Just take a moment and think about the last 2 or 3 major organizational change programs that you have been party to (or a victim of). Invariably the change will have something to do with wanting to change the way people work and interact with each other in your organization. Perhaps it was triggered by a significant structural change, a merger, or acquisition. Perhaps it was around  a major technology refresh. Or perhaps even a significant change in company strategy, triggered by a disruptive change in the marketplace. Whatever the reason, invariably you will be asked to adapt your behavior to become more adaptive, responsive and collaborative; because change has now become a constant.

Central to virtually all major organizational changes now are the digital tools that promise to facilitate the more adaptive, responsive and collaborative behaviors being sought. Collaboration tools are being launched in epidemic proportions; quickly followed by a plea to put people first, before technology. But should it be a question of what comes first. Perhaps it’s more of a question about how technology can work in tandem with people, to achieve the organizational changes being sought.

At SWOOP we have been thinking long and hard on this precise issue. How can people use technology and analytics to help them change the way they work? We use the tagline: “Once people can see the way they are working; they are better placed to change the way they work”. Below we have modelled how SWOOP measures can be used within a traditional Organizational Change framework called ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement). ADKAR, like SWOOP, acknowledges that change happens at the individual level; and in order for a group or organization to change, all the individuals within that group must change.

We have chosen a typical change initiative around the implementation of an Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) platform, to illustrate its application:

The record for successful organizational change initiatives has not been good. Often the blame is placed at the feet of technology; and its prioritization over the needs of people. Here we argue that it’s not a matter of which one comes first, but how technology and people can work in tandem, to achieve the desired organizational change.