As CEO of ANCILE Solutions, a global leader in workforce performance technology solutions, I have the privilege of working with talented professionals who support a customer base of more than 4,000 customers worldwide. Our mission is to help improve worker productivity within the organizations that purchase our software solutions. The more effectively employees use these systems and share information across the enterprise, the more efficient and productive they are.
Change is a constant in every business. New innovations and changes in technology present both opportunities and challenges for a technology company. On the positive side, new advances in technology provide numerous ways for people to access information (such as iPads, smartphones, etc.). But increasingly we see and hear people express the opinion that they are being bombarded with information and overwhelmed by the need to constantly stay connected. The challenge: How can organizations better manage this dynamic?
Compounding this situation is geographic diversity. More than ever, employees are working from their homes, airports, vacations, and remote offices. Facilitating the management of information remains vital, but challenges abound:
- Can we reach these employees?
- Is the information being shared secure?
- How do we know if they have received and understood the communications?
- Are these workers in my employment, partners, or independent? Do they have any obligation to the company?
Preparation for Transformation
In my experience, preparation is critical to managing a successful change. At ANCILE, we recently went through a major transformation in how we develop our software and support our customers. Some of the fundamental changes entailed utilizing an Agile team approach to software development, real-time cycles of deployment, and group feedback to measure progress and success. To ready the organization, we provided initial training and coaching to help prepare the teams. However, no amount of training could ensure adoption of the new ways of working. Success started with a solid plan of change management. Once we were as certain as possible that our messages would be received and understood, we then began the process of transformation.
We formed committees to help design our new processes. We also used some of own software to help manage messaging and communications among the team members. As part of that effort, we were able to validate receipt of each message, as well as its comprehension. After all, why bother pushing information to the community of practice if you do not care if it was heard and understood?
Following the introduction of the changes and communicating the reasons for them, we then began a series of in-person sessions to prepare all team members about the new organization, structures, and processes. Many of the employees were in the office to participate in these events. However, many of them were remote and connected virtually. Also, to support those who were not available at the time or not even hired yet, all sessions were recorded to ensure the same information was shared in the same voice and addressing the same agendas. Analogies were flying around the group:
- “Changing the tire on the moving bus”
- “Building a new train while racing down the track on the current train”
While this transformation has gone very well, we never viewed this as a one-and-done activity. We continue to refine processes, onboard new team members, and integrate new groups as needed. We have an advantage in some ways that our business is about improving worker productivity. We can take some of the same principles and tools that we enable our customers with and apply them internally.
Effective communication is another key to success. It must be timely, consumable, and relevant. In other words, “just in time, just enough, and just for me.” Employees need to understand what is happening, why, and what will impact them directly. Effective leadership calls for clear messaging and availability to answer concerns that people have about the change. Communication is a two-way street.
Strategy and Technology
It is important to keep up with both technology and the speed of business. People receive training, but businesses rely on people who can do their jobs effectively every day while changes swirl around them. Our experience and solutions—ANCILE uPerform and ANCILE uAlign—provided the support we needed to manage our changes internally.
The key to a successful transformation is when an effective strategy is enabled by powerful technologies. The secret is to remain flexible enough to evolve both along the path.
Frank Lonergan is CEO of ANCILE Solutions, a software technology company that provides worker performance-based software solutions to more than 4,000 customers globally. His career has had stops as an educator, editor, trainer, education business development head, and CEO. These roles have provided Lonergan with a greater understanding of how adults learn and perform.
