In your experience, how is change most often met? a.) resistance b.) fear or c.) both
At Datamax, we are agents of technology change. We constantly bring to bear new ideas and new areas for organizations to consider changing the way they conduct business every day. Whether it’s removing that beloved desktop printer, or convincing them their free anti-virus software is inadequate, it’s our duty to usher in change for the better inside customer workplaces.
It’s often met with a fair share of resistance. So how do we make this a smooth, successful process?
A true technology consultant thinks bigger, and never forgets the need for a change management plan.
At its core, change management is an approach of shifting people, teams and organizations from one state of mind to a desired future state of mind. This process ensures that people are proactively engaged to understand, accept and embrace mission critical changes around the office.
A successful technology roll-out of any kind (Print Management, Network Management, or just a mid-volume MFP, etc.) depends on having a proper change management strategy and a partner who understands its value. Such components include:
1. Strategy
Answers the “WHY” question for the technology change at hand (or more specifically, “Why are you relocating my desktop printer?”) and challenges employees to “THINK” about the value of smarter technology initiatives, as well as provides an opportunity to align with pre-existing corporate stewardship and green initiatives.
2. Promotion
This provides a campaign of collateral and communications to help ease the transition to a more responsible way of printing by promoting change as a benefit not only to organizations as a whole, but on a personal level as well. We want to promote this change so the people involved in it feel like they are a part of it.
It could be something as simple as an ongoing email exchange with a contact, reinforcing the value that we aim to provide.
3. Feedback
This helps identify program and application blind spots, solicits performance information and grass-roots recommendations for ongoing project optimization. It could be a feedback survey. It could come up organically during the partnership review. But we want the end-user's voice to be heard throughout and beyond the technology roll-out.
Author & Speaker George Courus shares his 5 Characteristics of a Change Agent:
1. Clear Vision
As mentioned above, a “change agent” does not have to be the person in authority, but they do however have to have a clear vision and be able to communicate that clearly with others.
2. Patient yet persistent
Change does not happen overnight. But the persistence comes in that you will take opportunities to help people get a step closer often when they are ready, not just giving up on them early on.
3. Asks tough questions
Keep asking questions to help people think, don’t alleviate that by telling them what to do.
4. Knowledgeable and leads by example
If you want to create “change," you have to not only be able to articulate what that looks like, but show it to others.
5. Strong relationships built on trust
All of the above, means nothing if you do not have solid relationships with the people that you serve. People will not want to grow if they do not trust the person that is pushing the change