Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Will You Add? - Improve Technology ROI: Focus on People
Here's something on the internet that's a godsend: free online bookkeeping courses. Do you think bookkeeping is confusing? If you're like me, you can balance a checkbook or household budget just fine, but when you start trying to figure out assets and liabilities, it gets confusing. It might be easier if they used minus signs instead of parentheses to indicate negative amounts. Or if they didn't add liabilities. But it is what it is, and, if you have a home business, you can screw things up badly if you can't keep your books right.When you have a home business, you are usually the sole proprietor, CEO, CFO, secretary and workforce. You don't have the money to hire a bookkeeper and you don't have the time to take bookkeeping classes. Thank goodness for free online bookkeeping classes. You can learn the basics by taking a free online class.The one disadvantage of free online bookkeeping classes is that they are independent study for your own personal growth. If you have problems, there isn't anybody to ask questions of. If you want to learn how to do something not in the course-like perhaps file your quarterly taxes-you're out of luck. The free bookkeeping classes that you find online are a huge help, but sometimes you have to go to the next step.The Next Step...and the One After ThatThe next step might be taking a regular distance learning bookkeeping class. It's not free, but the cost is pretty reasonable, and it's tax deductible. You'll learn more and you'll have someone to answer your questions.You could discover that you enjoy bookkeeping, and begin to offer bookkeeping services through your home business. If you really enjoy bookkeeping and are good at it, you may wish to continue taking correspondence or online classes. You
To address these challenges, we need to learn more about people and how to influence their behavior. Expanding our knowledge of individuals to include an understanding of personality types, communication processes, conflict styles, individual motivation and learning styles gives us many tools for improving our ability to change behavior.
Of course, we do not work in isolation. We work in small and large groups, which have their own unique characteristics and processes. People behave differently in groups than they do alone. We need to understand more about interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and creating and managing high performing groups. We need to understand how trust, honesty and ethics impact group behavior and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that drives desired behavior.
Moreover, individuals and groups do not operate in a vacuum; they operate in the context of a larger organizational system. We need to understand the impact organizational forces have on individual and group behavior, and then align these forces to drive desired behavior. Can we realistically expect people to behave in one way (like, use our system as designed) if there are major organizational forces that drive them to behave in another way?
Who Can Help?
This may all sound exhausting and impossible but there are people who can help: Human Resource (HR) and Organization Development (OD) professionals.
These two groups have complimentary skill sets that are perfect for helping us align organizational forces and drive desired user behavior. HR professionals have the skills necessary to put together appropriate performance evaluation, feedback and development plans. OD professionals are trained in conducting holistic organizational analysis and in designing appropriate interventions to facilit
Many times we see lot of people leaving their jobs because they found the work place politics affecting their life. Internal politics involving the people at work place are some times bad and avoidable. These politics not only affect the normal working of job, but also may some time cause people to quite their jobs. This results in lose of human resource of a company. To get the good people for working in the organization is a difficult task. However by ignoring the internal politics at work place can cost the companies dearly.People usually want to be remaining in group; they do not like others to enter their group. This tendency sometimes made lot of subgroups in the office. For every group the agenda of their group is more important than what is required. They try to promote the people in their group more over the others. They sometimes also try to let down the people of other group. This creates inter group rivalries. One group try to hinder the work of other group, in this they even forget the goals of organization. Group rivalries are most common and can be seen in big offices where lot of people work. These group politics are one of reason for collapse of work due to the non corporation and are of great cause of low performance.Second politics is seen in individual basis. Many people try to be smart and play with the emotions of other. They are not associated to any other, still they are in all group. They pretend to be the friends of many, but actually they are with nobody. There main purpose is to achieve own results. They create misunderstanding between the people. They remove their enemy by creating a bad image for them in others eye. They never fight their enemies directly, but provoke others to take revenge for them. They try to make their enemy alone
Three of the greatest buzzwords in the tech arena are "People, Process, and Technology". Throw in a few other favorites, such as "alignment," "change," "culture," and... well, you get the idea. While these words are more ubiquitous in a technology discussion than fish are in the sea, they are often overlooked, misunderstood, and generally ignored. This is dangerous.
Looking over the landscape of a typical IT implementation we notice that the majority of activities are focused on process and technology. We spend tremendous amounts of time and effort defining business processes and specifying functional system requirements. We focus a large amount of time building and testing the technology. Consequently most of the people involved in IT projects are specialists in strategy, process, and technology.
So what is missing? Look closely. Did you notice the vast majority of our activities, and the majority of our team's skills, are focused on aligning process and technology? What happened to our first buzzword, "People"? Do we just nod our heads and forget to consider our people - how we can move them (that is, align them) with the process and technology? What does it mean to align people with process and technology?
Aligning People
For some, aligning people means providing training so employees know how to use the system. Others say you need to include communications to align their people. Some advanced organizations even extend their efforts to include mapping out changes to job descriptions and responsibilities.
While these are all important activities to help achieve alignment of people, process and technology, they don't actually help us understand what alignment is. And if you don't know what it is, how do you know when you have achieved it?
Alignment only occurs when your people, process and technology all perform together in a symbiotic relationship that delivers the desired results. The people use the technology. The people follow the process. They key here is that the people must actually use the technology and the people must actually follow the process. This requires people, ALL of the people, change their behavior to achieve the desired results.
Focus on Behavior Change to Improve ROI
"Did he just say our technology project needs to focus on changing people's behavior? I thought we were implementing technology, not disciplining children or providing group therapy. What is all this behavior talk anyway?"
Consider the relationship between user behavior and return on investment (ROI). When do we actually realize ROI from our technology projects? Is it when the technology is delivered? Sadly, no. We only realize our ROI when the people actually use the technology. If a system is delivered, but not used, it does not return any value to the organization. So, while successfully deploying the technology is on the critical path (pardon the gratuitous use of the buzzword) to achieving ROI, the critical path is only completed when the system is used effectively by our people.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Wrong. This simple idea has tremendous implications that require advanced thought. It means we need to rethink how we structure technology projects, who we involve in the process, and how we define success. Looking back over the landscape of a typical IT implementation we notice activities focusing on behavior change are conspicuously missing. Worse still, people with skills and expertise in behavior change are typically not even part of the implementation team. This is the problem.
Example: User Behaviors' Impact on ROI and on the Customer Experience
I worked with a client who did very little to drive desired behavior when implementing a new CRM system. As expected, they had numerous behavior problems that reduced their ROI and degraded the customer experience. Sales reps did not see "what's in it for me", so they would often not use the system at all or they would only enter partial, inaccurate customer data. Customer service reps would not reliably create problem tickets, nor would they regularly update their progress on resolving customer issues. Managers would not use the system to track progress or to analyze department performance.
The impact to the organization and to the customers experience was severe. The organization wasted vast amounts of time and effort performing unnecessary tasks, such as tracking down information that was not entered by one individual but was required by others to perform their jobs. The lack of complete and accurate data made it impossible for management to utilize the system reports to make reliable, informed decisions. Executives and sales reps were unable to review vital customer activity data to prepare for additional sales meetings. The customers experience was degraded by delays resulting from having to repeat conversations that were not properly logged in the system.
It was only after the client had experienced these problems for quite some time that management decided to address user behavior. After users changed and demonstrated desired behavior, the system delivered significant value and the customer experienced improved. Had management proactively focused on driving desired behavior earlier they would have avoided the period of poor performance and significantly increased their overall ROI from the start.
Defining Project "Success"
How is "success" typically defined for a technology project? Projects are often judged successful if they are delivered on time and on budget. While delivering on time and on budget are indeed causes for celebration, do they fully define success? How often do we actually go back and measure our results, our realized ROI, against the forecasted return defined in the business case that justified the project? If we deliver on time but never achieve the forecasted ROI are we really successful?
This reveals several important questions. Who actually owns ROI? Who is responsible for ensuring we actually change user behavior and realize our anticipated ROI? What are the consequences for not achieving forecasted ROI? We need to stop defining success at the midpoint of the critical path (delivering technology) and shift our focus to the end of the critical path, achieving effective system use that delivers ROI.
How do we Change User Behavior?
So, how do we do we change user behavior?
First, we realize people are unpredictable. Unlike process flows or lines of code (which are linear, logical and controllable), people are wildcards. They do not always act rationally or predictably. They can be influenced and encouraged, but they cannot be controlled. Is it any wonder that even though we define a very clear logical process and system that it is not always used as intended? So, how do we compensate for the unpredictable and uncontrollable? Who can help us do this?
To address these challenges, we need to learn more about people and how to influence their behavior. Expanding our knowledge of individuals to include an understanding of personality types, communication processes, conflict styles, individual motivation and learning styles gives us many tools for improving our ability to change behavior.
Of course, we do not work in isolation. We work in small and large groups, which have their own unique characteristics and processes. People behave differently in groups than they do alone. We need to understand more about interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and creating and managing high performing groups. We need to understand how trust, honesty and ethics impact group behavior and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that drives desired behavior.
Moreover, individuals and groups do not operate in a vacuum; they operate in the context of a larger organizational system. We need to understand the impact organizational forces have on individual and group behavior, and then align these forces to drive desired behavior. Can we realistically expect people to behave in one way (like, use our system as designed) if there are major organizational forces that drive them to behave in another way?
Who Can Help?
This may all sound exhausting and impossible but there are people who can help: Human Resource (HR) and Organization Development (OD) professionals.
These two groups have complimentary skill sets that are perfect for helping us align organizational forces and drive desired user behavior. HR professionals have the skills necessary to put together appropriate performance evaluation, feedback and development plans. OD professionals are trained in conducting holistic organizational analysis and in designing appropriate interventions to facilit
There are a lot of good trucking companies out there. I have known company drivers for US Express, USA Truck, Schneider Trucking, Werner Trucking, and LTL trucking companies like Yellow Freight and Roadway Express that were really knocking back the cash. I personally have worked for Continental Express and Digby Truck Lines and did quite well. But for some drivers, working for someone else just isn't enough...The problem for some is that the lure of the open road tricks them into becoming owner operators before they are ready.I have been an owner operator for nearly 8 years and I would estimate I am pretty high on the food chain. "Making it" as an owner operator in trucking isn't easy. I didn't get here by luck, I asked a lot of questions and listened to what other drivers said their mistakes were. Learning from others' mistakes has helped me avoid some of the pitfalls they fell into.Pitfall #1 Lease PurchaseIf you don't have the cash or credit to go buy a truck on your own, you aren't ready. Spend a few years as a company driver- I suggest at least two years- and get informed. Check with trucking legal resources like OOIDA about the problems with lease purchase deals. Many drivers have lost a lot of years and gained a lot of ugly spots on their credit report because they didn't investigate the drawbacks and consequences.Pitfall #2 Work harder, not smarterThe goal is to work smarter, not harder when it comes to being a successful owner operator. Cheap freight may get you 5,000 miles a week solo, but it also gets you a million mile truck long before it's time. Choose your loads and the company you lease too carefully. You're not a company driver anymore, so just because they promise you the miles doesn't
While these are all important activities to help achieve alignment of people, process and technology, they don't actually help us understand what alignment is. And if you don't know what it is, how do you know when you have achieved it?
Alignment only occurs when your people, process and technology all perform together in a symbiotic relationship that delivers the desired results. The people use the technology. The people follow the process. They key here is that the people must actually use the technology and the people must actually follow the process. This requires people, ALL of the people, change their behavior to achieve the desired results.
Focus on Behavior Change to Improve ROI
"Did he just say our technology project needs to focus on changing people's behavior? I thought we were implementing technology, not disciplining children or providing group therapy. What is all this behavior talk anyway?"
Consider the relationship between user behavior and return on investment (ROI). When do we actually realize ROI from our technology projects? Is it when the technology is delivered? Sadly, no. We only realize our ROI when the people actually use the technology. If a system is delivered, but not used, it does not return any value to the organization. So, while successfully deploying the technology is on the critical path (pardon the gratuitous use of the buzzword) to achieving ROI, the critical path is only completed when the system is used effectively by our people.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Wrong. This simple idea has tremendous implications that require advanced thought. It means we need to rethink how we structure technology projects, who we involve in the process, and how we define success. Looking back over the landscape of a typical IT implementation we notice activities focusing on behavior change are conspicuously missing. Worse still, people with skills and expertise in behavior change are typically not even part of the implementation team. This is the problem.
Example: User Behaviors' Impact on ROI and on the Customer Experience
I worked with a client who did very little to drive desired behavior when implementing a new CRM system. As expected, they had numerous behavior problems that reduced their ROI and degraded the customer experience. Sales reps did not see "what's in it for me", so they would often not use the system at all or they would only enter partial, inaccurate customer data. Customer service reps would not reliably create problem tickets, nor would they regularly update their progress on resolving customer issues. Managers would not use the system to track progress or to analyze department performance.
The impact to the organization and to the customers experience was severe. The organization wasted vast amounts of time and effort performing unnecessary tasks, such as tracking down information that was not entered by one individual but was required by others to perform their jobs. The lack of complete and accurate data made it impossible for management to utilize the system reports to make reliable, informed decisions. Executives and sales reps were unable to review vital customer activity data to prepare for additional sales meetings. The customers experience was degraded by delays resulting from having to repeat conversations that were not properly logged in the system.
It was only after the client had experienced these problems for quite some time that management decided to address user behavior. After users changed and demonstrated desired behavior, the system delivered significant value and the customer experienced improved. Had management proactively focused on driving desired behavior earlier they would have avoided the period of poor performance and significantly increased their overall ROI from the start.
Defining Project "Success"
How is "success" typically defined for a technology project? Projects are often judged successful if they are delivered on time and on budget. While delivering on time and on budget are indeed causes for celebration, do they fully define success? How often do we actually go back and measure our results, our realized ROI, against the forecasted return defined in the business case that justified the project? If we deliver on time but never achieve the forecasted ROI are we really successful?
This reveals several important questions. Who actually owns ROI? Who is responsible for ensuring we actually change user behavior and realize our anticipated ROI? What are the consequences for not achieving forecasted ROI? We need to stop defining success at the midpoint of the critical path (delivering technology) and shift our focus to the end of the critical path, achieving effective system use that delivers ROI.
How do we Change User Behavior?
So, how do we do we change user behavior?
First, we realize people are unpredictable. Unlike process flows or lines of code (which are linear, logical and controllable), people are wildcards. They do not always act rationally or predictably. They can be influenced and encouraged, but they cannot be controlled. Is it any wonder that even though we define a very clear logical process and system that it is not always used as intended? So, how do we compensate for the unpredictable and uncontrollable? Who can help us do this?
To address these challenges, we need to learn more about people and how to influence their behavior. Expanding our knowledge of individuals to include an understanding of personality types, communication processes, conflict styles, individual motivation and learning styles gives us many tools for improving our ability to change behavior.
Of course, we do not work in isolation. We work in small and large groups, which have their own unique characteristics and processes. People behave differently in groups than they do alone. We need to understand more about interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and creating and managing high performing groups. We need to understand how trust, honesty and ethics impact group behavior and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that drives desired behavior.
Moreover, individuals and groups do not operate in a vacuum; they operate in the context of a larger organizational system. We need to understand the impact organizational forces have on individual and group behavior, and then align these forces to drive desired behavior. Can we realistically expect people to behave in one way (like, use our system as designed) if there are major organizational forces that drive them to behave in another way?
Who Can Help?
This may all sound exhausting and impossible but there are people who can help: Human Resource (HR) and Organization Development (OD) professionals.
These two groups have complimentary skill sets that are perfect for helping us align organizational forces and drive desired user behavior. HR professionals have the skills necessary to put together appropriate performance evaluation, feedback and development plans. OD professionals are trained in conducting holistic organizational analysis and in designing appropriate interventions to facilit
Running a mold inspection business, home inspeciton busness, or remediation company can be quite challenging when it comes to customers finding your business. How do new customers know your a great company and of course how can they find you?Well now in the era of search Google, MSN, and Yahoo are creating new ways to reach out to customers. The most beneficial one I believe for mold businesses and home inspectors is the creation off local search. We have had our clients rave about how local search has been the best marketing they invested into.Now with the web every business must have a web site. If you do not have a web site please visit our affordable small business web design company The web site is so important because it brings alot of information to your visitors. You can also allow visitors to sign up for appointments, pay online, download their inspection reports, and so much more. By having a web site you begin to create a whole new opportunity for your inspection business.So you have a web site and it is not bringing in new customers. Well, that is where search engine optimization comes in. Compared to traditional marketing search engine optimization is more affordable and allows a ton of more oppurtunities for new customers to buy your service.How does search engine optimization help a business such as a mold inspector or home inspector?Just like it would for the fortune 500 companies that are using SEO (search engine optimization). What we first like to do for our Mold Businesses that we setup marketing campaigns for is research their customers and competitors.Researching how customers look for mold inspections and home inspectors, we even go
Example: User Behaviors' Impact on ROI and on the Customer Experience
I worked with a client who did very little to drive desired behavior when implementing a new CRM system. As expected, they had numerous behavior problems that reduced their ROI and degraded the customer experience. Sales reps did not see "what's in it for me", so they would often not use the system at all or they would only enter partial, inaccurate customer data. Customer service reps would not reliably create problem tickets, nor would they regularly update their progress on resolving customer issues. Managers would not use the system to track progress or to analyze department performance.
The impact to the organization and to the customers experience was severe. The organization wasted vast amounts of time and effort performing unnecessary tasks, such as tracking down information that was not entered by one individual but was required by others to perform their jobs. The lack of complete and accurate data made it impossible for management to utilize the system reports to make reliable, informed decisions. Executives and sales reps were unable to review vital customer activity data to prepare for additional sales meetings. The customers experience was degraded by delays resulting from having to repeat conversations that were not properly logged in the system.
It was only after the client had experienced these problems for quite some time that management decided to address user behavior. After users changed and demonstrated desired behavior, the system delivered significant value and the customer experienced improved. Had management proactively focused on driving desired behavior earlier they would have avoided the period of poor performance and significantly increased their overall ROI from the start.
Defining Project "Success"
How is "success" typically defined for a technology project? Projects are often judged successful if they are delivered on time and on budget. While delivering on time and on budget are indeed causes for celebration, do they fully define success? How often do we actually go back and measure our results, our realized ROI, against the forecasted return defined in the business case that justified the project? If we deliver on time but never achieve the forecasted ROI are we really successful?
This reveals several important questions. Who actually owns ROI? Who is responsible for ensuring we actually change user behavior and realize our anticipated ROI? What are the consequences for not achieving forecasted ROI? We need to stop defining success at the midpoint of the critical path (delivering technology) and shift our focus to the end of the critical path, achieving effective system use that delivers ROI.
How do we Change User Behavior?
So, how do we do we change user behavior?
First, we realize people are unpredictable. Unlike process flows or lines of code (which are linear, logical and controllable), people are wildcards. They do not always act rationally or predictably. They can be influenced and encouraged, but they cannot be controlled. Is it any wonder that even though we define a very clear logical process and system that it is not always used as intended? So, how do we compensate for the unpredictable and uncontrollable? Who can help us do this?
To address these challenges, we need to learn more about people and how to influence their behavior. Expanding our knowledge of individuals to include an understanding of personality types, communication processes, conflict styles, individual motivation and learning styles gives us many tools for improving our ability to change behavior.
Of course, we do not work in isolation. We work in small and large groups, which have their own unique characteristics and processes. People behave differently in groups than they do alone. We need to understand more about interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and creating and managing high performing groups. We need to understand how trust, honesty and ethics impact group behavior and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that drives desired behavior.
Moreover, individuals and groups do not operate in a vacuum; they operate in the context of a larger organizational system. We need to understand the impact organizational forces have on individual and group behavior, and then align these forces to drive desired behavior. Can we realistically expect people to behave in one way (like, use our system as designed) if there are major organizational forces that drive them to behave in another way?
Who Can Help?
This may all sound exhausting and impossible but there are people who can help: Human Resource (HR) and Organization Development (OD) professionals.
These two groups have complimentary skill sets that are perfect for helping us align organizational forces and drive desired user behavior. HR professionals have the skills necessary to put together appropriate performance evaluation, feedback and development plans. OD professionals are trained in conducting holistic organizational analysis and in designing appropriate interventions to facilit
The introduction of the Internet has surprisingly changed our way of life as a society. It has defined the way we do business and the way we correspond. The Internet has opened many opportunities for online trading. The financial industry revolves around the Internet. Every thing is just a few clicks away. This makes online trading most convenient. But there are still investors who prefer the old fashion way of offline trading and they mainly prefer offline trading for security reasons.Internet has introduced a way for consumers to manage their money online. Not to mention, Internet has transformed the way investment companies operate their business and has made it easy for private investors to gain straight access to a range of different markets and online tools that were at one point only reserved by the use of investment professionals. Consumer investing and online trading has dramatically changed over the last decade. Online trading dynamically continues to be redefined. Services have expanded to include integrated management of additional financial accounts. Not to mention, it has subsequently expanded in conjunction with ground-breaking improvements to the traditional trading interface, such as telephone interface systems.Of course, online trading has many pros. There are several wonderful reasons to invest online and consider online trading.1. Money saving opportunities The amount of money you save depends primarily on the online brokerage firm that you choose. No two firms are the same. There may be different regulations, similar to bank regulations. There are minimum deposits required that must be maintained. As mentioned above, this will depend on the online brokerage firm.2. Instant online access You can gain instant access to your accoun
Defining Project "Success"
How is "success" typically defined for a technology project? Projects are often judged successful if they are delivered on time and on budget. While delivering on time and on budget are indeed causes for celebration, do they fully define success? How often do we actually go back and measure our results, our realized ROI, against the forecasted return defined in the business case that justified the project? If we deliver on time but never achieve the forecasted ROI are we really successful?
This reveals several important questions. Who actually owns ROI? Who is responsible for ensuring we actually change user behavior and realize our anticipated ROI? What are the consequences for not achieving forecasted ROI? We need to stop defining success at the midpoint of the critical path (delivering technology) and shift our focus to the end of the critical path, achieving effective system use that delivers ROI.
How do we Change User Behavior?
So, how do we do we change user behavior?
First, we realize people are unpredictable. Unlike process flows or lines of code (which are linear, logical and controllable), people are wildcards. They do not always act rationally or predictably. They can be influenced and encouraged, but they cannot be controlled. Is it any wonder that even though we define a very clear logical process and system that it is not always used as intended? So, how do we compensate for the unpredictable and uncontrollable? Who can help us do this?
To address these challenges, we need to learn more about people and how to influence their behavior. Expanding our knowledge of individuals to include an understanding of personality types, communication processes, conflict styles, individual motivation and learning styles gives us many tools for improving our ability to change behavior.
Of course, we do not work in isolation. We work in small and large groups, which have their own unique characteristics and processes. People behave differently in groups than they do alone. We need to understand more about interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and creating and managing high performing groups. We need to understand how trust, honesty and ethics impact group behavior and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that drives desired behavior.
Moreover, individuals and groups do not operate in a vacuum; they operate in the context of a larger organizational system. We need to understand the impact organizational forces have on individual and group behavior, and then align these forces to drive desired behavior. Can we realistically expect people to behave in one way (like, use our system as designed) if there are major organizational forces that drive them to behave in another way?
Who Can Help?
This may all sound exhausting and impossible but there are people who can help: Human Resource (HR) and Organization Development (OD) professionals.
These two groups have complimentary skill sets that are perfect for helping us align organizational forces and drive desired user behavior. HR professionals have the skills necessary to put together appropriate performance evaluation, feedback and development plans. OD professionals are trained in conducting holistic organizational analysis and in designing appropriate interventions to facilit
Do you have a completely unblemished work history? Was writing your resume a breeze because you are perfectly qualified with a model career and educational background?Or, do you find yourself struggling to prepare your resume...struggling because of some glitch or problem in your background that you don't know quite how to overcome in your resume?· Maybe you are too old...or too young...· Maybe you have an obvious gap in your work history...· Maybe you have changed employers too many times...· Maybe you are a new graduate with little-to-no relevant experience...· Maybe you are an executive who needs to explain what appears to be a demotion...· Maybe you are returning to the workforce after taking some time off... · Maybe you are trying to change careers and your past experience doesn't relate...Don't feel alone! It is the extraordinarily rare job searcher who doesn't struggle with how to deal with some problem on their resume.As a professional resume writer I have worked with thousands and thousands of clients, and while every single one of those clients is unique, they all have one thing in common: they have a problem that they need me to solve for them.How do I do it? The truth is that the solution is often as unique as the individual client. But, to develop those solutions, there are six steps that I carefully think through prior to tackling any new project for a client. As you work on developing or refining your own resume -- as you try to come up with ways to transform YOUR troubled work history into a job-winning resume -- it may be helpful for you to work through the same six steps.
To address these challenges, we need to learn more about people and how to influence their behavior. Expanding our knowledge of individuals to include an understanding of personality types, communication processes, conflict styles, individual motivation and learning styles gives us many tools for improving our ability to change behavior.
Of course, we do not work in isolation. We work in small and large groups, which have their own unique characteristics and processes. People behave differently in groups than they do alone. We need to understand more about interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and creating and managing high performing groups. We need to understand how trust, honesty and ethics impact group behavior and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that drives desired behavior.
Moreover, individuals and groups do not operate in a vacuum; they operate in the context of a larger organizational system. We need to understand the impact organizational forces have on individual and group behavior, and then align these forces to drive desired behavior. Can we realistically expect people to behave in one way (like, use our system as designed) if there are major organizational forces that drive them to behave in another way?
Who Can Help?
This may all sound exhausting and impossible but there are people who can help: Human Resource (HR) and Organization Development (OD) professionals.
These two groups have complimentary skill sets that are perfect for helping us align organizational forces and drive desired user behavior. HR professionals have the skills necessary to put together appropriate performance evaluation, feedback and development plans. OD professionals are trained in conducting holistic organizational analysis and in designing appropriate interventions to facilitate the desired change.
Do we really need OD and HR people? Can't we use our current project team? No! IT people do not have the required skills - their expertise lies in technology. Strategy people typically are not qualified either. The knowledge and skills they possess to develop business cases, process flows, and ROI forecasts are very different from that required to change user behavior.
To align "people" with process and technology we actually need to rely on professionals with expertise in "people" issues - HR and OD experts. But how do they fit within the development lifecycle and when do we include them in the development process?
A Better Approach to IT Projects
We often assume that if we teach people what to do then they will act as instructed. But, what if the problem is not just that they don't know how to use the system? What if they can't or won't use the system for other reasons?
Imagine you are sick and you go to the doctor. He doesn't just say hello, shake your hand and then give you an operation. Instead the doctor asks you some questions, runs some test, gets x-rays and inspects your body. Only after he has gathered data and made an informed diagnosis does he develop treatment plans. A (somewhat) similar approach is appropriate for IT implementations.
Current efforts to promote user adoption that only include delivering training and communication are akin to the doctor skipping the data gathering and just reaching for the scalpel when you walk in the door. Wouldn't it be better if we gather some data, diagnose what drives user behavior in our organization and then put together an appropriate treatment plan? That is exactly what we should do.
We begin by gathering data from multiple sources, at multiple levels in the organization, in order to triangulate and identify the major forces driving user behavior. Once this is done and our diagnosis complete, we put together a treatment plan, that is, determine appropriate actions (called OD "interventions") to promote user adoption. Interventions may be conducted at multiple points in time: project start-up, during development, at go-live and at multiple intervals following system deployment.
Example: Structuring a Project to Drive User Behavior
So, how will this work? At the start of the project an OD consultant leads the project team (IT and business SMEs) in group development work and helps them mature into a highly productive work team. The consultant also helps IT and business agree on a definition of project success and a plan for sharing responsibility for measuring and achieving ROI at various points after go-live.
The consultant then gathers data to identify the organizational factors that drive user adoption. He conducts interviews across all levels of the organization, conducts focus groups with representatives from several user departments, surveys employees, and reviews various documents such as strategic plans and job descriptions. The consultant then facilitates leaders and business representatives in reviewing the data, diagnosing the situation, and developing an intervention strategy. Finally, interventions are held prior to go live (to prepare users for the change), during the first few weeks of the deployment (to assist users during the change) and at multiple scheduled review points (to help users continue to grow by identifying lessons learned and by sharing best practices across the organization).
Including HR and OD professionals in IT projects is critical for aligning people, process and technology. Conducting an organizational analysis, and more importantly, involving people in the process, helps drive desired behavior. It allows us to make sure we are investing our efforts in conducting appropriate interventions and in addressing the "right" issues. The time and effort required to drive desired user behavior delivers significant value through improved system use, faster realization of ROI and an improved customer experience.
Final Thoughts
The next time you are planning an IT project, ask yourself if you are doing enough to address the "people" issues. Are you focusing on promoting user adoption and achieving ROI or are you just focusing on delivering the technology? How much would you increase ROI if you improved user adoption of the system? Do you have skilled HR and OD people helping you drive success? Do you have the right skills and understanding of individual behavior and group development processes to effectively address the "people" issues?
Is there anything you COULD and SHOULD be doing to align people, process and technology?
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/21538/atriclecheck-Improve-Technology-ROI-Focus-on-People.html">Improve Technology ROI: Focus on People</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/21538/atriclecheck-Improve-Technology-ROI-Focus-on-People.html]Improve Technology ROI: Focus on People[/url]
Related Articles:
Undisclosed Tip To Less Business Arguments
Real Estate In Israel – The Growing Change!
Bookmark it:
|