Your Basic Template for Enterprise Change Management
Software alone can’t change people’s behavior.
Bootstrapping Blissbook to profitability has been a long, arduous journey, but worth it every step of the way. Not only have we learned a great deal building software products for others, but now we don’t have to answer to anyone other than our customers and ourselves.
One topic we were surprised by while working with The Home Depot is how hard it is to enact change, even for senior managers and leaders.
We discovered that a common misconception at tech startups is quite prevalent at big enterprises too: that software alone can change people’s behavior. This belief comes naturally to people in the tech world. If creating technology is what you’re good at, it’s only natural to want to use it to try to influence change.
Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work like that.
In the enterprise world, if technology fails it can be really tempting for someone at the top to wield their stick of power and say “use this software now” or “do things this way now”.
It’s a short-sighted fix.
That’s like asking people to get in a boat with no compass, no life jackets, no defenses against pirates and sharks, and no explanation about why the boat is going in a particular direction. Would anyone want to get in that boat?
Here’s a template for how it should actually work.
1. Vision
In the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
To communicate your vision, you need a pitch! Your goal is to inspire people to want to go to Future Island using a strong narrative for change. You can go positive on Future Island or negative on Today Island. Either way, your audience needs to see a gap between the two that makes Future Island look 10x better.
Your pitch is going to be different depending on your audience. For each different audience segment or team, you’ll need a pitch that creates that 10x gap. Don’t forget to Start With Why!
2. Safety
One of the reasons change is so hard is because people are afraid to leave the relative safety of Today Island. It’s perceived as a loss.
“I’ve been on Today Island a long time and everything’s been fine so far — why leave? There are sharks! What if the boat sinks?! What if Future Island isn’t what you say it is?!!” — Your Team
You need to reassure your audience members that Future Island and the journey there is safe. That starts with discovery. Talk to the people who’d be affected by the change. Ask, “if you did XYZ instead of ABC, what would you be worried about?” Drill deeper with follow up questions like, “…and why is that bad (or good or confusing or whatever)?” and “What happens to you if that happens?”
Be prepared for people to lie. Don’t worry, it’s usually not on purpose. Try to discover their true pain, even if they don’t say it. Look for body language that belies their true pain. True pains can be embarrassing or career-inhibiting to verbalize, so an employee might not want to talk about them.
Note: this is really hard. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get it perfect. Just putting in the effort to listen might be enough to make people feel safe.
Next, your job is to create things to make those worries go away. It could be as simple as talking it out. Or it could be new incentives, training workshops, a new structure, or something else along those lines.
3. Support
If you’ve sold your vision and your audience members are feeling safe, they’ll be asking, “How?” That’s a great place to be! Now your job is to support employees with the tools and training they need to make the journey to Future Island a successful one.
If software is your boat, don’t forget the other tools people need on an ocean voyage. Like directions! In our analogy, directions = training. It could be training on the software tool itself, personal growth training, or tactical training about how to make the change.
A Final Note
Some people won’t get in the boat on the first trip. That’s ok, you can come back to the late majority once they see others enjoying Future Island. And the ones that will never get in the boat, even after the change is a validated success? Hopefully they’re few and far between. If not, go back to step 1 or let them walk away.
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