Article #13:
Selling Your Document Management Strategy - Part Four

Previous Articles: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

 

Over the past several columns we've been examining how to "sell" your document management strategy to executive decision-makers. But you also must have the buy-in of your peers and co-workers for your document strategy to be successful.  Indeed, everyone involved with your document process, from entry-level clerks to high-level specialists, must support your strategy. This is especially true for people who are the target of the changes you propose.

In my book, "Designing a Document Strategy," I suggest that your ability to inspire co-worker support depends on your ability to answer: What's in it for me? After all, the proof is in the pudding; you must prove that your strategy will make their job easier, less chaotic and more productive. You must demonstrate how improvements will directly benefit their department. You must show them that day-to-day operations will be made better and that everyone will benefit from your plan.

 

Testimonials

One way to build buy-in is to elicit “testimonials” from people who have benefited from earlier document system improvements. Enlisting others to validate and verify your success is a powerful way to create momentum and support for your strategy. Testimonials can help you overcome resistance to change and convert skeptics to your cause. The testimony of satisfied co-workers and colleagues will enhance your reputation and credibility. The more testimonials you collect, the more credibility you gain. Your aim is for cynics to observe improvement in other areas of the company and decide that they want to get in on the benefits being realized by other people.

To raise awareness within your company you will need to do a certain amount of self-promotion. Be assertive and creative in your effort to get the word out about your document strategy successes. Use testimonials to continually expand your circle of supporters and sponsors – at both higher and grass roots levels. Look for people who are willing to testify how their job or department has been improved and how the company is more profitably served by your strategic efforts.

 

Piggyback on Important Initiatives

Another way to sell your strategy and build buy-in is to "piggyback" on other important initiatives underway in your company. To piggyback, link an aspect of your document strategy with an initiative that has a high degree of importance to your company or to a particular department. Show how you can help meet the objectives of the project. Look for new ways of doing things that will overcome the challenges and barriers that prevent implementation of the project. Craft a document solution that makes a difference and contributes to a specific vision or objective. The more you are able to piggyback on the strategic agenda of other areas in your organization the more likely it is that you will find willing supporters and sponsors.

 

The questions are:

• What aspects of your strategy feed into important corporate initiatives?
• What new ideas for your strategy are needed to serve the initiatives that are planned?
• What features serve the objectives of other departments and sponsors?
• Which of your recommendations line up with important items on their agenda?

 

When piggybacking, you may find that some aspect of your strategy suddenly becomes more valuable than you first thought. For instance, a particular solution or project may not have been your first choice to pursue, but if you find that it aligns closely with an important initiative or fits within the agenda of another department you are more likely to get a green light for your ideas. It is also possible that recommendations you made months or even years earlier will take on a new dimension of importance. The corporate landscape is replete with levelheaded recommendations that collect dust in an in-basket until they abruptly become part of someone else's agenda.

Use the tools presented in this series of columns to justify the expense of the technology solutions you select and gain the executive sponsorship and co-worker support that you will need for your document strategy. Stay tuned for continuing columns on techniques and processes to design a document strategy.

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