Adoption & Change
Getting bid teams to actually use it
People have built their working lives around these spreadsheets. They are fast in them, they trust them, and "new system" often reads as "more admin, less control". Adoption is an emotional problem before it is a training problem, and it is the single biggest risk to the value case.
Start with respect
Why Excel wins today
An honest read of what the spreadsheet actually gives the team. We have to match or beat each of these, not dismiss them.
The people journey
Aware → Curious → Trying → Using → Advocating
How the team actually moves onto a new system, what they feel at each stage, and what I do about it.
What they feel
Another system is coming. Probably more admin.
Risk
Rumour fills the vacuum before we do
My move
CEO and sponsor name the why in week 1. I follow up with country leads in person, not by email.
What they feel
Show me: does it actually help me win bids?
Risk
A generic demo lands flat and confirms scepticism
My move
Demos use their live pipeline, not vendor data. Country volunteers sit in the config sessions.
What they feel
I want to keep my spreadsheet open just in case
Risk
Shadow Excel becomes permanent, adoption stalls
My move
Co-piloted first bids, super-user on the desk, quick fixes shipped weekly, wins celebrated by name.
What they feel
This is how we do bids now
Risk
New joiners default back to the old way because that is what they see
My move
Onboarding pack, recorded walkthroughs in local language, time to first bid measured as a KPI.
What they feel
I would not go back
Risk
Momentum fades once central attention moves on
My move
Super-user network kept live, quarterly improvements owned by the countries, wins shared cross-border.
Change tactics
Eight deliberate moves to shift the habit
- Co-design the config with the Bulgaria bid team and 2-3 country volunteers so it is theirs, not IT's
- Import their live pipeline on day one so they log in and see their own bids, not demo data
- Match Excel muscle memory where sensible: keyboard entry, bulk edit, paste from Excel
- Named super-user in every country with protected time for the role
- Two-week hypercare with daily floor-walking, in local language where possible
- Excel amnesty: old workbooks archived read-only on go-live, not deleted, so the safety net is visible
- First 10 bids in every country co-piloted by the central squad
- Weekly adoption dashboard to country leads and CEO, adoption treated as a KPI not an aspiration
Comms & training
Not one town hall and a PDF
Different audiences, different messages, different channels. Repeated until it sticks.
| Audience | Message | Channel | Cadence | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEO & exec sponsor | Why now, what it unlocks, what I need from you | 1:1 + monthly steer | Weekly then monthly | Project Manager |
| Country leads | What changes for your team, what stays the same, your super-user | Video call + on-site visit where possible | Weekly through go-live | Project Manager |
| Bid contributors | How this makes your bid easier, not harder | Hands-on workshop in local language | Pre go-live + hypercare | Super-user + PM |
| Reviewers & approvers | Stage gates, SLAs, one place to sign off | Short walkthrough + cheat sheet | Pre go-live | Bid Team Lead |
| New joiners | This is how we bid: day one onboarding | Recorded walkthroughs + buddy | Ongoing | Super-user |
Resistance playbook
The objections we will actually hear
Named, expected, and answered honestly. Resistance is data, not defiance.
"Excel is faster"
Time it together on a real bid. Fix the friction points that week. If it is still faster in Excel, that is a config bug, not a people problem.
"I do not trust the numbers yet"
Run parallel for two weeks on one pipeline. Reconcile line by line with the country lead. Once numbers match, the spreadsheet gets archived.
"My country is different"
Almost always true in the detail, almost never true in the shape. Capture the genuine local need as config, push back on the rest with data from other countries.
"I will just keep a shadow sheet"
Named, not shamed. Super-user pairs with them for a week. If the shadow sheet still wins, it tells us what the platform is missing.
Adoption KPIs