With Organizational Change Management (OCM) and the now-classic Seinfeldian “yada yada yada”, we have a phrase so many of us (still) use to headline a story and gloss over details is, like most comedy, a double-edged sword of both humor and truth.
Of course, the “yada yada yada” ceases to be funny when the all-too-common tendency to layout an OCM plan and leave out the details arrive on your desk in the form of a none-too-well thought out project, and you’re tasked with making sure it both works and is profitable.
That’s when this cartoon is also more painful than funny because now the truth is happening to you. This is why companies bring in third parties to drive OCM, better known today as Customer Success and Software Adoption.
Solving the OCM Problem, Delivering Customer Success
Third parties’ external perspective affords them the opportunity to assess the reality of the landscape and then build a logical, strategic, actionable plan. They eliminate the “yada yada yada” and put in real, detailed plans. They answer questions like:
- How, precisely, will we get from Point A to Point B?
- How will we identify the barriers to getting to Point B?
- How will we structure this OCM plan, so you get the biggest bang for the buck?
- Do we have the organizational capacity – infrastructure, personnel, and bandwidth – to measure and monitor progress toward the business goals?
- If we moved ahead without a strategic OCM plan, what will a misstep cost? And is that something you can afford?
- How will we make sure you get a short-term lift and long-term results?
- How do we cut through the red tape and move ahead quickly in days in weeks, instead of months?
Real-World Example
Do the above questions sound familiar? They’re from real situations we encounter all the time, and we find many clients are looking to jumpstart their organization’s internal changes (e.g., program implementations and technology adoption), usually with a deadline of yesterday.
For example, a recent client was about to launch a very expensive and very public (national) pilot program, simultaneously introducing the company’s new, proprietary software and changing their business model. They had a lot invested, and it’s not hyperbole to say the future of the organization was riding these changes. There was an incredible level of risk and uncertainty around whether or not people would use their technology and if they’d be successful.
They needed:
- unknowns to became known
- clarity about what issues were most pressing
- a structured and benchmarked action plan
- to know how best to organize and execute both the technology adoption plan and the re-org change management plan.
Being too close to their OCM project, being overworked just trying to get the system right, the client both couldn’t see the problem and didn’t have the time to figure out what to do. So in just a few days’ time, we delivered a Quick Start Strategy, replacing the “yada, yada, yada” and “insert miracle here” with:
- precise, actionable plans of how to proceed
- specific short- and long-term activities to achieve gains both short- and long-term
- a sustainable success road map to guide them through the next phase of their program
In a nutshell, we helped them to take action to move forward so the whole company could move ahead confidently. As masters of their domain.
Most software projects fail to deliver the expected business outcomes because of the approach the buyer takes to getting the system live and driving adoption. Most buyer’s organizations don’t have the expertise, tools, and capacity to deliver their own success. This short video explains many of the methodological and structural problems organizations face when dealing with software.
If you are looking to help software buyers create their own internal software success programs, Success Chain can help. Contact us to find out what we can do for you.
