Why is it so hard to make changes stick in your organization?  You go through the process of identifying inefficiencies or areas that will create a significant improvement in the delivery of services, you figure out a better way of getting things done - and then splat.  People go to the training, they nod knowingly and they start trying to implement your better mousetrap.  But inevitably, they slowly revert back to the old ways of doing things.  Particularly in large IT organizations, making change stick may be one of the toughest challenges you must deal with if you truly want to have an impact and create lasting change.

Why you need an adoption strategy
The problem is that it is human nature to resist change.  Most of us prefer the pain of what we know to the fear of what we do not know.  The barriers to change are extensive and well rooted.  So if you want to affect change in your organization you need more than a better way of doing things you need an adoption strategy that will make that change stick. 

Creating an adoption strategy does not come naturally to most IT folks.  We like building things.  We like precision.  And we like things well designed up front.  But changing organizational behavior is none of those things.  It is messy.  It borders on controlled chaos.  And it requires that you put ideas out there before they are fully baked to let people take cheap shots at them. 

That does not sound too appealing.  But it is what must be done if your great idea has any chance of surviving in the wild and taking root.  So how do you do it?  There are four things (and one secret ingredient – that is the ½) that you must do to create lasting change in your organization.

Step #1: create awareness
I know that I am going to lose half of you right here if I am not careful.  Yes, I know that ‘creating awareness’ sounds like a ‘duh’ statement, but it is amazing how many times we have seen initiatives fail right here: at the beginning.

Creating awareness is not about telling people that you are about to do something.  Well, not exactly:  it is all about creating buzz.  Putting a little bit of Hollywood into your initiative.  The idea is to create excitement and momentum for all of the great things you are going to do.  It is all about creating anticipation.

Step #2: involve your customer
Once you have got folks worked up into a frenzy of anticipation, you have set the stage to actually get them involved with what you're doing.  Remember, the objective is to drive change into the organization.  To do that, the people that you are going to impact (your customers) need to be invested in the process.  That means that first, they need to understand why the change is happening (awareness) and then they need to feel that they are part of the solution - not part of the problem. 

The objective is to engage the customer before, during and throughout the development process.  It does not need to be everyone (in fact, it should not be everyone) and it can be different people at different stages, but the key is that the customer is never left behind during the development cycle.

Step #3: create deep understanding
Once development is done and you have created your better mousetrap, it is time to roll it out.  But you can not just will it into existence or do some simple training and hope it takes.  You must create a deep understanding of what will change, expected behaviors and how these behaviors will be monitored and measured.

Clearly, training will be a major part of this.  But training must be created with a clear understanding of who needs to be trained and the level of understanding they require to drive the organizational change you desire.  This almost certainly means that you will need several different, tailored training tracks.

It is also critical that you realize that training alone is not enough.  Recognizing that people learn in different ways, you must utilize creative mechanisms such as road shows, games, voicemails from senior leadership, etc. to drive the point home.  These and other unique approaches will help you to continually reinforce the change you are implementing and create the deep understanding that you need.

Step #4: drive adoption
Going live is the beginning of the adoption process, not the end.  The first few weeks after implementation are critical.  You need to seal the deal and ensure that the change takes root within your organization.  To do this, you must have a deliberate approach to both reinforce the key concepts and to enforce the expected behaviors.  This approach may include coaching, spot audits, management reviews or other steps that will drive your changes into the culture of your organization.

In the rush to continue development, it is easy to want to skip this step.  Don’t.  It may seem overwhelming or needless, but failing to effectively execute this last step can mean the difference between lasting impact and flash in the pan.

The missing ingredient (step #4 ½): create leaders
These four steps are required to execute an effective adoption strategy.  But there is one additional step that is often the missing ingredient that keeps organizations from realizing the full potential of their change efforts.  This is the focused effort to create leaders at all levels within the organization. 

Whether you call them leaders, change agents, influencers or rising stars, you must find them and focus energy on gaining their trust and buy-in.  You also must invest your resources on developing their leadership skills so that they can effectively carry your changes back into the organization.  These leaders will be the key to full and lasting adoption.  If they get it and believe in the change, they will be able to influence others and help you sustain the effort while you overcome the barriers to adoption.

Driving lasting change
The changes you are trying to make are critically important to your business.  The inefficiencies, the redundant or ineffective process, the poor risk management – they all need to be fixed and the change needs to stick.  To make that happen and to ensure that your efforts are not wasted, you need to execute these 4 ½ steps to craft a deliberate adoption strategy.  It will drive your changes deep into your organizational culture and ensure that you have the lasting impact that your organization is counting on.

If you are interested in learning more about this subject, we are producing a white paper entitled, “Making Change Stick” that will offer greater detail on the development of an adoption strategy.  Please post a comment with your interest and we will email it to you once it is published.