Have you ever noticed how many organizations jump to deploy software in hopes it will fix large organizational performance issues? They hope that providing tools - like SharePoint, CRM, ERP, and myriad social sharing systems - that enable collaboration will actually result in improved collaboration.

But spending a lot of time and money on a technical solution alone will not fix an organizational and people problem.

Don’t be silly. Nothing will fix Congress.

Regardless of your political views, the US Congress is a shining example of an organization which does not embrace collaboration. 

There are deep differences in values, complex rules and processes that prevent collaboration, a complete lack of accountability, and misaligned incentives. (Let's be honest, most elected officials’ primary concern is their own personal career and desire to win re-election.) This means there is never a shortage of poor performance and finger-pointing.

In short, there are complex levels of organizational dysfunction that no amount of technology alone will fix.

Deploying enterprise collaboration software doesn’t mean your enterprise will collaborate

Enterprise collaboration technology does have the potential to add great value to your organization, and, in many organizations, it does just that. However, it is important to recognize that in order for people to actually change their attitudes and work behaviors to embrace collaboration requires that you look at the people and organizational realities - the actual social (non-technical) systems operating within your organization. If you don’t address these social (non-technical) elements no amount of technology will improve your organization.

Before your invest in collaboration software, ask yourself how your organization is like Congress

Before you even begin to define requirements and evaluate software tools, make sure you ask yourself, “How is my organization like Congress”? Identify all of the people, organizational, process, policy, and operational elements that will drive or prevent actual collaboration. Make sure you have mapped out a strategy – with resources – to address these elements. If you don’t know how to do it, be sure to get help from qualified experts.

Sounds like a lot of hard work? It is. And not many people have the knowledge, understanding and experience in addressing the non-technical aspects of collaboration. But if you don’t correctly handle these elements, your collaboration technology effort will fail before it even begins.

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This famous clip from the movie Office Space is a quick reminder of one of the most commonly overlooked issues when implementing IT systems – motivating people to work. And sure, Initech is a fictional company, but it actually resembles a lot of organizations with which I have worked over the years. 

In this scene, the employee Peter Gibbons tells the efficiency consultants how his organization approaches motivation and the impact it has on his work efforts. Does this sound like your organization?


Watch video here.

How do you motivate people to use your IT system?

Whenever you implement an IT system, look at all things affecting employee motivation. Sometimes there are issues with compensation and incentives. Other times the management may actually be demotivating employees. 

As Peter says, “I have 8 different bosses right now…so that means when I make a mistake I have 8 different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only motivation – not to be hassled.”

Would WIIFM motivate this employee?

Convention wisdom (which is high on convention, and low on wisdom) often says that when implementing an IT system you should try to “sell people on what’s in it for me”. 

Do you think trying to sell Peter on WIIFM would work in this case? Of course not. There are bigger issues that need to be fixed here. And unless these other items are fixed, WIIFM will not work.

So, what will you do to make sure you have motivated people to use your system? Please share your thoughts and experiences with us on the Customer Success Practitioners group on LInkedIn.

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2. Current level of user adoption of existing systems

3. Impact of future changes to users’ jobs and performance requirements

4. Identification of all drivers and barriers to IT user adoption

5. Formal assignment of responsibility, authority and accountability for ROI

6. Identification of resources & budget required to drive initial user adoption

7. Plan and budget resources for sustaining user adoption over the life of the system

8. Defined approach for ensuring the CRM system stays relevant

I was recently asked to participate in a discussion on change management by our friends over at The Washington Webcaster. 

Change Management Insights

In episode 6 of The Washington Webcaster, we talk about a variety of items related to change management and user adoption.  Watch the episode below where we talk about things like:

-       User resistance to change

-       Change Leadership

-       Cloud computing

-       Driving change and sustaining user adoption of IT systems

-       Change management and ROI on IT investments.