“I think we should write a blog”. It’s right up there with “can I have extra hummus with my falafel wrap please” in the list of top 5 things I never thought I’d hear myself say. The humble chickpea had never really been at the forefront of my mind growing up in the West of Scotland. Who knew of its versatility and range of offerings and flavours? I now appreciate it so much more that I seem to have something related to it each week. I mean, how did that happen? And don’t even get me started on herbs!
Anyway, I digress. Back to this blog thing...
We started Anchorstone as we are different. Different in many, many ways some may say. We have, however, done this quite a few times. We know how difficult implementing and supporting a brand new HR technology can be and the impacts it inevitably has on your operating model and wider organisation. We have so much to offer in helping you understand what it will take and perhaps more importantly what you should try to avoid as you go through the journey.
So, we discussed it and we think this could be a great way to share the things that we wish we had known as we started on these journeys ourselves all those years ago. We’re not saying it was perfect, there were certainly times when we wish it had been done differently and in many ways we learned it the hard way sometimes!
We won’t cover it all today; we will share a few nuggets and expand in future posts. After all, why give away all the secrets at once, and let’s be honest there’s got to be value in it for us.
SuccessFactors, like chickpeas, has many wonderful combinations. It’s versatile, it’s continually evolving and above all it looks and tastes great with a lamb kofte (vegetarian and vegan options are available) and a little chilli oil… There I go again, you get the drift hopefully.
Look, we know how difficult it is just to get going while everyone around you wants the answers NOW – enough already. So to help get you on the front foot here’s what we wished we’d been told, or known at the start:
Create value early! Why kill yourself doing the most challenging thing first and trying to do it quickly; swapping out a core HR system is complex, it takes time. So give yourself the time. The great thing about SuccessFactors is you can start anywhere and go anywhere, so look at your options and get some quick wins out there to really get people interested.
Set up the project governance quickly! “Err, my SI Partner does that.” Err, no! If you’re lucky enough to have an SI they will help. But don’t forget you are accountable, and to get that initial traction you need a whole lot of up front engagement with your key stakeholders to ensure people support you through the implementation and the cultural change that lies beyond.
Make those big decisions early! “Seriously, we already did when we picked the product.” Probably, but did you share them with everyone? Probably not, so do that now, don’t wait. Yes those may be difficult conversations but don’t dwell too much on them, share the load and trust us, people will work with you to overcome the challenges. Hey, it even helps you get buy-in but don’t tell anyone.
Engage, engage, engage! Enough said, go show people what the product can do, it’s genuinely better than what you have. Yes I know, some people may not like it but you know what, I’d rather know at the start than 3 months before go-live when they would normally see it and decide to proclaim (often loudly) that the end of the world is nigh.
It works! Sell it, don’t waste time testing it! In reality what are you going to break? This thing is used by millions of people every month. Of course you test it (you said don’t…make up your mind!) Let’s face it, it’s crazy not to prove it works, however if you want to worry about anything focus on where things may break as you plug it into your other stuff (techy term for integrations) and make sure you don’t break that stuff as that’s the important bit! You know, like compliance controls, paying people, security controls and access…etc etc.
Commit to the partnerships! Your partners know a lot about their pieces, and they bring a lot of collateral and knowledge. If you don’t commit to understanding that from the outset and what it means when you go live then you can’t blame anyone but yourself. So don’t waste time and energy trying to do something you can’t, focus on how you help each other. Everyone wants this to be a success after all and more often than not the challenges lie in culture and behaviour change.
Well I think that’s it for now, more to follow on the nuggets above in the coming blogs (behave, you’re killing me here!) from all of us here at Anchorstone. Let us know your thoughts. Who knows, this may be the first and last if it doesn’t go down well. I can live with either given there’s so much more to learn about those amazing chickpeas! Food blogging, now there’s a career…
