Change Lessons from the Past - 2nd largest laptop deployment ever attempted

In my first two post/articles I told the story of the move by a top stock exchange to move to fully electronic trading. In this article, I am going to tell a short story of moving 4000+ financial advisors from paper driven processes to digital: where everything they needed to run their business was on a laptop. It was the second largest sales force technology rollout every attempted in North America.

There were many challenges, including some key ones:

·        The shear enormity of provisioning 4000+ contract financial advisors/salespeople/managers with laptops from coast to coast, at the right time and in the right place

·        Ensuring each laptop was going to work exactly as planned and a network that was robust

·        Establishing a baseline of computer literacy through in-person training sessions, followed by introducing skills and knowledge about the newly acquired or developed software tools (considering not everyone was tech-savvy).

·        Selling them on a mandatory yet modest monthly fee to cover a portion of the costs, so they had ‘skin in the game.’ There was no ‘opt out’ option.

·        Providing live real time support across all of Canada’s time zones.

·        The ability to quickly swap out faulty machines or remotely fix them.

The company did not have or want to create a new internal team to do ALL of this, so industry leading names helped in the project

I was head of 25% of the company’s sales force (about 1000 people) and my main job was to work with my field management team to explain the process, sell the concept/cost, listen, encourage feedback from the field and ensure HO was aware of the good, bad and the ugly feedback. The Head Office teams and the outside firms they retained had done a masterful job of planning, executing, and communicating for over a year before the rollout began.

The rubber was about to hit the road in a few months, so I went out to my twenty-six regional offices to gauge reaction from the field and prepare them for what was coming. I explained the benefits, fielded questions, and listened A LOT. I played particular attention to the top salespeople/veterans to ensure their 100% buy-in, and to get them to vocally support the project – they were great influencers and helpful to their local leadership.

If memory serves me about 60% were super keen to get their hands on the laptop as they wanted to gain a competitive edge in the market. About 35% were skeptical or unsure what/how this change could improve their business, but at least they had an open mind. I would say about 5% were not happy with having to learn new technology and also having to pay a little bit for it.

Thankfully, my management team were great at managing those who resisted and very few issues made it up to my desk. But I did have many long conversations with some managers, who needed to vent and get a little advice on how to handle some discontented people. Did some quit over this change – you bet. Did some send nasty messages to me and others to complain? As expected, they did. We had been coached on how to respond.

Key learnings for anyone leading change:

1.       Start communicating early and do it VERY frequently – you cannot overcommunicate

2.       Be honest about the challenges upfront – I do not know anyone who has been part of a massive change that went exactly as planned. So, admit upfront that there will be ‘bumps in the road’ and explain what to do when something doesn't go quite righht.

3.       There will be those who will not or cannot adapt – they need to be encouraged to find a different career path – some will even thank you afterwards

4.       Make sure they know that their leaders are listening. Stay calm, and help them imagine how great things will be in the very near future.

5.       As always do it with them NOT to them.

In my next article, I am going to explore the notion of ‘pivoting your business’ in the face of change and why some founders just can't do it or unabel to do it soon enough or fast enough. Feel free to connect/follow me for future articles.