6 Things You Can Do To Make the Office 2003 to 2010 Transition Smooth For Your Employees

Background

Here is truth #1: 

Office 2010 (and 2007 for that matter) is a dramatic step change for the Office 2003 user. There are countless articles and videos explaining the differences and how to use the new features. For the users' though there is one critical element missing: Convince me why I need to make the change.

This is where your IT department can come out either looking like a hero or looking like a villain.

Here is truth #2: 

Deploying the software is simple, getting people to be equally productive in the new software, quickly is more complex. The secret is you need to create desire and the support systems. If you set these things up first people will want to make the transition, they will want to learn, and you will not need to shell out a fortune to re-train everyone.

The Secret: Create Desire and Support

The main principles shown here are borrowed from Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. Look at each of these 6 principles and use them to create ideas that would work within your organization. You may not be able to do them all, but the more you leverage the better chance for success you have: shoot for 4 or more, if you do 3 or less, you are likely to fail.

1. Create Motivation for the Individuals to Change

It is not enough to pick a launch date and send out an advance email. This is turning the users into "victims" of IT. Rather you need to show them why this is something they need. In your communications:

• Focus on what will make their job easier.
• Focus on the features that will make them more productive and more effective.
• Focus on the things they can now do in 2010 that they couldn't in 2003 to give them that extra, cool edge in their documents.

Look at this video link as an example. Ayca Yuksel of Microsoft does not start with all the technical differences, rather she emphasizes how much easier it is, new features to make your document even better, and subtly talks about the impact that will have on other people.

What can you do in your company?

• Communicate: Don't just use a mass email to tell everyone what is going on. Leverage multiple communication methods: person to person, email, posters. 
• Focus on benefits not what is different.  As the video example shows, Ayca starts with what is cool about the new software, not what is different or what will be challenging. Use examples to show people what their final products can look like. You want to create excitement about the change before the change occurs. 
• Don't turn people into victims: One company I interact with gave the user zero head's up that today was their day and they were getting the change right now. They just pushed the software. One of the employees told me that the push happened in the middle of a class he was teaching and if it wasn't for a spare laptop, the class (of about 25 employees) would have come to a halt for 2 hours while the software was being pushed. Instead, put them in the driver seat, let them advance deploy the software to their PC prior to the mass force push. If you've generated curiosity and interest, then make the option available for them to "pull" the software early. This will allow them to schedule when the change takes place (like perhaps the week before class) and will allow them time to play with the new software when it is convenient. Employees could schedule a convenient block of time to make the change over and schedule time to get acquainted with the software and tour the training videos. 

Why should I spend the time to do this?

As mentioned in the example above, this company's IT department decided for everyone when they would get the software and there was little the users could do about it. Sometimes the software was deployed mid-meeting (and mid-training as the one employee said). For others it was during times when they needed to get a document out the door. As a result, two months after the change over most employees resented the change  and their IT department. 

On the flip side, the same company also deployed several other software packages and people were incredibly excited, they welcomed the changes, they were training each other in how to use the software, and  it was seen by IT as a success..

What did they do different? It wasn't communication, actually these deployments were under communicated and it was the one main criticism. It was that people started with what they could do now that they could not before; the benefit was clear. It did mean "training" but the excitement actually created an organic training and support network. 

2. Enable the Individuals to Learn the New Software

Office 2010 is difficult to use at first because it is such a dramatic difference there past experience one can leverage to help them use the new software. This is where training can come into play: more importantly practice! Microsoft and other companies have produced free videos and training material you can use to help with this; make it readily available and communicate it. But be selective, find high quality training material. Things to look for:

• Does the training show learners how to solve practical problems? Theory and explanation is the "traditional" way of teaching and it has been repeatedly proven to be ineffective with adult learners. Instead, look for training that starts with "let's say you want to make a graph..." not training that focuses on how the ribbon is structured. Office does have an intuitive feel to it. The headings are basically verbs that describe what you want to do, getting people to think in this manner instead of "edit", "view", and "table" is key to helping them learn the new ribbon. 
• Practice is more important than lecture. Does your training set up give them the opportunity to practice? If you show employees video based training, have you given them a place they can go and practice prior to it being deployed on their computer. Ideally, they should find something interesting they want to try, see how to do it, and then (right away) give it a shot. 
• Quantity does not equal quality. Making a lot of training available is not the right answer either. Employees do not want to spend hours learning how to use the new software. Find short, effective materials. Better yet, provide resources (not training) so people can answer their own questions. For example, this video from Microsoft shows them how to use a tool they developed so you can find your favorite 2003 commands quicker.

3. Leverage "Peer" Motivation

"Peer pressure" is another method for enabling change. In many change efforts, peer pressure can actually be a source of resistance. People will look at what others are saying and doing and people (most) are influenced by the reactions they get. So use this to your advantage:

• Look for people who have influence within the various parts of the organization. This is not, necessarily, top management. Rather look for the leaders without the titles or positions; the people everyone turns to during major announcements to see their reaction. Focus on winning these people over. They can easily amplify your attempts to get buy in and support.
• Encourage people who are in support of Office 2010 to speak up about why they like it. Initially they might be hushed down, but continue to support and encourage them. Being "hushed down" is a natural reaction. However, repeated research has shown that there is a tipping point where when about 33% of the people are behind something, that number will snap to over 75% overnight. 

4. Create Peer Support Systems

This is great especially if you don't have a lot of money for training. Do things to enable employees to help each other. Enable the people who are good at Office 2010 to help others. Most folks do not call their IT department when they want to learn something, they ask someone on their floor who knows and get help from them. Leverage that in your deployment. Some ideas may include:

• Offer to advance deploy Office 2010 to select people. Look for those who can quickly make the transition (maybe they have it at home) and who are willing and capable to help others.
• Make sure their management identifies them as someone who got the software early and is available to help. This will set those folks apart as special individuals (a personal motivation force which some people respond to). 
• Create a user forum where people can help each other out. Several benefits: 
• Willing experts can contribute in a signifcant way to a wide circle of people
• People who are still learning can contribute which enhances their understanding (think of the adage "you don't know something until you've taught it")
• The forums can be searchable for quicker help
• If you can't create a forum, think about an email group where people can volunteer to be on distribution.
• Set up meetings where people can bring their computers, or make computers available and they can pull up files and get questions answered. It will solve individuals practical problems, a number of people can see and learn, and it might spawn additional discussions on other features that are available. 

 5. Acknowledge Efforts

Traditionally, this means setting up reward and incentive systems to encourage the change; which may or may  not be an appropriate option for you. However, think about:

• How can you publicly acknowledge those who have contributed to the change over? Also what is the criteria for that acknowledgement?
• How can you reward those who have contributed significantly? Remember, money is not the only motivation. Besides public acknowledgement, can you give them something? Could be the traditional "pizza party" or maybe tools to make life easier: wireless mouse, second monitor, better quality office equipment? Beyond money, most people want to contribute to a larger purpose (be significant), be self directing, and master new skills. Look for easy ways you can answer those needs.

6. Give the Employees the Tools

Many ideas that would fall under tools have already been discussed; things such as training, resources (like the reference sheet in the video above), forums, and people who can help. Look for ways you can enable the other 5 elements to happen, those are tools.

Conclusion

Although this article mainly focused on the Office 2003 to Office 2010 transition for your company, these six elements apply to making any significant software change a success. Success is not about simply putting the software on everyone's machine. It is about enabling them to use the tools quickly and effectively and the main driver there is setting the systems in place to both motivate and enable them to use that software.