Exploring the issue of user adoption for new collaboration technology and approaches. Part 1 of two parts.

1. User Adoption Strategies
Part 1—Situation, Strategies
Michael Sampson

2. Agenda—The Four S’s
Examine the … Situation
Consider various … Strategies
Look at the … Survey Results
Share some … Experiences

3. Where am I coming from?
• Collaboration Strategist
– Author
– Workshop Leader
– Analyst
• Work with end-user organizations
• Strategies for
Making Collaboration Work
– Culture
– Governance
– Adoption

4. Book: Collaboration Roadmap
• Collaboration Roadmap –
You’ve Got the
Technology—Now What?
• Doing “the business stuff”
– Technology
– Governance
– Engagement
– User Adoption
michaelsampson.net/collaborationroadmap.html

5. Book: User Adoption Strategies (2nd Ed)
• User adoption is the #1
challenge with
collaboration tools and
approaches
– Theory
– Framework
– Practical Strategies
– Developing an Approach
• Due July 2012
michaelsampson.net/useradoption2.html

6. 1
Examine the … Situation

7. Vendors have released …
… some amazing collaboration tools
IBM Connections
Microsoft SharePoint
Jive

8. Business partners are …
… ready and able to help

9. Significant opportunities are …
… available to forward-thinking firms

10. Great technology is NOT enough

11. Biggest Impediment:
Lack of Understanding
• AIIM study, figure 10
AIIM (2009)

12. 90% People, 10% Technology
Business driver (the why) Product
Team culture Features
Interpersonal trust
Interdependence
Incentives
Social patterns
www.netage.com

13. Avoiding Failure vs. Chasing Success
AVOIDING FAILURE CHASING SUCCESS
• Good infrastructure • Client support and Business
• Responsive applications acceptance
• Training
• Engagement processes
• Branding
• Best practices
• User manuals
• Communities of practice
• Customer service
Stephens (2005)

14. How IT creates business value
IS/IT conversion process IS/IT use process Competitive process
IS/IT IS/IT IS/IT Organizational
expenditure assets impacts performance
IT management/ Appropriate/ Competitive position/
conversion process inappropriate use competitive dynamics
Ward & Daniel (2006)

15. Really Understand the Technology
Outline the Vision
Accept that Technology is a Small Factor
in Success
Determine Your Governance Approach
Make Every Effort to Engage the Business
Apply Intentional Energy to Adoption
Pursue Increasing Value

16. Really Understand the Technology
Outline the Vision
Accept that Technology is a Small Factor
in Success
Determine Your Governance Approach
Make Every Effort to Engage the Business
Apply Intentional Energy to Adoption
Pursue Increasing Value

17. EXPLORING 1
Adoption doesn’t just happen
No adoption = No value
Adoption strategy = Increasing the odds of value
Business case assumes 100% adoption. Oops.

18. EXPLORING 2
Poor adoption is a common issue

19. “The hard part is
getting people to
use it in a way
which makes
them more
productive.”
SharePoint

20. “The hard part is “There are
getting people to plenty of
use it in a way examples of
which makes failed social
them more software
productive.” projects. Why
did they fail?
Because they
were not
embraced by
users.”
SharePoint Socialtext

21. “The hard part is “There are “Administrators
getting people to plenty of often find it
use it in a way examples of difficult to teach
which makes failed social business users
them more software how new tools
productive.” projects. Why can help them in
did they fail? their work.
Because they People are busy,
were not and scared.”
embraced by
users.”
SharePoint Socialtext IBM Connections

22. EXPLORING 3
Adoption is a process, not an event

23. Four Stage Model of User Adoption
STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4
Winning Cultivating Enlivening Making
Attention Basic Applicability It Real
Concepts

24. 2
Consider various … Strategies

25. STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4
Winning Cultivating Enlivening Making
Attention Basic Applicability It Real
Concepts
Stage 1. Winning Attention
They aren’t interested in features and capabilities
How do we get them interested?
What others are doing

26. Exemplar Stories
• How other people in your organization are
getting value and benefit
• Real people, real situations … “social proof”
• “I want that”
• On intranet, in newsletters
Stage 1. Winning Attention

27. Real-to-Life Scenarios
• Narrative scenarios about how a group works
– “A day in the life of customer services”
– “A project in the day of a research team”
• Shows the possibilities embedded in their reality
• E.g., Seamless Teamwork
– Team project scenario with SharePoint (end-to-end)
Stage 1. Winning Attention

28. Senior Executive Support
• Senior executives as involved as others
– E.g., Senior Executive Meetings
– Executive Modeling
• Provides environmental context
– Helpful, but insufficient to drive change
Stage 1. Winning Attention

29. STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4
Winning Cultivating Enlivening Making
Attention Basic Applicability It Real
Concepts
Stage 2. Cultivating Basic Concepts
Explain how the new stuff works
Train how to use it
Provide grounding, conceptual understanding, and
practical experience

30. Classroom Training
• Teach the “what” of IBM Connections (or
other collaboration tool)
– Various design considerations
– Good for dense concentrations of people
– Hands-on = better learning
Stage 2. Cultivating Basic Concepts

31. Web-Based Training
• Live webinars, Recorded webinars, or
E-learning courseware
– Wide geographical coverage without travel
– Self-paced instruction
– Ease of updating with new material
Stage 2. Cultivating Basic Concepts

32. Pages on the Intranet
• Help pages on the Intranet
– Usually text heavy, can include screen recordings
– Can be VERY boring, and LACK context
– Self-paced instruction
– Could include social engagement opportunities
Stage 2. Cultivating Basic Concepts

33. STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4
Winning Cultivating Enlivening Making
Attention Basic Applicability It Real
Concepts
Stage 3. Enlivening Applicability
Explore reasons and value
How could it apply to their work?
“me, us, my group and team”

34. Facilitated Group Re-Imagining
• What are the activities the group does today?
– These are underpinned by assumptions about
technology capability sets
– BUT … these have changed
– So what now?
– How can we re-imagine work?
Stage 3. Enlivening Applicability

35. Sandbox for Experimentation
• A place to play and try things out
– Less about “doing business”
– More about “what could this do for me or us?”
Stage 3. Enlivening Applicability

36. Easy First Steps
• Help them to accomplish the first things
– Setting their profile
– Uploading a picture
– Creating subscriptions
– Looking at the various places
– Subscribing to a relevant community
• Changes it:
– from “a system out there”
– to “something I am involved with”
Stage 3. Enlivening Applicability

37. One-to-One Coaching
• Observational learning about current work
practice
• In-situ recommendations or ideas:
– “Did you know you could …”
– “Have you tried doing it this way …”
– “Why are you clicking into there?”
• Also called “Over-the-shoulder watching”
Stage 3. Enlivening Applicability

38. STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4
Winning Cultivating Enlivening Making
Attention Basic Applicability It Real
Concepts
Stage 4. Making It Real
Make it real and personally relevant
It’s the new “now” way
Don’t shoot yourself in the foot

39. Stop Doing, Start Doing Patterns
• A mini-activity or set of sequences for a group
– Frequently repeated, well embedded
– A way of encapsulating the transition from the old
to the new
• Document reviews
• Discussions
• Finding expertise
– Accountability lever
Stage 4. Making It Real

40. Internal User Group
• Internal group made up of supportive
individuals
– Focus is on doing work better with the new stuff
– Discussions, Asking questions, Finding expertise,
Moaning together
Stage 4. Making It Real

41. Zero Other Options
• Treat the new system as the place of work
– Post the meeting notes
– Upload the latest document version
– Keep team member details
– “We do work in here”
• Don’t make exceptions for people
Stage 4. Making It Real

42. Next time …
Look at the … Survey Results
Share some … Experiences

43. Michael Sampson
@collabguy
michaelsampson.net