Alleviating Concerns of Stakeholders Before a Knowledge Solution Launch
- Omer Ben Yehuda
- Aug 1, 2006
- 3 min read
Co-written with Naama Levy
Today, a new driver who obtains a license must drive with an accompanying person for about 3 months before being allowed to drive alone.
The day when those three months end, and they get into a car alone for the first time, is particularly exciting but also frightening. On the one hand, they're free! After all the waiting, lessons, tests, and driving only with parents, it's the first time they're finally alone! But on the other hand, it's their first time truly alone... There's no one to help if needed, and all the responsibility rests on their shoulders... No wonder this day is accompanied by excitement but also anxiety and stress.
Similarly, several stakeholders, such as solution leaders, field implementers, content experts, etc., stand behind every knowledge management solution approaching its official launch. During the setup phase, they enjoyed preparation, including workshops, training, setting expectations, explanations, discussions, support, and guidance. Still, they're being "thrown into the deep end" and must start functioning independently.
This moment of truth is sometimes accompanied by concerns and anxiety: "How will I know for certain that the content I wrote is appropriate?" "How can I ensure I know how to answer users' questions?" "Am I confident I've mastered all the technical skills I learned?"
These questions are natural since, typically, time passes between training and solution launch. Things are forgotten; some weren't clear from the beginning, and some even changed due to last-minute developments and updates. Additionally, it's uncomfortable to admit, but stakeholders are sometimes embarrassed to ask questions to avoid being perceived as "not understanding," or they don't want to reveal that they weren't focused during training. The more senior ones don't always ask because they have no one to ask.
What can be done to reduce anxiety?
Refresher meetings can be held very close to "H-hour," aimed at providing final updates about changes since the last meeting and conducting simulations. For example, one of the implementers delivers training on the new system/solution to all implementation staff, who then provide constructive feedback.
One well-known, established solution is to institutionalize a support group. From the beginning of the process, develop the understanding that the peer group can provide a lot of confidence and strength and can be consulted on any matter. In addition, raise awareness of concerns within the group and give them legitimate space. This way, potential challenges and obstacles can be identified and solved before they occur. Moreover, expressing concern is the first step toward resolving it.
Another solution that proved very effective in one of the recent professional forums we established is more technical:
Creating a practice environment. For example, before "H-hour," forum managers established a forum testing environment where they could try, make mistakes, get confused, correct, and hone their skills. All this with privacy on one hand and in an environment where "I don't know" is a legitimate statement.
It's important to note that we provided the 12 stakeholders with an environment to practice and initiated joint discussions to simulate "real conditions." The discussions quickly became a place where stakeholders taught each other.
By establishing the testing environment, the stakeholders got a feel for the tool, solved its challenges, practiced content writing and expression methods, and arrived at launch day confident, experienced, and ready to move forward.
We didn't even need a support group...
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