Lesson 5: Training is not Change Management

I had a client a few years back, pre-pandemic. They had spent millions on a new tool that used a next-best-action model to improve their sales performance. It would provide agents with recommendations on when, how, and with what content to engage their prospects the next time they meet them. It based its recommendations on previous interactions, collating calendar availabilities, best practices, etc. You would think that people would appreciate a tool that acts like a personal assistant so that they can focus on the job and not worry about all that admin and calendar planning. Well… adoption was in the low 20%. Agents had all received the mandatory training that comes with big corporates introducing new tools, but other than that… nothing changed. As it turns out, when your performance is based on your reputation, you are unwilling to risk it all by blindly trusting some new software. Regardless of how flashy that company training at the local airport Hilton basement was, it won’t help improve adoption. Because… Lesson 5: Training is NOT Change Management!

Recognize the need

There are several kinds of changes that we notice in a business environment: workforce changes, process changes, cultural changes, technological changes, etc. Let’s start by thinking about these in terms of two different sizes in which they come: incremental changes and transformations.

Incremental changes are like small shifts in the way a company does things. You hire new employees while others leave the company. You automate a workflow here and there. These happen more or less naturally and, over time, can add up to large shifts without anybody noticing. It's kind of how your grandparents are shocked at how tall you’ve gotten when you barely noticed any difference.

Transformations, on the other hand, are like paragon shifts. They are material, significant, sudden, and carefully planned out. Importantly: they are intentional. They come with strategic targets and long-run impact. Such large-scale changes require, well, change management to run parallel to them to effectively reach their desired targets. Otherwise, they are just expensive undertakings that rip the rug from under your employees without warning or forethought.

Clarify the vision

Like any good project, your transformation requires a clear vision. More on the value of having a clearly defined vision in Lesson 1 (feel free to refer to that; I am not repeating myself here). Ensure the vision is aspirational enough to gain supporters within the company, but also grounded enough to be believable and feasible. This is not your company’s grand vision, but a vision for a dedicated project, so make sure it is strategically relevant and backed by KPIs you can track and report on. This is immensely important, because transformations are difficult, lengthy, and will undoubtedly rattle some feathers along the way. Having practical results to report on and showcase to your employees will help keep their spirits high when the going gets tough.

Find supporters (and detractors)

Speaking of support, you will need allies. Not just as part of your transformation team (SWAT Team, Steering Board, Power Rangers, whatever you want to call them) to get the actual work done, but to champion your vision across the organization. Ideally, try to tap into each department, and every team. Have champions placed in each one; key individuals that are seen as opinion leaders across the organization. They’re your ticket to the big leagues here. They are the ones that will keep the momentum up and spirits high.

Humans are not great fans of change, regardless of what your barista wrote on your coffee cup today. So, with every transformation, there are people who will react defensively towards it (for whichever reason). The best thing you can do here is communicate. The main weapon of the opposition is disinformation. And it thrives in an information vacuum.

Your job here is to make sure you communicate regularly and openly about the transformation. Clarify why it is needed and what will be done. Have your champions repeat the message to their teams. Send out regular newsletters. Be present! Be vocal!

When things go south, be open about it! Do NOT hide failures since they will inevitably come out one way or another. Control the narrative. Importantly: provide channels where employees can self-inform like intranet websites, glossaries, informational videos, and so on. Whatever you do, do not go silent. Uncertainty is the enemy of change.

Involve your people

Alongside keeping people informed, ensure they have actual skin in the game. Involve them, and allow them the chance to contribute. Chances are, they are excited to be a part of it. It is not every day that one gets a shot at working on a company-wide transformation project. Staff your leadership team with champions and empower them to recruit the people they want and need to make change happen. The wider the group of people you can involve here, the better, especially if they have a diverse skill set.

Looking back to my client’s example: their whole project was run under wraps with no involvement from the actual sales teams that were going to use the tool. So, when the time came to launch it, everyone was shocked and considered it a huge threat to their jobs. “They can’t replace me with this tool!”, “This thing can’t be better than I am at my job!” were often heard during interviews. Who could blame them? They were never told what to expect. So they thought they were fighting SKYNET when in reality they were fighting a calendar planner…

Lock in the new normal

Picture this: you have a new, untested tool. But also the full freedom to just keep working like you have always done. Guess what? The path of least resistance it is! Without an adequate plan or measures in place to promote the “new ways”, people naturally backslide into their “status quo”. Sure, change managers can go ahead and implement carrot or stick-type processes (read: Management By Objectives, OKRs, and other measures), but more often than not what is needed is attention to the company culture. Again, you can lock in the new normal by embedding it into the company’s culture.

Did you just add a new expensive tool? Remind your people of how your company is based on a spirit of experimentation, and how you believe in making mistakes and trying new things as a path to growth. Only then will you see how adoption takes off, because your employees won’t just understand the WHAT, they will believe the WHY.

Track progress and improve over time

At the end of it all, ask yourself: were our objectives met? Have we achieved our vision? Some call this a project postmortem. Less dramatic people call it a review. Either way, the purpose here is to honestly look at what you have achieved, where you may have missed the mark, and how you can continuously improve even after the project has ended. Remember those KPIs you initially set up? This is where they come into their own, allowing for long-term monitoring of how your company benefited from this project and how it can replicate these benefits elsewhere in the future.

Having done the groundwork of setting a vision, defining how to measure success, gathering the right people, communicating openly, considering your culture, and tracking progress over the long run will help you reach success. And, importantly, avoid spending millions on something nobody wants or uses.

Remember, it’s the thought that counts only when giving presents. Everywhere else, we focus on results!