What are some of the ways that you have overcome resistance to change when implementing new aspects of the ArcGIS Platform?

[MichaelGreen]

Resistance to change is natural.  People are not always eager to jump to the newest version or utilizing new capability that might change their workflows. 

What are some of the ways that you have overcome that resistance to change in order to get a high adoption rate to new parts of the ArcGIS Platform? changemanagement

[RobertBorchert]

Well you could tell people use it or there is the door. For many people the only way to get them to do it is to literally ram it down their throats.  However, that is unpractical, makes people angry, and won't work. Especially if you have to deal with union employees.  ESRI uses this technique with their software all the time and it really does not set well with a lot of users. The company really has the impression of being focused on increasing the profit margin and not the user. ESRI makes great programs and applications but does not seem to be concerned that it gets out of reach of the smaller users.

All that aside.  There is not best way or best practice. But techniques I have used and my company has used.

The most successful has been to find at least one person or group that wants change or the new thing.

We started off easy and had a Webmap using Silverlight that anyone in our intranet could access. We put our entire system on there with links to maximo. Granted it very basic. But the one group that wanted it used it.  And they talked about it with others.  Then on GIS day we had a GIS Day and invited everyone in our company (850 employees over half a dozen locations) to participate. We demonstrated the web map.  The users talked about how they used it.  60 minute session. We showed them some really cool widgets that did useful things.

That got others to saying, "Hey can we do this particular thing for our department". So we created a custom widget.

then our one interested group wanted to expand on easement acquisitions. We set them up with a way to take the iPad into the field and significantly cut down on job time.  He used it for 6 months. At an employee communication meeting he got up and talked about it and did a demo.

That opened the gate. First one, then another, then another.  Within 3 years we have a significant part of the company wondering how they lived without it. We don't force people to play with the new toys. We let them see the other employees playing with them.

Long story short. To get people to accept and use the new technology you get them to ask  you for it.  

[MichaelGreen]

Great thoughts Robert!  Thank you for the reply!  If only it were easier to just say, "use it!".

It does seem to be common to let the value of spatial analysis grow "organically" as others see the value.  Your promotion at GIS Day is a very valuable communication tool to share the impact and benefit of looking at business challenges with a spatial lens.

When there is a group/department that really should be using GIS but does not want to look at new workflows, do you rely upon any particular person within your organization who will help introduce new ideas?  If so, what is there title?

[RobertBorchert]

A client contracted with us to convert their AutoCAD Electric System to ArcGIS. I spent a lot of time converting it to ArcGIS, set them up with the ability to print map books and most importantly with ArcReader.  I worked with their IT to create a daily operation to update the date base that the ArcReader file would use. And every night when the linemen would dock their laptops it would automatically update the database their laptops.  That way every morning they would have the most current data in their ArcReader.

I drove 5 hours to their office. Their IT guy was awesome and had everything set up working without flaw.

I created a power point presentation.  Everyone already had ArcReader on their laptops.

I was doing my quick demo and I looked over. The head of the linemen's union was sitting next to me. I could tell there was not way in heck he was ever going to even try it. All the younger linemen were thinking it was pretty dang slick and used it from the get go. 4 months later their manager calls me and says that certain linemen are still not using it an as work orders are going out via the GIS it was effecting efficiently in those particular crews.  He asked me for advice.  I told him Mark, I am sorry it is our company policy to no get involved in client office politics.  He understood.  Well 2 months later we were at the same electric conference.  It was in the evening and he asked if I was on the clock. I said no. So he bought me a few beers and asked me again.  Well if the people won't motivate themselves when they see others using it and being excited and it is hurting efficiency, you can fire them (which you cannot do) or give them the really easy sh*t jobs like changing light street light bulbs and inspections. Then when they complain explain that you cannot give them the serious work orders because they are not using the applications.  I was mostly joking as I didn't really have an answer.  But he actually did it. 2 months later all crews but the one old fudger were doing it. And he retired.

[JoeBorgione]

This is the take-away for me:  To get people to accept and use the new technology you get them to ask  you for it.  

Great comments Robert!

rborchert‌

[RobertBorchert]

That's exactly it.

For us it was a long process. It took a few years to really get more and more people on board. Now it is to the point where we have to migrate to Portal to handle all the necessary users. 

We are having to entirely restructure our database and the way everything is laid out with streamline feature services etc.

One of the big mistakes many companies make when growing is they spin this up for this person, spin this up for that person.  And before you know it you don't have a lot of standardization

[MichaelGreen]

From what I have seen, a lot of people take the "long" route of waiting for others to see the value in the work completed by spatial analytics.  In these times of faster paced technology innovation and business oriented outcomes that technology must address, it may not be the best path to wait.

When GIS leaders clearly articulate the benefits of the outcome from their work to be in alignment with their executive leadership's goals and visions, a faster moving drive for results emerges.  That is when employing people focused change management principles can accelerate adoption and executive sponsorship that is desired and expected.   

The value of planning for people focused activities conducted at the same time as the planning phase for a technology implementation project allows change leaders to:

• proactively address resistance by leveraging the influence of leadership
• coordinate impactful communication by both the executive leadership and the managers who need to influence their team members
• execute training timed to supports user's needs when the technology becomes live

More customers have recently initiated a modernization effort similar to ones described by Robert.  What I hope to learn is how customers are both planning ahead for their system architecture to meet the future needs of a Web GIS and the planning for the people focused activities that insure people are ready to embrace and use a new capability.  More and more customers are seeing the need to drive their adoption efforts, not just organically expand capability over time.