Implementing New Systems in Municipalities

Scot Barker, Chief Innovation Officer, the City of Burlington, Vermont

Scot Barker, Chief Innovation Officer, City of Burlington, Vermont, brings over 25 years of private sector experience leading global technology and operations teams across diverse industries. A seasoned management consultant, speaker and educator, Scot specializes in transforming leadership, management and operational strategies. He emphasizes the critical role of social responsibility in measuring overall organizational success.

Through this article, Scot Barker, stresses the strategic approach needed for effective municipal system upgrades. Drawing on his global technology leadership experience, Barker advocates for thorough process understanding, stakeholder involvement and leveraging expertise to ensure successful transitions. His insights underscore the transformative potential of embracing change to enhance operational efficiency and service delivery in municipal environments.

Let me start by saying I don’t like change just for change’s sake. With some exceptions, making many changes when they aren’t necessary is a recipe for disaster. At the same time, unthinkingly doing something because “we’ve always done it this way” is also a horrible idea and never more than when buying and installing a new application in your organization.

Change is inevitable and beautiful when we can use it to improve our processes. The problem with change is that it’s hard to get used to a new system. It is hard to make changes to a system. It is hard even to admit that changes need to be made to the work you’ve been doing. Given all that, what does a municipality need to do when a system needs to be replaced? Is it necessary to ensure the new system is not only accepted but implemented in such a way as to bring about more efficiency and efficacy in the work?

First, start acknowledging that change is hard and commit to a change management process. Getting people involved in the process will help them feel more in control and less buffeted by the changes. Ensure you listen to them when they tell you what isn’t working and what is working. Overcommunicate throughout the entire process—from evaluation to implementation. This is a time when you want to keep surprises to a minimum.

Second, document the current process. You can’t improve a process if you don’t know what the process looks like today. You can’t fix problems if you don’t know where they are. There are three reasons something happens in your process:

• Legal reasons—state, local and federal laws, ordinances and regulations—must be considered. You have to meet the requirements, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve the process to get there.

• Practical reasons—sometimes, there are legitimate reasons something is done the way it is. It may be how systems interact with each other; it may have something to do with what has to happen in the background to achieve compliance with the legal reasons. Just like with legal reasons, you may still have to produce a particular result, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve how that happens.

• “We’ve always done it this way” reasons—these are ripe for the picking. When I hear this rationale, I immediately ask, “But why have we always done it that way?” The answer to this question will determine whether a change can/could/should be made at this step.

Hint: this is where real change can happen most of the time.

Third, define what success looks like. More than anything else, you need to document the “ideal” process. As you look at your current process map, you’ll find areas that can be fixed. You’ll find questions you need to answer, things that can’t change and others that must change. This new go-forward process will allow you to define success and then build the method that best provides the opportunity to achieve that success.

"A new system is a massive opportunity to become more efficient and effective. Don’t buy a new system and force it to work the way you’ve always worked"

Fourth, leverage the experts—internally and externally. Undoubtedly, you have experts in-house who should engage in this process. The vendor you chose (hopefully more of apartner than a vendor) will also have experts on their team. These experts will have helped other organizations leverage their new system to succeed, much like what you want. Listen to them. Use as much of their system out of the box as possible. Look for ways to leverage the new system as much as possible to achieve your goals. Try to avoid massive amounts of customization right out of the gate. Why? Inevitably, that recreates your current process, warts and all, on new systems.

Ultimately, a new system is a massive opportunity to become more efficient and effective. So, if you want to benefit from the change around us, don’t buy a new system and force it to work the way you’ve always worked. That will result in more frustration—you’ll have the same problems you’ve always had but on new, unfamiliar screens. You will have spent much money to do what you’ve always done. That new system is an opportunity to improve. Please take it. You’ll thank yourself later.