Change Management: Why your ERP Project
needs a professional
Kick-off Meeting

Kick-off: initiating the Project

What happens at the start of every half of a soccer match after a goal has been scored or when it comes to extra time? That’s right: the kick-off is not at all insignificant, as it decides whether your team can secure the first possession of the ball - and thus perhaps even get a scoring chance.

With your ERP project, it goes one step further: if you are tackling the implementation of new software - or the digital transformation - the right start is crucial to success. The kick-off event serves to initiate the work on the project.

Ensure a successful Project Start with the right Kick-off

The impact of a new software solution and adapted business processes on your employees and their thinking and behavior is enormous. So why should you limit the kick-off event for the project to just your IT department and a few key users?

And why should you only focus on functionality and planning? Also important: which important person from your management will moderate the kick-off event? A good kick-off meeting costs time and money, of course, but what if the cost of a bad start ends up being much greater?

Change Management: essential for Team Acceptance, Loyalty and Morale

You may be familiar with the following procedure from past projects? It often starts with rumors in the coffee kitchen. About a secret project that is imminent. Then unknown suits go in and out of the building. Some of the most competent colleagues are removed from their jobs to work on “Project X”. And everyone else suddenly has to take on many more tasks as a result. This often raises these questions: what is this all about? And what is going on here?

If your employees don’t understand how they themselves will benefit from a new ERP solution, all the time, energy and money you invest in the implementation will not be worth it. It is therefore crucial that you spend as much time on change management as you do on the technical aspects of your new solution or upgrade. On the other hand, if you fail to do this, you will quickly find yourself faced with low adoption, unrealized benefits and overall poor employee retention and morale.

Preventing Resistance: allaying Employees’ fears at an early Stage

The most important thing is to explain how the technology will affect your employees’ everyday lives. If you manage to allay their fears, you can win them over more quickly.

At the beginning of the change process your employees will be in a kind of state of shock. The new situation is too uncertain. They may initially put up a wall and adopt a defensive attitude. Some employees may have already had bad experiences with an implementation. There may also be misunderstandings about what to expect. Giving them the opportunity to ask questions at any time can reduce tension and ultimately generate acceptance and enthusiasm for the change.

Setting the Framework and swearing in the Team

On the pitch, the coach swears the team in at the beginning. In the ERP project, this task lies with the project sponsor. This person must initiate the kick-off meeting, explain the strategic importance of the project and create clarity about what is expected of the employees.

The project manager can then take over. He or she must set out the project objectives - which should not only be precise and specific, but also realistic and measurable. The SMART method is suitable for this.

It must also be clarified who is responsible for which tasks, which tools and methods the team uses and what the time and financial framework (including important milestones) looks like. Possible risks and critical success factors are also on the agenda. In order to involve all participants and round off the event, a question-and-answer session can be used as a closing.

It is important that a we-feeling manifests itself in your team. Because you don’t need a group of lone wolves to implement a major change in your company! What you need is a performing team whose members communicate well and support and encourage each other. These people should participate in your kick-off event:

• Project managers
• Sub-project managers
• Project team members
• Customer, e.g. the management
• Contractors, e.g. the management
• Key users
• IT department
• Other stakeholders

To avoid scoring an own Goal: create a Foundation of Trust

The ERP project is also about trust. Trust is created through transparency and is the foundation of any successful change management. The presence of the sponsor at the kick-off is therefore indispensable, because how trustworthy would it be for the project team if he or she were not there “because of more important matters”? So it could very quickly happen that you concede an own goal.

“Kick-off Meeting pays off”

Be aware of the strategic importance of your kick-off meeting for your change management. You are initiating the work on your project and already setting the course for project success. A botched start sometimes causes lasting damage.

So if you start your next ERP implementation or major software upgrade with a professionally designed kick-off, you will gain the support of your team and improve the chances of your project success. Make sure that your planning and strategy pay off in the end!