Is your company making the switch to the simpler, faster, and smarter Workday system to manage your business? It makes sense since it is touted as easy to implement and intuitive to use, right? However, just because Workday is so easy to use, don’t underestimate the need for communication, business process documentation, training for new roles and responsibilities, and support so employees can make the right decisions when they implement the system. These are all critical functions that need to be addressed with any new system implementation because companies are at risk of their employees not understanding how their tasks fit together to achieve the desired business outcomes.
During a recent GP Strategies webinar, Training Alternatives to the Workday Adoption Toolkit, I discussed what to think about when considering how to handle the people-related risks associated with adoption of cloud-based systems like Workday. While your solution should be tailored to the specific needs of your organization, here are some things to consider:
- Communication becomes even more important. Many organizations are making significant process and role changes to accommodate Workday. The more changes employees must adapt to, the greater your need for communication will be. Plan for effective communication before training, during system stabilization, and when transitioning to each new release. Consider implementing/using a tool to disseminate these communications and measure their consumption.
- Less emphasis is placed on traditional transactional documentation. Because Workday is so easy to use, you will probably need less of the transactional step-by-step documentation that has been the mainstay of traditional ERP training solutions. But that doesn’t eliminate the need for performance support materials. Consider where you have the greatest risks—key job tasks, large user groups, areas with high turnover, or areas of highest business risk—and provide documentation for those areas. Also consider alternatives to traditional documentation, including innovative approaches like micro-learning.
- Learning, performance support, and collaboration mechanisms take on greater importance. Unlike traditional ERP systems, where years may pass without a major upgrade, cloud-based systems are constantly evolving. This might be great for the business, but it can be confusing for employees, and it means that your learning, support, and knowledge-sharing solution plays an even more critical role in helping employees to perform their jobs effectively. Make sure you invest time up front to determine how your solution will support performance over the long run.
- Ongoing ownership of the solution becomes critical. With the learning solution playing a more critical role in long-term performance, ownership of that solution becomes imperative as well. Without fully defined maintenance processes, roles, and responsibilities, your solution content will quickly become out of date with a constantly evolving, cloud-based solution like Workday.
As you consider what to invest in your end-user solution, I encourage you to think about:
- What is the degree of process, role, and responsibilities changes that your organization will experience? The higher the degree, the higher the need for a strong communication, training, and performance support solution.
- Where are your end users coming from? If they already have experience with a centralized ERP solution, then you can probably get away with a lighter solution.
- Is your organization traditionally more centralized, or will you be moving from a decentralized approach? The more decentralized your organization has been, the higher the need for a strong communication strategy.
If you would like to learn more, the webinar recording is now available for download in our webinar archives. The slides from the presentation are also available so you can learn how to make the most out of your Workday adoption. This is an ongoing conversation so I encourage you to keep the questions coming in via the comments section at the bottom of this page or join the conversation on LinkedIn and Twitter.