The Human Dimension of CRM
the Key to Success or Failure

The Customer Relationship Primer, Third Edition, 1 Aug 2001

Most of today's methodology for implementing CRM has to do with managing the external and technical aspects of change. No shortage of ideas for how to redesign roles, re-engineer processes, or install software, is there? However, not all change is technical.

Most of today's methodology for implementing CRM has to do with managing the external and technical aspects of change. No shortage of ideas for how to redesign roles, re-engineer processes, or install software, is there? However, not all change is technical.

Let me repeat that: Not all change is technical. The most important change is never technical. The changes in what goes on inside of people, the ones who use all that technology, their perceptions, feelings, and ability to adapt and accept external changes that are occurring, is of great importance. No matter how crackerjack the technical changes are, you won't get the results you want from CRM without understanding and managing its impact upon the people who live with it and make it work on a daily basis. That's why your people, not au courant processes and expensive systems will determine how customer-centric you become.

There are dire consequences for fixating on the technical and ignoring the human side of implementing CRM, if your implementation even ever amounts to anything. Such an approach is, in my experience, responsible for most of the CRM failures I constantly run into. Some companies, most with singe marks on their eyebrows, are addressing the human dimension of CRM with the attention it deserves.

The key to successfully dealing with the people aspects of change is to welcome it and confront it head on. If management ignores the uncomfortable aspects, or runs from them, the project will fail. Management must be willing to prioritize human issues. I'll say this in black and white: Only by addressing the people concerns will CRM succeed the way it can succeed, and the way you want it to succeed.

People resist change. This is not because they are petty, negative, and selfish, or because they happen to be your employees. If another company tells you they had no problems getting their people on board with their CRM, no difficult adjustments to make, you can set the stopwatch to see how long before it all crashes down. No, people resist change because they do not see that it is in their self-interest. When they understand how it is in their self-interest they not only embrace change but also cooperate to make it happen. Thus the central challenge of the CEO and executive management-a to convince your employees that the CRM-induced changes are for the(ir) better. Resistance is not bad. It's a natural energy people experience when confronted with change. It is their way of saying, "Not so fast. Don't forget about us. Help us understand what is going on here. Help us understand the why of the change and how it is in our (individual and collective) self-interest."

There are two ways to frame resistance that make it an ally. First, think of it as energy. The worst response to change would be total apathy. An aloof "I don't care" message wafting out from the crack under management's door saps people of the passion for their company or the jobs they do. Resistance means that what goes on in the workplace matters to them. When you properly recognize resistance as energy and passion, the goal-your goal-becomes to channel that energy into positive commitment and behavior.

Second, resistance is information that tells management what is working and not working in the change process. By paying attention to resistance and even encouraging it, management harnesses the energy of change and learns about the next steps they need to take to make the change succeed.

I address "people concerns" to implementing CRM. I help management learn how to implement the change process with their staff. This often begins with a mindset change, which can be done by diagramming what management needs to do to make the change happen. It is based upon the premise, which I've found to be basic to human nature, that people don't want to let go of the status quo until they know that they will get something better.

Guidelines

There are guidelines companies can follow to overcome resistance and help people embrace CRM as a business strategy. They include:

Thinking through the impact of changes on people, individually and collectively; Building a case for change by focusing attention on reasons for change, including consequences of not changing and benefits of changing:

• Holding regular communication meetings;
• Managing the stages of confusion by providing lots of information and clarity about what is happening and when and how it will impact people;
• Listening and encouraging people to talk about what's happening;
• Allowing people to make the change and to "grieve";
• Supporting managers who become champions of the change; and
• Understanding there are no quick fixes for this cultural and psychological challenge.

Nobody and nothing can take management and supervision's role in allowing employees to embrace the changes CRM will bring. Not only do they need to be on board themselves, imagine a football coach trying to motivate players to go out and win a game he's convinced they'll lose, a mother arranging a wedding for a future son-in-law she detests, or a sergeant sending a platoon out on a sure suicide mission, but they also need to help their people talk about their concerns. The skills to do so aren't hard to learn, almost anyone can benefit from knowing them, and they make a world of difference.

If you are about to implement CRM, have the leaders brainstorm and list what they perceive to be the changes that implementing CRM will force on your people. Their answers will give you a clear direction to take to help your people make this change happen.