The Context
A global maritime company was embarking on a digital HR transformation project involving the implementation of a new Human Capital Management (HCM) system across all their global offices.
Prior to this implementation, their global offices relied on disparate processes and systems to manage their HR and in some offices, did not even have an HR system available. This global HR transformation project required key stakeholders across all the global offices to understand the imperative for change and needed to buy in to adopting a fully revamped methodology of working.
Operating in the maritime industry, our client’s workforce consisted of a high number of employees whose daily operations required constant and high mobility, presenting an additional challenge in the digital adoption of a new HCM system for their employees.
The Lighthouse Difference
The Change Management team here at Lighthouse Consulting leveraged on our client’s group of HR Super Users to setup a network of Change Champions who would be at the vanguard, driving the necessary change within their local offices. However, this endeavour was not without its challenges as the local HR Super Users had their own doubts and resistance to change towards the transformation.
To manage any resistance that will inevitably surface amongst the HR Super Users, the Change Management team had to conduct a series of Change Champion Workshops to explain the benefits and long-term objectives of the transformation project, addressing any areas of concern raised. Our team also engaged the help of senior stakeholders within their organization to anchor the workshops as internal change sponsors of the transformation project.
Managing change requires a unique blend of empathy and persistence to really understand the emotions involved in uprooting years of common practice, layering on targeted change interventions that would continually reinforce the imperative for change.
The Change Management team relied on a mix of digital and hardcopy communications to reinforce the message for change across various channels and physical locations at local offices. Gamification was also used to raise and drive hype and awareness, among both the Change Champions to encourage local office initiatives as well as among employees to get them involved in the naming of their new global HR system, giving them a sense of ownership and collaboration with senior management.
The Impact
Our client successfully went live with their new HCM system across all global offices and achieved a global average of 85% login rate within one week across all 18,000 employees. In a pre-live readiness survey, 97% of survey respondents indicated that they clearly understood the benefits and rationale of the transformation project, which is a phenomenal success.
Throughout the project, the Change Management team played an integral role in the successful implementation of the new HCM system. This included, but is not limited to, supporting system cutovers, training and enablement of employees to utilize the new system, helping to manage system limitation workarounds, post-live support and ongoing adoption monitoring to debug any minor issues.
