Developing A Change Management Plan For LMS Implementation

Buying technology is easy. Getting people to use it? That’s the hard part. Too often, companies invest in new software expecting it to transform operations overnight—only to hit major roadblocks with operational alignment and adoption. The system gets underutilized, workarounds emerge, and the promised efficiencies never materialize. Sound familiar? Here’s why technology adoption stalls: ❌ Poor process alignment – If tech doesn’t fit how people actually work, they won’t use it. ❌ Lack of user buy-in – People resist change when they don’t see the value. ❌ Insufficient training – A one-time demo isn’t enough. Users need hands-on learning and job aids aligned to their day-to-day activities. ❌ No accountability – Without clear expectations and leadership support, adoption suffers. A successful implementation isn’t just about turning the system on—it’s about making sure people actually use it. That’s why a change management strategy is essential to drive adoption and long-term success. When we help clients select and implement new vendor management systems, we focus on more than just system setup—we develop a change strategy to drive adoption. This includes: ✅ Setting clear adoption goals and success metrics to measure impact and progress. ✅ Engaging users early to gather requirements and build buy-in from the start. ✅ Optimizing workflows to ensure processes align with and fully leverage the technology. ✅ Designing tailored training, support, and feedback mechanisms to reinforce adoption. ✅ Ensuring leadership actively supports and champions the change to drive accountability. Technology alone doesn’t drive change—people do. Investing in adoption strategy is just as important as investing in the software itself. What’s been your biggest challenge with technology adoption? Drop a comment below! ⬇️

Implementing new tech can be challenging. My Change Management process from start to finish in 7 steps to help increase employee adoption and reduce distraction. 1️⃣ **Assessment:** Evaluate current workflow. Actually write it out…what is your teams current process, what will the process be once new tech is in place, what are the clear benefits to your employees. You have to paint a very clear picture. Ambiguity is what scares people. 2️⃣ **Team Alignment:** Ensure teams understand the benefits and impact. This is all about how the new tech will benefit THEM not you. People care about themselves. How will this allow them to make more money, do less work, save time etc. Just an email won’t cut it, spend time walking through this with your team. 3️⃣ **Training:** Provide tailored training for each role. Good news is the you should be able to expect this from your tech provider. If you can’t, or they want to charge you for it then you should RUN. 4️⃣ **Communication:** Foster open dialogue, address concerns, and provide regular updates. If there are hiccups (because there will be) address them head on, track them, and work together on an action plan to correct them. Keep your team involved in the process. 5️⃣ **Run Pilots:** Test the tech with your team in a pilot with the vendor. Treat the pilot as if you just made the full financial commitment and track the before and after outcomes. 6️⃣ **Iterative Feedback:** Gather feedback, make adjustments for continuous improvement. Establish a meeting cadence that you follow religiously, never cancel. Within those meetings have a pre established agenda that you follow. 7️⃣ **Full Rollout:** Gradual implementation with ongoing support that is tailored to each role. Admins need different support then users, data teams need different support than front line managers. Have your planned support be tailored to the roles of each individual person. That's the process I’ve used when implementing Tabi Connect feel free to use it for future tech implementations. Enjoy!

We all struggle with making life-changing or high-stakes decisions, especially when they affect the people around us, our routines, or the sense of stability we rely on every day. Choosing how to approach your CLM implementation is no different. One of the most debated decisions we see organizations wrestle with is whether they truly need dedicated readiness and change management support. The answer, especially for global organizations with teams spread across different regions and time zones, is yes. We will cover readiness and pre-implementation planning in another post, but today I want to focus on change management and why it plays such a critical role in the success of a CLM rollout: We are currently working with a global organization that initially chose not to invest in structured change management support during the early stages of their CLM journey. We helped them gather requirements and build out the technical foundation. From a configuration standpoint, the implementation was a success. However, a few months later, they reached back out, not due to technical issues, but because some of their teams were having trouble fully adopting the system. This is a common scenario. Change management is not just a few emails and training sessions. It’s about preparing people, not just systems, for success. When adoption fails, the technology is rarely the issue. More often, users never fully understood the purpose, didn’t see the value, or weren’t engaged throughout the rollout process. A strong CLM change management strategy should address the following: 📍 Vision and Value: Are stakeholders aligned on the purpose behind the CLM initiative? Is success clearly defined and measurable? 📍 Communication Strategy: Are you delivering the right messages through the right channels to each group, consistently and clearly? 📍 Organizational Alignment: Do users understand how their roles will evolve and what is expected of them in the new system? 📍 Training and Ongoing Support: Is your training tailored to specific roles and real-world scenarios, with reinforcement post go-live through refreshers and power users? 📍 Leadership Engagement: Are your leaders actively supporting the rollout and holding teams accountable for adoption? 📍 Change Readiness: Did you assess how ready teams were before going live and are you continuing to measure and support that readiness afterward? Change management is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between a system that simply gets turned on and one that gets fully adopted, embraced, and delivers real value. If you are in the early stages of a CLM rollout or already seeing signs of adoption challenges, let’s talk. Putting the right framework in place early can make all the difference.