We love a good acronym in IT, especially here at Citrix. I can think of a handful right away – ITSM, VDI, VM, DaaS, BYOD and the list go on. However, there is one acronym that you may not think of right away that can positively impact your end-user communication strategy, and that is ADKAR. Jeff Hiatt coined the term in 2006 in his book ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and our Community. Jeff identified five sequential building blocks that contribute to successful change:
- A — Awareness of the need for change
- D — Desire to participate and support the change
- K — Knowledge of the change process to achieve the goal of the change
- A — Ability to learn new skills and accept the change
- R — Reinforcement to sustain the change
As an Enterprise Customer Success Manager, I get to work with innovative technology every day; but I know that for my customers to achieve a successful rollout, it’s critical that their communication anticipates their users’ natural resistance to change. Here are five tips on how to improve your change management communication during your technical transformation, influenced by our new favorite acronym, ADKAR.
- Communicate why the change is happening — Everyone the change has an impact on needs needs to be made aware of why the change is happening. I’ve seen this most successful when the message comes from an executive sponsor. Remember, not all of your users are in IT. Even if your executive sponsor is the CIO, the reason for change should not be rooted in technical jargon. Use examples that will relate to the majority of the organization and discuss the positive impact.
- Acknowledge WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) — It’s human nature for us to ask, “What’s in it for me?” Anticipate this question from your users and address it early in your broad communications. Share with your users what they will gain personally from making the change. For example, if you are implementing Citrix Workspace, communicate to your users that they will now have flexibility to work from a device of their choice, in the office or at home.
- Share the goal of the change — Be specific in the goal of this change and outline how the change will take place. When communicated properly, the users will have a clear understanding of what’s changing and a timeline for reference. Here’s an effective example of communication about change: Citrix Content Collaboration is our exclusive collaboration service, and you will no longer be able to log in to your Box account starting October 1, 2019. Sharing this information should create a sense of urgency among your end users and increase time to adoption of the new service.
- Incorporate supportive materials — There’s no doubt about it, change is uncomfortable. One way you can provide comfort to your end users is by incorporating supportive materials into your communication strategy. Ideas include short videos, quick reference guides, digital signage in break rooms, and employee testimonials. One of my customers recently launched a survey to their Phase 1 users after migrating to their new environment and used verbatim comments during their Phase 2 migration to encourage Phase 2 users to accept the change.
- Create opportunities for collaborative discussion — While it’s important for users to realize that this change is taking place, we all feel better when we have the opportunity to have a voice. In my experience, the customers that have had the smoothest rollouts use many types of communication methods outside of email and messaging. In a recent study done by Harvard Business Review, face-to-face requests to complete a survey were 34 times more likely to receive positive responses than email. Ensure that users have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback in a variety of settings. This additional investment of time will pay off in reducing time to adoption.
What an exciting time to see how technology is transforming the way people work! From machine learning to A.I. to automation, there’s something new to check out each day. But don’t let your communication plan be an afterthought. Work with your Citrix Customer Success Manager and/or take advantage of our digital resources in the Cloud Success Center to tailor your communication strategy while keeping in mind the ADKAR change management model. We are passionate about our customers’ success and are happy to be a part of your digital transformation!
—Katie Curtis, Enterprise Customer Success Manager
