I recently had the pleasure to attend the “IE Group: Chief Strategy Officer Summit” in New York City.  It was a 2-day conference with sessions discussing how to (1) ensure a successful strategy implementation, and (2) make the correct strategic choices.  One of the most impactful moments of the conference occurred when a speaker reminded the audience of the famous business quote, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” (this quote is often attributed to the great management consultant Peter Drucker, but I have also seen it attributed to Glyn Elwyn).

When I heard this quote again it made me think of my days implementing PLM software, and how important it was to get the organization in alignment to assure a successful project. How often do project teams focus primarily on “what” capabilities the PLM system will provide, but do not spend significant effort on the cultural aspects of implementing a new IT system?  The conference suggested some simple techniques to build organizational alignment, and I have tweaked these to apply to developing a PLM strategy and implementing a PLM system.

• Do multiple functional roles feel like they are part of the selection making process of the PLM system?  The selection should not be dictated by a single department such as Engineering or IT.
• Does the PLM system have a simple and easy to recite business mission?  Do most or all people intended to be users of the system understand this mission and support it?
• How many people within the company are true advocates of the selected PLM system because they have firsthand experience of how it can transform the way your company does business?  Are these advocates from the user community and not from the IT project team responsible for implementing the PLM system?
• If you are unable to quickly implement the PLM system, do you have a communication process in place to inform people of the implementation progress? 
• Will your project reflect how you want to do business to address future product development business challenges? Or, is the project more of a reflection of how product development was performed in the past?
• Did you select a PLM technology that allows you to easily adjust processes to meet unanticipated business challenges?
• Do your targeted users have the ability to suggest improvements to the PLM system in order to create feelings of ownership?  Of course, for this to succeed you must be able to demonstrate how the feedback was evaluated and used when making future decisions about the PLM system.
• Do you have incentives in place that encourage use of the PLM system?  I think this would apply more to non-traditional users of PLM who are not required to use the system to get their primary job done.  Interestingly, the speaker stressed the need for recognition-based incentives instead of, or in addition to, monetary-based incentives. 

None of the above questions are novel.  However, sometimes the benefit of conferences like the one I attended is to just remind oneself of the little things that can be done to decrease the possibility of failure and to increase the chances of success.

If you have techniques that you have used to succeed at organizational change, please share them with the rest of the community either with a new blog post, or by commenting below.