Sam, the General manager of a small financial company, had given the procurement officer a go-ahead to procure a document management system that would work for the company. This was after deliberation with the IT personnel on the system that would work for them. A document management system was procured.
They were having challenges with their paper documents, which had accumulated over the years, but they were afraid to have them disposed of because of the information in them.
And now that they were also moving to their new office building. They didn’t want to move with the physical documents, which were taking to much space already. A buy-in from the executives made the process move fast.
At least now they were going to have all their documents digitized, minimize paper waste, cut costs and have their office back, so they thought. Who would not want that? What happened next?
Due to false beliefs, so many things went wrong, but in the end, they managed to get through the challenges.
# False Belief 1 : If change is logical, all will support it.
When the implementation was announced in the company meeting, there was a pushback.
There are staff who feared they would lose their jobs.
The vendor just showed the IT personnel how to use the system, and that was it. The other staff had no idea how the system was being used.
Reality: Logic alone was not going to drive a buy-in. Emotions and buy-in mattered more for the team to embrace the system.
#false belief 2: The system would be installed, staff trained, and an automatic change would happen.
The cloud-based document management system was installed, and a trainer came for a one-day crash course.
No one used the system consistently.
Workflows were not flowing, leading to increased frustration.
Files were saved randomly.
Reality: Software will not lead to change; people will. This should involve continuous support, process alignment and a shift in habits.
#False belief 3: Once the software is rolled out, it is a done deal, the change has happened.
The digitization project was complete after three months.
Old habits slowly crept back.
Use of paper documents continued.
Reality: Change is not a one-time event; it is a process that needs reinforcement, feedback and continuous leadership.
#False belief 4: Communication from the top is sufficient for the adoption of change.
A company meeting was held, and the CEO gave orders and expected compliance.
The staff felt disconnected and unmotivated to adapt to the change.
Reality: People support what they help to create. Managing change comes with active listening, co-creation and bottom-up feedback.
# False belief 5: What works for big companies works for all sizes of companies.
The executive downloaded a change plan from a corporate consultancy website to use as is.
It was too complex.
It overwhelmed the team.
Reality: SMBs need tailored strategies, scale, culture and people dynamics more than frameworks.
The CEO had to go back to the team to understand what was happening, get feedback. They had to start again by creating a pilot team to test the digital workflows before full implementation. He encouraged peer support and time was given for adjustment. The company started feeling the value added.
Conclusion
Technology is changing our workspaces. But the change dynamics is not about technology, it is about the people, process and patience. And also challenging the false beliefs.