AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Trimble announced last week the launch of Trimble Field Service Management (FSM) Connect, an advanced development environment and a standard set of Web services and APIs that can enhance field service business processes by allowing access, use and sharing of data across a variety of different systems.

Following the recent announcement of Trimble Horizon, the new cloud-based platform for FSM solutions, FSM Connect is the third in a line of new features and solutions announced this week as part of Trimble's spotlight on empowering mobile workers.

"Most companies have multiple solutions that collect data, which has to be manually interpreted and checked against the same or similar data from other solutions," said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble's Field Service Management Division. "FSM Connect is a package of Web services for Trimble customers and partners that provide a comprehensive and reliable way to enable a seamless information flow between Trimble FSM solutions and back-end or third-party systems. This means the value of data can be realised across an organisation and the most up-to-date information can be shared instantaneously, a vital requirement for organisations with mobile workers out in the field."

"The amount of information a field service organisation needs to operate successfully can be daunting and one of the biggest challenges it faces is the lack of integrated data to provide a consolidated view of their processes. With FSM Connect, we can enable them to solve this challenge," said Cameron.

FSM Connect enables organisations by providing a single point of access for their field service information. In addition, it allows users to feed the integrated data into business analytics and reporting systems to make more-informed decisions about their field work that can drive productivity and enhance knowledge management.

Other benefits of FSM Connect include:

 

• Decreasing manual data entry by automatically sending data to other applications
• Increasing operational efficiency by centralising and streamlining data views
• Providing bidirectional flow of data that allows full integration across the organisation

 

Trimble will be hosting a Webinar with Aberdeen Group on Thursday, 30. Oct. Aly Pinder, senior research analyst of the Aberdeen Group, will discuss the key emerging technologies empowering workers out in the field, including the use of mobility. To register for the Webinar, or to sign up for a recording, click here.

 

Looking to the future is not just about which technology you should be applying to your mobile workforce to ensure that you are beating productivity level KPIs, it is also about looking at how you can ensure sustained growth within the business.

A key part of this is of course staffing.

However, for many companies an ageing workforce could prove to be a significant hurdle to not only growing their business but also to simply maintaining their existing size and standards. One such company that is attempting to tackle the issue before it becomes irreversible is Siemens.

“We have a habit of looking a few years ahead and we are looking at where will we be in 2020” states Graeme Coyne, Business Development Manager, Siemens Customer Services

“Our particular department is about 200 people in the UK. Based on the growth of our department over the last few years, we believe that by 2020 we will need around 250 people.” on to Coyne explains before going highlight the gravity of the situation that the manufacturing giant faced.

“We had a problem. We have 200 employees now and we needed 250 in six years time but we estimated we were going to lose about 100 people through retirement by then also”

“We’ve got an ageing population. I’ve personally been in Siemens for 30 years; the oldest person in our service organisation is 75 years old. There is a big bulge of people who are aged between 45 and 55 and we are expecting many of them to go fairly soon.”

Siemens are certainly not alone in facing this issue. Indeed it is a problem mirrored in many other companies in many other verticals. So what can be done to resolve the problem and build a sustainable workforce for the future?

 

The idea of these technology centres is that on the one side you’ve got academia producing skilled engineers of many different types and on the other side you’ve got some very good manufacturers. Sometimes in between we lose things and the idea is that these catapult centres are sat there to help avoid this”

Well of course the first thing to do is to look to engage with the next generation, something that Siemens have done through both traditional and non-traditional routes.

“We’ve gone out to the universities to sponsor students, we’ve got about 1,500 sponsors throughout the UK – it something we have to do.” Begins Coyne. However, Siemens are not just targeting graduates, they have an apprenticeship scheme that means they won’t miss out on those bright young minds that for whatever reason don’t see academia as the right path to choose.

“The other thing that we have done is that we have got 400 apprentices in the UK.” Coyne continues,  “I am told this is not enough. We were talking about taking people from the age of 13, 14 15 – it is essential. So we are trying to do our bit, we’re investing a lot of time and effort into it and it is starting to show results.”

However, the Siemens recruitment machine is far more sophisticated than just supporting and developing training programs.

“We think we are doing an OK job recruiting people” Coyne admits, “What we have been doing is we have been investing in manufacturing technology centres. These are important, as they are specialist areas which are invested in by academia, by manufacturers and by government.”

These technology centres are key to solving both the Siemens problem and that of the wider industry. By sitting in between the gap between business and academia they allow smart young minds to connect with industry without the pressure that may come from a more formal environment.

As Coyne explains “The idea of these technology centres is that on the one side you’ve got academia producing skilled engineers of many different types and on the other side you’ve got some very good manufacturers. Sometimes in between we lose things and the idea is that these catapult centres are sat there to help avoid this”

However, these centres play a deeper role in the recruitment and retention of the next generation of field engineers. They are also important to ensure that that next generation of field engineers are ready for the next generation of technology as well.

“All of our new technology is moving on, we are moving to industry 4.0.” Coyne begins “basically all the things we are trying to do is so we can get engineers to fit where this next wave of manufacturing technology is going to be”

This approach is commendably, but necessarily long sighted.

“We are talking about something that is not yet ready. It’s going to be ready in maybe 20 years but parts of it are already there.” However, the manufacturing technology centres, being co-funded by industry, education and state provide opportunities for the next generation of field engineers to start understanding and utilising tomorrows tools today.

This has two-fold importance. It ensures you are not only attracting the best minds but also that they are being readily prepared for the future.

“We need engineers that are fresh faced, fresh minds that know all about the current technology,” states Coyne. “But I’ve been out and talked to some of our graduates and asked what do you want “they said they want experience, they want to do as much as possible, learn as many skills as possible and get trained so that they can do many different things”

Getting this balance between what you and your future employees want is not an easy road but it is companies like Siemens who are investing in the future heavily today that will almost certainly be set to reap the rewards tomorrow.

 

 

As Trimble's mobile empowerment week continues they yesterday  introduced FieldMaster Technician, a downloadable mobile application that empowers mobile workers in the field with advanced collaboration tools and the ability to access and update information in real-time for improved effectiveness.

FieldMaster Technician allows service organisations to optimise workflows and improve service delivery by getting technicians to the right place at the right time with the information they need to do their job correctly the first time.

Following the announcement of Trimble® Horizon, the new cloud-based platform for Trimble's Field Service Management (FSM) solutions, FieldMaster Technician is the second in a line of new features and solutions announced this week as part of Trimble's spotlight on empowering mobile workers.

"Field service organisations are constantly looking to be more efficient," said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble's Field Service Management Division. "Mobility solutions that provide field teams information at their fingertips are vital to that pursuit. Real-time knowledge allows workers to make better, more intelligent business decisions while in the field. The result can enable increased productivity, reduced operating costs and improved customer satisfaction-three ongoing goals in field service."

FieldMaster Technician is integrated into Trimble FSM's cloud-based solutions and offers key features including:

• Allowing mobile workers to instantly locate and contact nearby co-workers for assistance
• Enabling mobile workers to find the fastest route and navigate to key locations
• Allowing mobile workers to manage their time and log activities throughout the day
• Allowing mobile workers to view historical job information
• Permitting photos and signatures to be captured on site to document work

 

"FieldMaster Technician essentially puts better control in the hands of field personnel," said Cameron. "By integrating powerful mobile apps into our solutions that already help manage workers, work and assets in the field, we can continue to enhance field service excellence for our customers."

Trimble will be hosting a Webinar with Aberdeen Group on Thursday, Oct. 30. Aly Pinder, senior research analyst of the Aberdeen Group, will discuss the key emerging technologies empowering workers out in the field, including the use of mobility. To register for the Webinar, or to sign up for a recording, click here: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=qhxelxfmvubx

 

This light hearted trailer for Trimble Field Service Management's latest mobile workforce platform 'Work Management' does a great job of highlighting the issues of having a lack of visibility into your workforce. Getting engineers to the right place at the right time is a challenge but one that can be easily overcome with the technology available to service companies today, so don't end up with customers like Mrs Robinson and make sure you have visibility into your field service operation!

Trimble have just introduced a new, enhanced version of Trimble® Work Management, a cloud-based solution that improves the productivity of mobile workforces through intelligent scheduling tools, mobile apps and state-of-the-art performance analytics.

Following the recent announcement of Trimble Horizon, the new cloud-based platform for Field Service Management (FSM) solutions, Work Management 3.0 is the first in a line of new features and solutions announced this week as part of Trimble’s spotlight on empowering mobile workers.

In addition to Work Management’s best-in-class scheduling and performance management analytics capabilities already available, key enhancements added to Work Management 3.0 include:

 

• The ability to enable dispatchers to manage capacity by optimising resources and routes for a day, week or even months in advance
• The ability to hard-set customer-agreed appointment windows and preferred workers into the schedule to ensure all future commitments are met
• The ability to plan preventative maintenance work around jobs in the same area to minimise travel and maximise productivity
• The ability to take advantage of a new mobile app – FieldMaster Technician. It allows mobile workers and depot based technicians to receive and update tasks on their smartphones as well as access and capture vital job information on the go

 

“For any organisation that operates a mobile workforce there are multiple businesses challenges to manage. From scheduling and dispatching work and tracking its progress throughout the day to empowering workers in the field for resolving issues—it is all about ensuring that service commitments are met,” said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble’s Field Service Management Division. “Service excellence continues to be a priority for businesses as they recognise its importance in both maintaining and attracting customers.”

“The latest enhancements to Work Management focus on eliminating these challenges to transform service delivery for all parties. Customers benefit from more choice and flexibility while the business has a heightened ability to manage capacity, empower technicians in the field and make decisions based on real-time visibility to ensure the promised service is delivered each and every time,” said Cameron.

Trimble will be hosting a Webinar with Aberdeen Group on Thursday, 30. Oct. Aly Pinder, senior research analyst of the Aberdeen Group, will discuss the key emerging technologies empowering workers out in the field, including the use of mobility. To register for the Webinar or sign up for a recording, click here: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=qhxelxfmvubx.

 

 

The next Autumn edition of Field Service News is now out. For those who aren't subscribed to our print circulation you can download the digital edition here...

Well Change is certainly a major theme in this edition of Field Service News. In fact it seems to be permeating every inch of the industry right now.

So let’s start at the obvious point. Managing Change (or change management). All too often in our industry we talk about the benefits of implementing a new field service management system or a new mobile workforce management solution or an enterprise mobility management system or whatever we want to call it today.

We get caught up in new technologies, new acronyms and new promises of even greater productivity improvements, efficiency savings, happy staff, happy customers and a generally all round better life experience for anyone within touching distance.

How excited we all are to get away from our spread sheets and post it notes and boldly step into the twenty first century with both feet.

Yet we rarely talk about how we are going to make that leap from a to b. It’s not just a case of handing out a bunch of new devices and switching all the old ones off. Do that and you may as well have invested a fortune in a bunch of really nice looking paperweights, because without proper roll out amongst your team you can bet a pretty penny or three that at the first hurdle a huge majority of your workforce, will turn their backs on their new tools and revert back to how things were before.

[quote]I actually know of one example where an engineer who when he was given a shiny new iPad to do his work on he would still do everything on paper and then spend an extra half an hour to an hour in his van evry night completing the administration on his iPad.

Try and stop them and they will find ingenious ways of working around the new tools. Why? Despite what it may sometimes feel like it is not because they are desperately trying to make your life harder. In fact in most cases they are probably working that little bit harder themselves. Staying extra to upload the information onto the new ‘thingy’ at the end of the day.  I actually know of one example where an engineer who when he was given a shiny new iPad to do his work on he would still do everything on paper and then spend an extra half an hour to an hour in his van evry night completing the administration on his iPad. In his mind his priority was to get the job done first and then deal with the admin.

 

Had this particular organisation gone through a more thorough Change Management program then perhaps our earnest engineer could have seen that this device was as much an investment in him and making his life easier throughout the day rather than an additional duty to attend to and the poor chap could have got home for his supper on time!

One company whop absolutely got it right when it comes to Change Management is Tyco led admirably by the highly impressive Sharon Moura, VP of IT Transformation and Strategy. I’ve had the pleasure of writing a series of articles based around her work in rolling out the ServiceMax field service management solution and she has an uncanny knack of being able to translate things into very simple concepts yet simultaneously covering every inch of ground so no stone is unturned and their are minimal hiccups along the way to a successful IT implementation. You can read more about this in our feature ‘Are you ready for change’ which begins on page 18.

A different type of change is also on the cards for a number of companies including manufacturing giant Siemems. This time however the change is a looming spectre over an ageing workforce that needs a succession plan for somebody to come and taker over otherwise there could be some very serious crises as we begin to enter the second decade of this new millennium.

Siemens who predict they need to increase their existing workforce by an additional 50 field engineers by 2020 to meet current demands, yet face losing up to 100 engineers through retirement are certainly not alone in this predicament. However, they are certainly being both pro-active and innovative about finding the solutions. Having heard the excellent Martin Hotass speaking at the most recent Service Community event on this topic it is clear that they are doing everything they can to remedy the situation and in our interview with Graeme Coyne we look a little closer at what those remedies are. It is certainly an issue you should be aware of today because it will bite you hard when tomorrow comes if you don’t have plans in place like the good folk at Siemens do.

Finally as we continue to stay with the theme of Change there are plenty of changes required in some of the field service organisations that completed our recent survey into field service management standards.

Whilst there were some positives that came out of the research, especially around actually validating the benefits of real-time telematics and other elements of field service management system through some hard and fast data, there were some really quite worrying trends highlighted that suggest a real disconnect between how we judge our standards and how our customers perceive us.

In today’s world of smart phones and sat navs it’s almost impossible to not know where you are at any given time yet unbelievably 43% of companies still have staff getting lost on a regular basis. Even more unbelievable is that 5% have staff turn up at the wrong address every week! Occasionally is forgivable perhaps but a weekly occurrence is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed when your workforce are field professionals. You can find out more about this research in our main feature, which begins on page 23.

Finally if your in Amsterdam this month at either the Field Service Europe or AfterMarket conferences do come and say hello!

Download the digital edition here...

 

Trimble yesterday introduced its new cloud-based platform for field service management—Trimble® Horizon. Trimble Horizon will be the core platform for its Field Service Management (FSM) suite of solutions and services. Built upon Trimble’s robust hosting and infrastructure framework, Trimble Horizon supports the following capabilities:

• Solutions – Trimble’s cloud-based solution suite which includes Work Management, Fleet Management and Driver Safety

• Mobility – Mobile applications and tools for better empowerment, data sharing and collaboration in the field

• Connect – Web services to enable seamless integration

• Insight – Business intelligence and analytics tools

Trimble Horizon offers customers an extensible, flexible platform allowing them to depend on Trimble as a single provider for all their field service needs. Cloud-based and modular, Trimble Horizon enables organisations to drive an agile, dynamic field service operation.

“We are delighted to introduce Trimble Horizon,” said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble’s Field Service Management Division. “In a world where technology is so fast moving, we wanted to provide our customers and businesses globally with a foundation for innovation. Trimble Horizon will allow them to add, extend and integrate technologies as their needs change, providing them with the agility to adapt and innovate. Trimble Horizon will couple our best-in-class field service management solutions with integration opportunities and the ability for customers to configure and utilise specific modules across the platform’s global infrastructure.”

Trimble Horizon is a key element of Trimble’s FSM global strategy to continually focus on solutions and tools to better enable organisations around the world in driving service excellence and empowering the mobile workforce.

 

Trimble Field Service Management's John Cameron speaks exclusively to Field Service News ahead of the launch of Horizon, Trimble FSM's latest cloud based field service management solution...

FSN: What do you think Mobile Worker Empowerment really means?

JS: To me empowerment is all about supporting the individual to do the best job they can. For a field service organisation this means dealing with a growing number of complex challenges around scheduling, monitoring progress and enabling the worker to resolve issues in order to meet service commitments.

We know that having the right real-time information is critical to business success – it is not just about the data that is collected but how that data is analysed and turned into business intelligence and applied that counts. Both through the companies we work with and within our own business we know that information is only useful if it helps you to make the right decision and that goes through the whole organisation.

Ensuring that mobile workers have the right support and are able themselves to make use of the real-time information goes a long way in helping them to make the right decisions while on the move and remote from office or depot locations, allowing them to resolve issues and deliver the best service they can.

FSN: Do you think offering mobile workers more control can benefit a field service organisation?

JC: Mobile workers are on the front line, they are the ones who are dealing face-to-face with customers every day. When jobs go smoothly that’s great, but it often takes a number of factors to align for that job to go smoothly and if not the worker is the one who has to deal with the repercussions and the impact on the customer’s business or home.  We know the biggest cause of customer complaint is that issues are not resolved first time, but give the workforce the means so that the person allocated the work has the right skills, tools and parts and has the right amount of time to get the work done, then these can often be set into schedules to ensure that commitments are met.

The overall goal in empowering workers has to be to enable them to do the best job possible and the benefits are widespread and include increased productivity and efficiency with greater customer satisfaction and empowering a workforce to be able to control and manage outcomes can significantly impact on their own job satisfaction and ongoing motivation.  

FSN: How can businesses approach empowerment in the field?

JC: There are a number of strategies that companies may adopt in field worker empowerment and these could include use of technology, service performance measurement or through cultural change.

Technology is a great enabler but it is also critical that the organisations make the technology work hard for them and deliver the best benefits and return on investment. Hand-in-hand with this, measuring service performance is key to a field service organisation in both managing its operation on a day to day basis and also learning from these experiences. No individual wants to be going out doing the same procedure time and time again if it is not achieving the right results; achieve the right results and then replicate it.

Cultural change is possibly the hardest element to roll out, you can’t simply expect individuals to be ‘empowered’, but rather you need to make sure that they understand the reasons why, what it involves and the benefits to them and the wider organisation. As with any change programme it is essential that the workforce is totally involved, engaged and committed. It is also imperative that the drive for any initiative comes from the top so there is complete buy-in across a business.

FSN: Does best practice exist when it comes to mobile worker empowerment?

In terms of empowering workers, the field service organisations that we see doing this well are those that look to make continual

improvements. The use of technology has a key role to play, but you can’t install the best solution and then become complacent; field service organisations are finding that work is becoming increasingly complex and critical in terms of timing, skills and consequence and the challenges even greater so the application of best practice and the continual improvement that this brings is paramount in the successful empowerment of a mobile workforce. Choosing one to three benchmark points from which to grow also keeps everyone focused on specific metrics – trying to improve everything at once is a certain step in the wrong direction.  

We have also talked about change management and engagement as key dynamics to any successful roll out and we have seen that those behaviours drive the best success.

FSN: How do you think both mobile workers and businesses can manage the challenges of empowering workers? 

JC: We recently undertook a survey and found that, when a field service business sets out to implement business change, whether it is rolling out new technology or processes or ways of working, one of the major challenges it faces is engaging the workforce.

Much of this can be attributed to the fact that a field service workforce is typically spread over a large geographical area, with workers carrying out very diverse types of work remotely and rarely spending time in the office. Providing necessary training to the workforce can be a further hurdle. For many companies this means considerable expense, as well as taking workers away from their jobs especially if the training is carried out in a classroom rather than virtually. Furthermore, ensuring the training is understood and applied on an on-going basis also poses an issue for field service managers as it can be difficult to monitor field workers to prevent lapse back to the ‘way things used to be done.’

However, these obstacles can be reduced if businesses have effective change management programmes in place to ensure employee buy-in. Involving the workforce in any change plans, from the initial planning stages to the final roll-out, is key. Consistent communication to foster a culture in which the workforce understands the changes, why they are needed, what role they will play in the transformation and how to embrace it are all essential.

FSN: When we talk about providing tools for mobile workers, it would seem that mobility would be a natural element of that – is that something you are seeing??

JC: Mobility is a key technology in empowering workers. Mobility at its core provides field-based workers with a real-time connection back to their business. With all the information they need at their fingertips, they are able to become more efficient and effective.

There is little doubt that up to the minute information before, at and after a job is vital to the success of completion and provides mobile workers the ability to plan and execute their jobs better via increased knowledge. This is eliminating time, mistakes and misunderstandings out in the field. In addition avoiding the need for paper-based knowledge transfer, which adds further demands on the mobile worker, can save hours in a mobile worker’s day. Utilising cloud-based data storage, the capturing and storing of information on the go is another feature that helps mobile workers collect data in the field that they may need at a later date or to update other business systems .

FSN: With technology playing such a big part in field service, what trends so you see emerging to further transform mobile worker empowerment?

We all consume information via mobile apps on our smartphones and tablets in our consumer lives and more and more of us are expecting

to be able to do the same whilst at work. As a result, the availability of mobility applications going forward will increase, which will further enable field-based workers with the real-time knowledge needed to make better, more intelligent business decisions while in the field. Niche apps, for example, are seen to present opportunities to reach a new target audience or deepen the engagement and loyalty of users and the adoption in the business environment can only increase, along with such emerging trends as gamification of business-related apps to give greater appeal to the use of apps for everyday processes and procedures.

 

M2M communication is certainly transforming how companies do business. Data transmitted from devices in the field to applications in the office can lead to decisions that significantly improve the business. In field service, that data flows in from both handheld and in-vehicle data-capturing devices, as well as sensors and monitoring devices on everything from household appliances and utility meters to complex machinery in oil fields transmitting data on diagnostics, measurements, temperature and overall conditions, all of which is instrumental in preventing equipment failure, scheduling maintenance, and improving safety and energy consumption.

Additionally, I think we’ll also start to see a rise in field service businesses offering field technicians the chance to bring their own or choose their own mobility devices to adopt at work. Field service is undeniably being reshaped by the mobile revolution and with much of today’s information being shared through smartphones, in the not too distant future, I think we’ll start to see even greater sets of data being shared through wearable technology, such as watches and google glass. This technology will revolutionise the way field technicians go about their day-to-day tasks. They will be able to stay in touch in real-time and gain immediate access to what’s important the second that they need it, helping to improve productivity and customer satisfaction. 

We end our exclusive series on Change Management with a look at the final stage of Sharon Moura’s five step approach to change management leading through the adoption cycle…

Across this six part series we have looked at change management in depth, beginning with a look at the key principals of change management, before looking in detail at how Sharon Moura, VP of IT Transformation and Strategy with Tyco approached the change management process when implementing ServiceMax’s field service management system.

In doing so Moura applied five key steps which we have looked at in depth in this series. These were “assessing the change”, “engaging the head and the heart”, “creating a change agent network”, “leading through resistance” and here we look at the last of these steps “leading through the adoption cycle”

There is also a white paper that accompanies this series which you can access by clicking here

Looking at the adoption lifecycle Moura identifies four key segments that we should be aware of as the full adoption cycle of our change management program is completed.

These are:

• Early Adopters
• Majority
• Laggards
• Naysayers

Lets have a look at each of these in a little more detail.

Early Adopters

Moura is a clear believer in the power of utilising a core peer group of field engineers as early adopters when deploying technology as it offers a great opportunity to further improve adoption further down the line too.

“If there is any opportunity to bring early adopters in using the technology or even if it is just getting them in and seeing it you should do so” she explains “They can share their excitement at the deployment out amongst their peers”

Indeed early adopters are likely to give your change management program that ‘buzz’ amongst the staff that will see you move rapidly along the adoption lifecycle.

As Moura comments “What we can do here is we can highlight what the adoption will get them. The “what’s in it for me” and we can communicate the rationalisation of the change, “the why” and then we can build on the excitement generated by the change”

“Its great to have early adopters they’ll really help you gain momentum and quickly move to the next step of the adoption lifecycle.”

Majority

The next step is to get the majority of our workforce adopted. Now this isn’t as simple as switching their old systems off and their new systems on, which is a dangerous oversight to make and why many change management projects are either long, arduous processes or ultimately just fail.

If your staff are struggling to use your new solution then it will not be long before they are finding work-rounds. Before you know it spread sheets and post it notes are being used and your new system has become a burden on your field engineers when you it was supposed to improve efficiency.

 

Remember that your workers are generally focussed on doing their job and doing it well – this is why you employ them, so it’s not a case of them deliberately not using the new system for any other reason than they do not understand how to use it as part of their workflow.

To avoid this is therefore important that support continues throughout the adoption lifecycle. It is absolutely crucial that you are constantly reinforcing the benefits of the new system and perhaps one of the best ways of doing this is to highlight every win that comes as a result of the new solution.

Moura comments “Communicate the early adopter stories to the majority. Who’s using the system, what type of insight did they gain, where they able to do something faster? Keep a customer happier?”

Another tip Moura suggests is to ask each of the early adopters to tell at least two of their peers about the new system. “Get them to tell them what they learnt, what you know and your excitement around this initiative. That will help you to get the majority of employees adopting the new solution”

Laggards

It’s just a fact of life that some people will only make a switch at the very end of the cycle. Whether they don’t feel they have the time to pay attention to the switch or whether it’s just that they are reliant on seeing demonstrable benefit before they can commit to change it is certain there will be some laggards in your change management program, regardless of the change.

However, for your change management program to be successfully completed to achieve its maximum effect then you must give this group close attention.

 

“This is really where managers need to be front and centre going one on one with these empoyees” comments Moura

“It’s also a great opportunity for some of the early adopters to act as peer coaches. Assign a coach to these groups of laggards either one on one or in small groups to help them through the change” she added.

It’s also important to continue the work you began in the previous stage in the adoption lifecycle (Majority) in championing ach and every win and to remember to continue using multiple channels, whether it be company memo, social media or coffee room notice boards.

Nay Sayers

And finally we come to the last category in the adoption lifecycle, the Nay Sayers. These are those that just won’t be swayed. Unfortunately there comes a time in all change management programs when the effort put in begins to vastly outweigh the value you are getting out of it. At this point we need to evaluate the benefit of convincing these die-hard naysayers.

“My recommendation is to ignore the naysayers,” advises Moura. “Recognise when the pursuit is not worth the effort and make alternate plans”

This series of features on Change Management are accompanied by a white paper in the subject, which is available by clicking here and completing the brief registration form.

 
Click here to download the accompanying white paper

This series is sponsored by: