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Now that you have gotten approval for your Strategic Meetings Management Program, there are a number of things that need to happen, such as determining the specific program design for your organization, identifying suppliers and developing the implementation plan. I have seen organizations' SMMP falter because of a poorly designed plan to put the program into operation. So I caution, do not neglect the importance of the preparation process for implementation!
Keep in mind that you only get one chance to do it right. Regrettably, people are not too forgiving. You may have had an experience at your own company, perhaps when a new on-line travel booking tool or on-line purchase order process was debuted that did not go so well. How painful was that? And how long did it take leadership to get it back on track? In the meantime, the general population got frustrated and lost faith and did everything they could to undermine the process. I encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others. If you roll out a program that has been hastily put together, has gaps, or just doesn't work people will disengage and your implementation will fail quickly.
Below are some of the key considerations in developing a robust implementation plan:
· Be sure you have included people on your team who have a number of diverse perspectives. In the Compliance issue of Keeping it SiMMPle last February, we discussed developing a core team of key influencers who have varying points of view. This same group of individuals should be tapped to scrutinize and modify the proposed implementation plan.
· Keep new processes as simple as possible. If the new process is too complex or takes a lot more time than what people are already doing, they will struggle to see the benefit and will be reluctant to change their behavior.
· If you are including an approval process in your program be sure all levels in the approval chain are aware of their role, what the guidelines are, and what the exception policy is. Make the approval process as automated (painless) as possible. If it is complex or convoluted, it will be avoided.
· Be sure new procedures are in alignment with existing company processes. Do not design anything that will conflict with existing process or policy as this would inhibit the performance of your SMMP.
· If you are bringing in a new technology to support your SMM, a significant amount of time and effort must be spent with your Information Technology (IT) and security teams. The IT team needs to be involved to be sure the interfaces are compatible with existing corporate systems and security needs to be sure that privacy and firewall issues are in compliance.
· The Human Resources (HR) department may need to be consulted if you are bringing in an attendee registration technology that you want to have pull data from the HR data base.
· It is not enough to develop well thought out processes and procedures; you must also communicate the process and procedures to those who will be using your SMMP. This means training for the core meeting planning team, the power planners and occasional planners throughout the organization, those in the approval process and your suppliers. As part of the education process, be sure to let everyone know "What's In It For Them" (WIIFM), meaning what the benefit is to those using the new Strategic Meetings Management Program.
Clearly, these are only a few of numerous aspects of a well designed implementation plan. One facet of implementation that we did not discuss was an SMMP designed for a multi-national organization. The international considerations such as contracting nuances, language, currency and culture are complex, requiring specific focus for successful implementation. These multi-national issues will be addressed in a future issue of Keeping it SiMMPle.
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