Strategies for Achieving Buy-In and Executive Alignment in Your Organization
January 5th, 2024
In today’s changing world, regardless of organization size or industry type, the need to digitally transform has become more and more apparent. Whether this be to keep up with evolving market conditions, reduce risk, or to create a strategic advantage for your organization. However, embarking on a digital transformation can seem daunting for anyone, especially those who aren’t well-versed in technology. This isn't just a simple project; it's a collaborative effort that takes resources, time, and people.
We had the opportunity to interview the COO of Belmar Consulting, Matthew Hui about his experience in the nonprofit world, the importance of generating buy-in and executive alignment in any industry, and the strategies that you can employ across an organization to increase buy-in. Watch the full video below, or continue reading for highlights and actionable steps you can take to propel digital transformation within your organization.
Starting the Discussion with Executive Leaders
Initiating discussions with executive leaders around digital transformation starts with identifying the underlying pain points. This initial step should begin with analyzing the current challenges at hand, and taking a very realistic look at if these points are a technology problem, process problem, or a people problem. If you’re unsure of how to tell the difference, here are some common examples:
Technology Problem: lost time or inability to report, data breaches or security risks, bad or poor quality data
Process Problem: losing applicants, needing to ask a team member for the same information multiple times, etc.
People Problem: having the wrong person in a role, team structure that is not helping the organization
The second step in evaluating a digital transformation is understanding whether it’s a matter of necessity for the organization, or if it’s from a place of desire. Here are some examples to help identify whether the issue is a need versus a want:
Necessity: The COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden shift to virtual operations required many organizations to pivot their operational models. This represents a necessity-driven transformation.
Desire: An initiative to upgrade systems to enhance the organization's capacity to serve more constituents or secure additional grant funding represents a desire-driven transformation.
Understanding these root causes will guide you on how to start the conversation with your stakeholders and enable you to prepare before even selecting a technology platform. The two are not mutually exclusive, in that something may start as a desire, but events may occur in which that desire may evolve into a need.
Strategies for Smooth Adoption and Alignment in Cross-Functional Teams
After identifying the underlying pain points with executive leaders, it’s time to communicate with your team. Naturally, cross-functional teams often encounter resistance or challenges when implementing new processes or technologies - there are many people and existing processes involved that will inevitably need to shift and adapt. That’s why it’s all the more important to approach change management effectively to ensure smooth adoption and alignment with organizational goals.
Every change management plan will have 2 core competencies: communications and people. At its core, to ensure smooth adoption, think about how each individual would benefit from this digital transformation. The “What’s in it for me” (WIIFM) needs to be communicated to all parties at all levels - whether they’re an executive, manager, team member, individual contributor, etc. Change management first starts with ensuring everyone understands why a change needs to occur, so the WIIFM is key to enabling all stakeholders to be comfortable with the decisions that are being made.
Now, getting buy-in and adoption is never linear (no matter how much you prepare). If only one person is trying to drive change for the entire organization, it will be difficult to communicate the WIIFM and the intricacies of the digital transformation to every individual. Additionally, people may create shortcuts on the system - something that will negate all the hard work and effort that was put into this digital transformation in the first place. That’s why inserting and establishing champions throughout the organization is vital to ensure success - people who will be your advocates when day-to-day operations and the old way of doing things has changed. These champions will keep their respective teams updated, excited, and organized during the project process.
Even after you’ve selected your champions and begun implementing your project, it doesn’t finish there. Change management does indeed happen throughout the implementation of your project, but also well beyond the project if you want people to continue using the system (and using the system correctly). If you want to ensure success, you’ll need to continually train on new features and upgrade the system to satisfy new challenges and/or pain points - only then will you ensure long-term scalability and adoption.
The Indicators of a Successful Technology Transformation
Prior to starting your implementation project, you would’ve identified strategic objectives. A core indicator of success is to ask if those objectives have been met. That should be the first checkpoint and will let you know if the project itself was successful. On an ongoing basis, however, factors will change depending on long-term sustainability and scalability goals. Here are a few objectives that you may have after your digital transformation:
Are staff using the system?
Is the system being used correctly and in the way that it was intended to be used?
Is it producing the data team members need to be creating regularly?
Is it giving stakeholders valuable insights?
Is it saving the organization time and/or costs? What was the ROI?
Ultimately, as organizations change over time, you’ll naturally have new goals. It will always be an evolving determination to make sure that your technology integration is, and continues to be successful.
The Power of Humanness, Communication, and Empathy
It’s worth noting that when an organization is undergoing such a pivotal project, there will naturally be pushback and hesitation to change. Not everyone has full insight into the planning and strategic stages of digital transformation, so it may be hard for them to understand why it should happen in the first place. As a result, it’s extremely important to be sensitive and understanding of where an individual may be coming from, and why they might be pushing back.
This ties to the WIIFM approach; when you’re communicating, make sure you use the appropriate language and reasons that resonate with that individual. Are they a leader? Are they a manager? Are they on the front lines? What are their objectives in the organization? Since the digital transformation will ultimately change their day-to-day processes, it’s also important to understand the impact of that on the individual as well.
When communicating, don’t overcomplicate things. Technology doesn’t have to be complicated, it can actually be fun. You’re only making things harder for yourself and your team by making things more difficult for them to understand. Here are 3 questions that you can aim to solve when thinking about communicating with your team:
How do I get people excited to use the system?
How do I get people to use the system correctly?
How do I get people to continue using the system?
Lastly, we need to understand that behind all this technology and transformation, there are human beings on the other end being impacted. They’re used to the system being a certain way, they’ve been working hard, and they have their own goals. By communicating this in a way that resonates with them, working with them collaboratively through the project, and showing them that this can be a fun change, the experience will be elevated for everyone involved.
Digital transformations can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! With the right analysis, conversations, planning, and implementation partner, your organization will embark on an exciting and impactful journey. If you’re ready to chat with our Salesforce implementation experts, click the button below.
About the Organization
Belmar Consulting is an award-winning Salesforce implementation partner, who works with various organizations and enables them to succeed in their digital transformation journey. We combine our intimate knowledge of the public sector and the nonprofit industry with Salesforce to create and implement innovative solutions for our clients. Belmar’s dedication to delivering successful client projects means our clients are more effective in their role to fulfill their organizational missions.
