Our company installed new software for personnel administration. All managers have received training on it, so the skills and the knowledge is there, but the attitude is a problem, as no one is using the system. More training on how to use it seems useless but how do we create the much needed attitude change?
Vicky Monsieurs
4 Responses
MIS Systems
I have come across this type of problem many times before.
Part of such problem is often that the managers don’t see why they should be doing HR’s job for them. In their view HR should be giving them the answers and not expect them to find them.
May be part of the problem as with many HR systems is they don’t believe the system can do anything for them. To this the answer must be to give them reports that they can use. For example What is absence costing in their department? A report which highlights the real absence problems (Bradford Factor). As the managers what reports they what and deliver them to them. Over the years I have come across to many systems where they pour information into them but get nothing out. So the manager’s views are the system does not work.
Additionally picking up on my first point some of the more advanced reporting tools will allow HR to schedule reports to run over nights and them email them direc tly to the manager so it is in their email box when the arrive to work in the morning.
The final point is. Was the training any good? A good trainer should have left them feeling inspired with the tool at their finger tips. If this did not happen may be the problem was the training and not the managers.
There is an article on HR Zone by Chris Berry MD for Compters In Personnel saying that that right HR system may be under your nose but many HR Departments just don’t know what to do with them.
See
http://www.hrzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=170202&d=1063
A little planning goes a long way
Hi Vicky,
I agree with much of what Iain says and would like to clarify some of the points.
Part of any training, especially on new systems, is a need to sell the benefits of the new system. Tell your trainees how this will benefit them, how it will make their job easier, how it will give them more time etc.
As a software implementer/trainer I used to research my audience first. Contacting them individually to discover their thoughts, fears and anything else they felt about the proposed new system. Once you have established the major issues, concentrate on solving these in the training as a priority. As Iain says trainees should leave the training session inspired and enthusiastic about using the new software. So concentrate on selling the benefits and less time on skills and knowledge transfer. If they need to come back for advanced training this is a small price to pay for adoption.
Oh and make sure they have plenty of support in the initial stages, if they have to hunt for answers this can be very off putting.
As you have already conducted training I suggest some short workshops to cover the benefits. Make sure you have high level sponsorship for the sessions to add weight, if necessary get a senior manager or director to sit in on some sessions.
I hope this helps.
Regards
Craig
Benefits
As mentioned below the key word is ‘benefits’. These should have been identified before and as part of the procurement stage or else why would you buy a new system. Try and hunt these out as they will be a good starting point. Who was the key driver behind a new system? Are they the ‘sponsor’ of the system and can you use them to evangelise and support you? If the system fails to deliver the right ‘needs’ who stands to loose the most – they might be another good supporter you can use. I’ve delivered so many training courses for customers in the past and had to sell the system as part of the training – ideally this should be done as part of the comms programme and is a key change management stage. Good luck.
Empowering the user community
This happens so often I have lost count. Why oh why do companies insist on imposing top-down measures like this? Why not get those managers on board by involving them in the decision making process from the outset? If they have contributed to the change, managers feel that they own it and are less likely to stonewall. I suspect your managers are feeling “done to” and “put upon”. Now there is the uphill struggle of simultaneous onboarding and implementation, and of course it lands in the training department’s lap.
Some damage control is going to have to be undertaken. I would suggest that you need to sit down and make a list of the barriers to implementation and find ways to address as many of them as possible as quickly as possible. What are the reasons the managers are giving and what (because they might be totally different) are the real reasons they aren’t implementing the new system?
I would recommend identifying a few likely candidates who can be won around, and running a workshop with them to explain the whys and hows of the new system. Train them up to be the superusers. Encourage them to support one another to form a community that undertakes collaborative learning and support. Notify the whole management team that these are the in-house experts and their first port of call. Teach these people how to facilitate workshops among their peers and to support them through the implementation process. You might consider providing things like online discussion forums, FAQs, etc. Create an online glossary and a jargon-busters’ corner that the user community can own and maintain (all these features are included in Moodle, which is a totally free LMS, but you may well have your own LMS in place which can handle this). Let the managers feel included and empowered in the finetuning of the process going forward.
Presumably the training they have received has been in the form of a one-off workshop, most of which they will have forgotten by the time they come to implement any of it. I would also ensure that people have JIT access to online support tools for when they have to do something and they can’t remember how.
Senior managers must be prepared for inevitable performance dip. Change management training might be called for there.
I don’t know how much of this you are in a position to do, but I would suggest that you recommend adequate business analysis and early on-boarding before the next major change implementation in the organisation.