Related: Lab Management MOC, Leadership & Management MOC
Summary
A fantastic presentation at the LTSS 2023 virtual summer school “Embracing Digital Transformation in the Laboratory” hosted by LabVine. I come back to these notes on the presentation every few months.
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology
Reaction to change mimics grief-loss cycle
symptoms of resistance: what to expect, consequences of ignoring them
references/links/images
- https://biosistemika.com/digitalization/
- Dr. Jana Erjavec, PhD: jerjavec@biosistemika.com
Can users react positively? yes!
- well-intended debate, criticism, or disagreements
- can encourage better understanding
- shows blindspots to management
- lead to better options that the proposed system
reaction to perceived positive change
- overall - you need a clear communication plan
Digitization in Lab
examples include
- sample analysis automation platform
- LIMS/Inventory
Common objections - the current system works well/don’t want to change
- the current system works great, because I helped set it up
- I don’t have time for change
- it looks complicated, I don’t have time to learn it
- how will I benefit from it?
- I don’t trust the people who are putting it in place
use cases
Notes on the use case presented by Jana Erjavec
- the team didn’t assign a person to head the implementation
- “we didn’t have time to implement”
- all digitization projects should clearly say who is going to dedicate the implementation OR how much time the external client will spend time on implementation
- biggest problem can be to have a vision but no strategy
- make sure to have both a vision AND strategy
- strategy with quantifiable goals
preparing for change management
Example of communication
- show problem and reasoning
- it’s not just one person’s problem, it’s our problem
- link to numbers or quantifiable issues
*
1 -2. identify current situation and figure out where are the gaps? what could be improved?
4. identifying stakeholders throughout the process where necessary
5. use good project management guidelines
If you haven’t done process mapping, do that first!
- example: what happens when we receive a sample? when we receive a sample, does it wait for 3 hours? is there a huge bottle neck that prevents sample processing
- sometimes the proposed solution isn’t always digitization. sometimes you need to hire someone, buy a new piece of equipment, put in automation, etc.
- take time to talk to people and see their resistance
- be more supportive to people who are most resistant: work on moving them from A to B
important notes: - show timeline and what to expect
- build out resources if necessary
- ongoing checking for understanding, training, and put in feedback workflow
- ongoing integration! - use agile methodology