Part I
Part II: The Magical Land of ADKAR (Prosci)
Part III: Reinforcing Change Efficiently and Building Proficiency

 

In my blog series so far, I  have discussed getting maximum adoption of Teams in 90 days. Now suddenly, 90 days sounds like eternity when life throws you a curve ball. You need to enable your workforce to adopt remote work on Teams as soon as possible. This does not mean we don’t need to use the same steps that we discussed earlier; we do use the same steps, just with acquiring only the minimum information that allows us to move forward faster, but in the same structured and organized way.  

The urgency of the situation actually helps as you go through the steps faster and more efficiently, because the “why” and the “why now?” questions have already been answered very clearly. So, let’s see what we need to get Teams, enabled for the basics of remote working, to be up and running, within days. 

 

DAY 1 – 2 

Executive Sponsor and Sponsorship Coalition 

Your work is done for you. In times of crisis, executives within organizations come together to drive business continuity. This means you already have an executive sponsor and sponsorship coalition. Just make sure you have direct lines to them as you put all the pieces together. Also, don’t forget to prioritize success measures. You are looking at the shorter-term success measures that will help your organization continue work with minimum disruption. The difference here is that you don’t want to concentrate on long-term strategy KPIs, rather immediate impact that helps your organization and business to continue with little or no disruption. 

Checklist completed by the end of DAY 2: 

  • Identify Executive Sponsor 
  • Create Coaching plan (what and when they will communicate to the end users) 
  • Strategy and KPIs (concentrate on immediate needs) 

 

DAY 2 – 3 

Personas and Use Case Scenarios 

In a situation when a majority of your workforce needs to work remotely, you are dealing with one type of persona and same use cases across the board. Yes, you might have some outliers, but we will not concentrate on them to start. Remember, your goal is to get adoption of the main functionalities of Teams for the majority of the organization within days. Keep in mind that you might have competing technologies already in place. Make sure that your communication is clear about what to use when during this time. 

Champions and Advocates Network 

I talked previously in Part II about how to rally your  Teams champions and who they need to be. It’s important to include stakeholders from the business side, as well as from IT. This is still the case, but because time is of essence, you start with a smaller group that you can then build on once the main functionality within Teams is adopted by a core of the business users. IT is your starting point for determining your champions since they already have  the knowledge and desire to help. Create a new team in Teams and/or Yammer for everyone in the organization. This is where support will be coming from. Use whatever medium that you are currently using for the business continuity communication to advertise this group and ask people to get engaged with tips and trick. You are building the real virtual community. You also need to make sure that you prepare readiness kits for the advocates, as they will be the front line to answer questions and organize their department/group to work in Teams. This does not need to be extensive information. Remember you need the minimum to achieve maximum impact.  

Checklist completed by the end of DAY 3: 

  • Create general persona (concentrate on what they will need) 
  • Identify persona journey through existing technologies (with Teams being the hub for collaboration) 
  • Identify Champions and Advocates 
  • Create Champions Community (Teams group, Yammer group)

 

DAY 3 – 4 

Communication and Training Plans 

Communication 

One thing we absolutely can’t forget is that having clear communication about where to find help and support will be crucial.  

Another major considering is to never forget about security. That now will come into place much more than when you deploy Teams within the office. Clear communication about what will be needed and expected from the end users is a must. Keep it to the point and use bulleted lists for steps and informational content. It makes it easier for uses to absorb and act upon. 

Don’t forget that a visible executive sponsor and coalition will go a long way to help with immediate adoption. Mini videos from the executive team with links in the main champions/community portal will go a long way to creating a more human aspect to your adoption efforts. Remember, we are looking for adoption for the main general use cases only. You want to get your workforce enabled to be up and running with minimum disruption.  

Training 

Mini pilots that will include IT, advocates, executive coalition and champions (the ones you were able to mobilize) with at least some users from each department are great to test security policies, remote logins and training materials. Instead of a week–long pilot, you are looking at a few hours or perhaps a day–long pilot. 

Have webinars available at least two times per day for the first couple of days. Keep links to the community where support will be available in most of the communications. Make sure that support is standing by. You don’t want to add additional pressures on end users. 

Checklist completed by the end of DAY 4: 

  • Identify Microsoft learning resources that you will need, and make them available within your Knowledge Library (the Knowledge Library can be part of the champions community or you can use an existing one, if you have it) 
  • Put Communication and Training plans together  
  • Write communication messages (Use Microsoft templates to help you with the content)  
  • Design Advocates and Champions Communication Survival Kit

DAY 5 – 10+ 

Support and Reinforcement 

Advocates will be even more important for adoption in a rapid deployment and adoption model. Virtual department meetings and 1:1 engagements will be extremely important to help support end users and keep them engaged. We will not have the 21/90 days rule available since we are looking at fast enablement of the workforce. Be prepared to have daily stand-ups with your team for the first 21 days, as well. After 21 says, weekly stand-ups will be required to ensure consistent use for 90 days. Daily stand-ups will be great for keeping up the morale and adjusting your company’s culture to the new circumstances of working remote. A communications tool kit for advocates will be necessary in order to enable advocates to not only support but reinforce the desired behaviors.  

Checklist completed by the end of DAY 10: 

  • Complete 1-day Pilot 
  • Deploy to the whole organization 
  • Check KPIs daily and adjust accordingly 
  • Solicit feedback through the Champions/Advocates community 

Depending on the size of your organization, 10 days might be not enough for Teams adoption across the whole organization, but it will at least get you the large number of end users to Teams in the record time. 

Once your initial ten-day push is behind you, it will be time to go back to business as usual, which includes gathering feedback from the end users and having focus groups that will help you to build upon the efforts that you have started.