Leading a digital transformation and shifting to a focus on skills data is a big change for many organizations. In this article we present tips for managing expectations along the way
Even if it doesn’t feel like it at first, you’re actually leading both a digital transformation, a performance expectation change, a new technology rollout, and introducing all kinds of new terms and data sets to your company.
It’s a change!
So we want to share just a few change management considerations that will help you prepare your key stakeholders for the journey you’ll be on over the coming year. And lucky for you, we’ve created a change management and communications toolkit that’s an optional set of resources to help you DO some of the things we’d suggest.
First - think of the executive or leader who approved this project. They usually have some business impact in mind - ROI. They won’t know the details of the work, but they’ll be waiting to see some kind of change. They are probably thinking how long is this going to take? What does this team need from me to make this implementation go well?
Next - think about your Operations leaders. For years - if not decades - they’ve been asking their training teams for completions reports, and they’ve been certifying learners based on long quizzes or live role play. Now you’re about to launch this project and all of a sudden you’ll be talking about skills proficiency, star ratings, AI coaches, and things they won’t be as familiar with as you. You’ll need to slowly educate them and help shift the mindset away from completions and towards readiness.
Additionally - think of your training team. Perhaps you have a team that’s been providing live training, and administering Zoom webinars, and building eLearnings. Now some of those items are getting converted into simulations or going away to make space for AI coaching and practice. They’re probably thinking ‘what do I do now?’. Your change management approach needs to help them see the exciting evolution of L&D, and the move to a ‘performance coach’ kind of role. Maybe they need to become your NLP guru, or your software simulation expert, or maybe they’ll need to become slightly more of an operations expert so they can better recommend star ratings. We’re seeing this shift in LOTS of places in the market, so you can help them find the big picture in how this future proofs their role.
Finally - think about your learners. Most of them are used to live classes and eLearnings with a quiz at the end. And if you don’t get the quiz right the first time, you ‘FAILED.’ So you’re about to tell them to ‘keep practicing’ and try again several times. The message shifts to 'keep practicing and make your mistakes in this safe environment so you can thrive once you’re in your role alone'. It’s an exciting message, but again, a change that you’ll have to manage.
To help you with this, our main suggestion is for you to download our change management tool kit, and really pause to think about your stakeholders and how you’re communicating with them. We’ve created a series of resources you can forward or discuss live to address some of the points I mentioned earlier, including:
- Welcome Messages - these are email templates to talk about the platform, why your company’s launching it, and key dates various stakeholders should know about.
- Access Information - this is an FAQ for common questions about accessing the platform with callouts for the most common challenges people see when they first setup the platform.
- Coaching Overview - This is a quick guide for coaches to accompany the coaching video from Bright Academy to be shared with anyone you’ll be asking to partner with you in the platform.
- Go Live Checklist - this is a final ‘sanity check’ before you launch the platform
Every immersive learning journey is difference, but we hope you find these resources to help you manage the change with your teams. Ask your account manager for our Launch Kit and you'll be well on your way for making Change an easy process.