One of the primary reasons why implementation is difficult is that it is so geographically dispersed. If you are in a large and complex organization, it can seem pretty overwhelming. It’s hard enough to make your project implementation happen as planned in one location, but if you are looking at multiple locations, or what’s even more complex-- global locations with multiple cultures, implementation challenges can be enormous. This is true regardless of the type of organizational change: process re-engineering, culture change, business transformation, or a technology change.

It may seem completely obvious that implementation takes place at the local level, yet many project teams fail to put into place an implementation plan that controls and manages the implementation with this in mind. The project resources and budget are heavily, if not solely, focused on getting the business change installed across the organization’s geographies. As a client once put it, “We just slam the change into the organization, and hope it sticks.”

The results of this approach are predictable: lots of resistance, slow and reduced adoption and behavior change, and ultimately, stalled or failed changes. Even if the implementation is successful, it takes longer and costs more.

So, if implementation is, indeed, a very localized activity, what actions can you take to get beyond the “just hope it sticks” mentality?

1. Build a chain of Sponsors who demonstrate full commitment to the change by what they say, what they do, and what behaviors they reinforce. These Sponsors must be accountable for successful implementation at the local level. Only the local level “Reinforcing Sponsor” has the positional knowledge, authority and influence to communicate and reinforce the change with the end users’ (or Targets’) Frame of Reference in mind.
2. Make sure you have enough Change Agents in the right locations to support the implementation. Equally important, make certain these Change Agents have the right interpersonal skills, and have the required credibility with the Sponsors. Use the Change Agent Assessment to determine if you have the kind of individuals you will need to ensure implementation at the local level.
3. Train Sponsors and Change Agents in the principles, tools, and tactics of IMA’s Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) so you can have a common language for implementing the business change. This will provide consistency and efficiency as you implement across geographic and/or functional boundaries.
4. Start early! Too many project teams wait until far too late in the project lifecycle to begin planning for the implementation. You lose the opportunity to build readiness, and end up spending more time, more energy and more money trying to combat resistance. If you want behavior change and adoption, you should put plans in place very early on to prepare the local organizations for your implementation.

If you apply a systematic approach to addressing these challenges, you will position yourself for behavior change and implementation success.