7 keys to involve your employees in transformation projects

In the race towards competitiveness, the number of transformation projects being undertaken by companies is multiplying. This presents complex challenges both in terms of content – digitalization, client-focus, business process evolution, new regulations – and in the way these projects are carried out. Sure enough, when it comes to change management, a lack of long-term employee support is responsible for 75% of transformation project failures.

In order to achieve this and reach expected performance standards, it is essential to prepare a strong support system based on the fundamental and inherent values of loyalty. Winning and retaining employee support for global transformation projects within a company requires creating a strong interest in the project, strengthening engagement and maintaining persistent team motivation well past the deployment phase.

 1. Give meaning to your transformation project

In order to engage all teams in the transformation project, it is crucial to explain any challenges and reasons, as well as define the way that each team will experience process changes related to their positions. Your employees are central to the transformation process: demonstrate the need for future transformations, maintain a positive discourse and provide precise answers that emphasize both collective and individual interest in the project. By providing answers that give meaning to the project, audiences involved in the decision-making process will be more inclined to adopt the changes.

2. Divide the vision for the transformation project into measurable goals

It is essential that all employees understand the transformation project and equally adopt it as their own. How? By outlining and sharing collective and individual criteria and objectives for project success that can be measured using simple Key Success Indicators (KSI). Sharing success stories related to new practices and behaviors with all levels of management in a transparent and unified manner enables the realization of the projects’ vision, encourages all parties to move in the same direction and creates friendly competition.

3. Spark employee interest over time

A clearly accessible, attractive and meaningful vision in line with the spirit of the company will consolidate the transformation project. The challenge lies in igniting lasting motivation and team effort! On average, this process takes between 12 and 36 months; from onboarding through to reaching performance standards.
Employee positions, ways of working and duties may significantly change over the course of a company’s transformation project. That is why it is necessary to implement an ongoing communication strategy that ignites a desire within the employees, in terms of both form and content, to carry the project through to success!

4. Support skills development

All change requires learning: acquiring new skills, mastering new resources, adjusting behaviors, modifying performance, adopting new habits, understanding and applying new regulations, and more. If there is a clear need for support with skills development, learning must be transformed into a more widespread training process that is both continuous and appealing. The challenge is to provide a personalized user experience by adjusting training to fit different employee profiles (in terms of the position, duties, key skills, etc.) and using real-life examples to demonstrate.

5. Encourage progress, reward achievement!

In order to avoid disengagement in the adoption of practices and a subsequent drop in performance over the course of the transformation project, maintaining open communication, discussion and collaboration with and between teams is essential. Encourage employees and guide them towards relevant and targeted actions that will allow them to continue moving forward. Each milestone achieved, each personal or collective success and each victory, no matter how small, must be recognized in order to sustain motivation and encourage action.

6. Create and facilitate strong communities

The leadership of those responsible for inciting change is indispensable, however, don’t underestimate the power of an informal network of individuals who will unconsciously adopt changes and reinforce a positive discourse. As true ambassadors for change, their influence will greatly contribute to creating a community. Since we know that 5% of employees are enough to train the entire company, we understand why identifying, motivating and retaining these ambassadors is strategic in the success of the transformation! They are true catalysts when it comes to accelerating and solidifying usage adoption by sharing best practices, offering recommendations and providing social recognition.

7. Create friendly competition around the transformation journey

What if implementing new practices became something enjoyable yet challenging? A powerful driver for onboarding is the gamification engine which utilizes rewards and bonuses – namely through gaining points, badges or reaching a particular status or ranking. This meets the need for recognizing and acknowledging individuals. By incorporating a collective dimension, the “virtual” achievements won by a community encourages friendly competition and helps to sustain user motivation over the course of the transformation journey.

This solution offers shared objectives for success, constant and engaging communication, a personalized and gamified experience, a community united by active ambassadors, and much more. Winning and retaining the support of your employees during company transformation projects proves to be a difficult challenge, due to the various aspects that need to be addressed and also the number of actions that need to be carried out. Without the use of a tool, this task will prove impossible. InsideBoard, the 1st AI Platform for Change Management allows you to industrialize the transformation journey in its entirety by pulling together all employee engagement leverages in one single tool. The digital experience offered to your employees is based on their personal experience as a consumer. In other words, they need to be involved in and feel like agents of their own transformation, and their willingness to adopt change should be rewarded, valued and established over time until expected performance standards are reached.