Driving Successful Adoption: The Importance of User Discovery in Mining Technology [Part 2]

Read time: ~2min

In Part 1, we looked at some of the most common causes of digital transformation failures in mining and detailed the user discovery process. Through the process of user discovery, common causes of failure can be mitigated; some of the reasons that can be mitigated include:

• Lack of belief in a proposed solution

• The solution does not address the real needs of the user

In part 2, we dig into the change-averse nature of some mine sites and how it can be overcome. Let’s get the basics out of the way. Change resistance is when individuals or groups resist changes in their environment; in a work environment, this can include resistance to new processes, software, people, teams, etc. This resistance can take various forms, including active opposition, passive non-compliance or lack of support for the change.

To develop a plan to mitigate change resistance, we first must understand the common underlying drivers; the individual impact of these drivers varies by industry and company culture, but most - if not all - often play a role in the resistance. These drivers are:

• Perception of change as unnecessary or impractical

• Lost of control or power

• Lost of trust in the change (a.k.a. the process, software, solution, etc., being implemented)

• Past negative experiences

“By involving stakeholders early, we can bring them on the journey, allowing them to understand the how and why”

This is where change management comes in. I know what you’re thinking “we already do change management”, but change management goes beyond communication templates, onboarding and training, especially when the scale of the change is large. Take stakeholder management as an example. In typical change management, we focus on the top-down activities to keep future users informed, which includes communications, user acceptance testing, training and onboarding. Still, to prevent change resistance in our stakeholders, we must involve them early. By involving stakeholders early, we can bring them on the journey, allowing them to understand the how and why. Conversely, when project and change managers involve stakeholders early, the real needs of the users can be fed back into the development of the solution (as discussed in part 1 here). This creates a feedback loop whereby the project managers have access to constant stakeholder feedback that drives a better understanding and, thus, a better outcome for the stakeholder’s needs. For the stakeholder, it helps them to understand the business needs.

Promoting a culture of close stakeholder engagement across the entire project lifecycle drives better business outcomes and also drives better user outcomes. By promoting the process of user discovery discussed in part 1 and better stakeholder management, the gap between business outcomes and user outcomes can be bridged, ensuring the success of digital transformation projects.

If you are looking for help with adoption for your technology projects, reach out to the team to see how we can help: