change-and-adoption

Change and adoption

The characteristic expensive failure is a system delivered on time, on budget, to specification, and

not used. The project succeeded and the investment did not.

Map who is affected and what it costs them

Stakeholder analysis usually stops at influence and interest. The operative question is what each

group loses: status, autonomy, expertise that took years to build, a workaround they were proud

of, or simply a routine that worked.

Resistance is almost always rational from where the person stands. Treating it as ignorance produces

more communication aimed at the wrong problem, and confirms to the affected group that nobody

understands their work.

Communicate in the order people need

The sequence that works is why, then what, then how, then when — and organizations reliably lead with

what and when, which is the project's perspective rather than the audience's.

State what is changing for this audience specifically. A general announcement is heard as not

applying to anyone in particular.

Be honest about costs. A change presented as pure benefit, where the audience can see the cost, loses

the credibility needed for everything said afterwards. Naming the downside is what makes the upside

believable.

Local credibility beats hierarchy

People adopt what respected colleagues adopt. A message from an executive establishes that the change

is sanctioned; it does not establish that it is sensible.

Find the people others actually ask, involve them early enough to influence the outcome, and let them

carry it. Involvement after the decisions are made is recognized as decoration and costs more

credibility than it buys.

Train at the moment of use

Training delivered weeks ahead of availability is forgotten. Deliver close to go-live, in the context

of the real work, with support available in the first days when everyone hits the same three

obstacles.

people:learning-and-development covers building durable capability; this is landing a specific

change.

Measure adoption, not deployment

Licenses deployed, accounts created and sessions logged measure nothing about whether the work

changed. Measure the behavior: is the new process being followed, is the old path still being used,

have the outcomes moved?

Watch for the workaround. Where people have quietly kept the old spreadsheet, adoption is nominal —

and the workaround is data about what the new system fails to do, not merely non-compliance.

Adoption is the mechanism by which pmo:benefits-realization becomes possible; without it there is

nothing to realize.

Never

• Treat resistance as a communication deficit without asking what the change costs.
• Lead with what and when instead of why.
• Involve influential users only after the decisions are made.
• Report adoption from deployment statistics.