Having worked in-house for a large CPG company for a number of years, I felt like I had finally mastered my job on the legacy systems. I remember experiencing a wide range of emotions when the company announced that they would be moving to an entirely new ERP system, SAP. As an expert in the existing systems, everything was working just fine: I had a solid process in place and now they expected me to start over and learn a whole new system, come up with a new routine?
Change is constant, but when an organization makes the decision to undergo any large scale makeover it can be very exciting and terrifying all at the same time for members of the organization. In the retail and wholesale industry, many organizations have made the choice to implement SAP as their ERP system in order to improve and streamline their business as a whole. While the benefits of SAP are a big selling point, it can sometimes be difficult to comprehend and manage the human component of the changes required as people tend to be creatures of habits and have established ways of operating. Understanding your organization and applying appropriate change management strategies can make a huge impact in achieving a successful implementation. One such strategy is the commitment curve (shown below).
In summary the commitment curve shows how people react and evolve over time as significant change occurs in their role and in an organization.
Awareness – When the decision was made to change systems, I remember receiving a company-wide e-mail explaining that our company had made the decision to move from our handful of legacy systems to a new one stop shop ERP system, SAP. At this point I remember the mixed emotions, and while I understood that change was coming there were still so many questions about how this would impact me.
To be successful at this stage, it is important that communication be clear and consistent throughout the organization. The goal of the awareness stage is to ensure that those employees who have been or will be impacted by the changes are aware and have a clear understanding that changes are taking place. It is important to remember that this is your first opportunity to build a positive perception throughout the organization.
General Understanding – Following the big announcement that change was on its way, we received weekly e-mail updates educating us on the new system that was being implemented. In addition, leaders began to talk about the upcoming changes in our department-wide meetings. At this stage, I began to really understand how the tools we use today would be impacted and I started to feel a little better about the upcoming changes as my understanding of the whole process began to grow.
It is important to build a clear and solid understanding of the changes that will be taking place throughout the organization. The ultimate goal of this stage is to further build a positive perception in which employees who will be impacted decide to make the decision to support the change. This is your chance to win them over.
Personal Understanding – Gradually as I learned more about the upcoming changes and the new system, we began to have more specific conversations about how the implementation would affect my department and my role specifically. Understanding the impacts on my day to day job really put my mind at ease because I began to get a clearer picture of what the future would look like and the positive impacts it would have on the work I performed.
Once employees start to get an understanding of the changes and how they will be affected, it begins to ease their concerns. Helping them understand how the changes will directly impact them and what type of roles they will play in the future process help them feel engaged and part of the new solution.
Acceptance – As my understanding of the new system and the benefits it had to offer grew, I started to realize how much opportunity for improvement there was in our current day-to-day processes. The potential was exciting and I was eager to get involved.
At this point in the process, employees feel good about the changes, they are excited and are making the decision to embrace the changes. Employees may offer to help or look for ways to get involved where possible. This is where you really start to engage your employees in the process.
Adoption – Once training took place and we went live on the new system, I quickly started to perform my day to day job entirely in the new system.
Once employees are provided with the appropriate training and support they are prepared to move into the adoption phase. This is usually when employees embrace the new skills and processes that they have learned and begin to apply them in their day to day work.
Ownership – Shortly after go-live, we were up and running smoothly on the new SAP system. It didn’t take long before we were doing our day to day jobs as if we had been living in this system for decades. With all the new functionality, it made our jobs easier and more effective. As my comfort levels in the new system continued to grow, I began to look for ways to utilize the functionality to streamline and improve our processes.
At the pinnacle of the change process, employees begin to operate under a new “status quo”. Once they are comfortable with the new normal, enthusiastic employees will begin to look to streamline and improve processes further. This level of ownership demonstrates a successful implementation of the change throughout the organization. This is the feel good stage where you start to see the payoff for all your hard work in getting the organization ready for the change.
Conclusion
Although change can feel overwhelming and terrifying for all involved employing appropriate change management strategies in an organization can help minimize the disruptive impact and enable employees to move through the different stages of the commitment curve at the right time and pace. Ultimately, this leads employees to a place where they feel a sense of acceptance, adoption and ownership of the changes.