensure that your project and change management plans are vetted against each other and live in conjunction with each other. Do you clearly understand the problem you are trying to solve?Invest the time and resources upfront in gathering requirements, understand your current processes and future needs, and secure buy-in from stakeholders. A demo is not enough. A conversation with a sales rep is even less so. This is where having internal technology support and speaking directly to the software provider's technology team can help you confirm your understanding and validate the ability of the software to meet your needs. Having a detailed understanding of the software opportunities and limitations up front will also ensure that your project plan, associated timelines, and resource needs are realistic if a trial or sandbox environment is available even better. The more functionality you can verify, the stronger your understanding of the tool and your outcome.Consider whether the opportunities for improvement are process-related or technology, and ensure you have a strong foundation first. Software is meant to enhance and enable, not to solve, all policy and procedural gaps. Couple your understanding of the technology with a detailed evaluation of your current processes and requirements. Your benefits realization framework assesses both qualitative and quantitative benefits by the magnitude of impact. This framework is a critical input to determining scope, timing, and your business case. Develop a roadmap, prioritize through the lens of a detailed benefits realization model, spend time discussing challenges and think through every step of every process.Whether due to change saturation or your pre-implementation findings, it is essential that you are willing to make the tough call. In some cases, that means pivoting and adjusting your plan; in others, determining that technology is not the right priority and pausing to strengthen the foundation through process optimization. Whatever the decision, these key considerations can be the difference in adoption and a strong outcome for the business versus an implementation that may simply permeate existing inefficiencies. Understanding the change saturation of your organization is another layer to determining whether your organization is ready for the change
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