When implementing a new change in the workplace, it is crucial to consider all the steps of a successful adoption strategy. So, let’s talk about what strategies you can use to ensure that your solution is adopted by your employees.
How to implement your adoption strategy?
There are a few key things to keep in mind when crafting your strategy. First, you should always start with the awareness phase.
To get people on board, you need to be transparent and clear about what’s happening. This means keeping everyone in the loop about the change that affects them. And when your awareness phase is successfully implemented (learn more about 4 change management phases in the video below), you move to the next phase; engagement. In the engagement phase, you do not want to just communicate the change to employees, you need to get them involved. There are a few ways to do that:
I understand – Make sure employees understand why the change is being made and how it will benefit them. Be clear and concise when communicating this information.
I ask questions – Encourage two-way communication with various feedback loops so employees can provide feedback and input on the proposed change. This can be done through surveys, focus groups, community forums and even in those one-on-one conversations in the hallway.
I am involved – Allow a selected group of employees to try a new way of doing things before implementing it. This can be done through a pilot or proof of concept (POC) depending on what best fits your initiative. This gives them a chance to pioneer new ways and provide feedback and make suggestions for improvement which will help the rest of the organization.
I can share – Build a Champions network that becomes an extension of your change management team to spread the good word but also to bring back valuable input that helps you ensure that the adoption strategy you are implementing will be the right one addressing the right needs.
What is next?
However, simply keeping employees aware and engaged will not necessarily help them to successfully adopt.
Let’s come up with a basic example. I can give you a brand-new computer today and communicate to you about all the new features of the device and its ease of use, how it’s going to make you more efficient, hence more productive. Once that’s done, I can also give you the training – is that enough to ensure that you will adopt this new computer and use it daily and to its full potential? Most probably not. What will make your adoption successful depends on my understanding of what your environment and your needs are – with that precious information, I can tailor my message and my change management tactics to address your needs.
In this context, the adoption strategy needs to be:
- Built on employees’ needs,
- Global across the department/organization,
- Continuous and relevant,
- Embedded into typical workflows,
- Executed regularly.
Once your adoption strategy is implemented, it is important to monitor and analyze the different key performance indicators (KPIs) of the change initiative so you can course correct if needed in terms of the tactics you are using to make sure that your adoption phase contributes to a successful transformation.
