How To Successfully Launch Your Next Company Initiative

If your agency is not constantly looking for new initiatives, you may be left behind. 

No longer is it enough to implement a new initiative every 1-2 years. It’s important to always keep your eye out for new technology to increase employee productivity and customer satisfaction. Whether it’s to keep up with changing technology, a fast-paced market, new regulations, or something else, implementing a new initiative is a necessary part of running a successful business.

For the successful implementation of new initiatives, follow these steps. Doing so will allow your agency to stand out and, most importantly, make your employees and customers happy. 

Step One: Have an Objective 

When you are developing a new initiative, make sure you focus on a specific pain point so you can measure results. An example of a specific objective would be “a program that focuses on targeting employee retention” or “a program to increase employee satisfaction.” Without clearly defined goals and supporting objectives to help achieve them, a displacement can often occur and it can make it harder to achieve the initiatives. Having clear direction and guidelines to follow also makes it easier to establish standards to be able to evaluate the performance of the initiatives. While it is easy to have confidence in a new initiative and jump into it without a plan. A well established objective and plan will make it easier to present the new initiative to employees and other members of the organization.

Step Two: Create a Roadmap

Depending on the initiative, your action plan will likely require support from various parties. When you have a roadmap to share with those involved, everyone remains on the same page concerning the steps involved, key actions, and responsibilities. Roadmaps allow for accountability, and for input to be shared. This roadmap will also act as a blueprint for learning and development. Whether you want to track key metrics or alter the initiative, you can refer to your roadmap and adjust accordingly. It can give you an estimate of when certain objectives should be accomplished, and will allow a culture of transparency. Roadmaps also allow a way to track milestones and determine if your organization is on the right track.

Step Three: Test, Test, Test 

Planning is essential. However, it is challenging to anticipate the potential issues and variables that may arise when implementing a new initiative. For example, if you add an online training program for your employees, their compliance is imperative to the performance and success of this program. You will need to test how the program works and make adjustments accordingly. A part of this can be conducting surveys that go to employees who have participated in the initiative. Another way is to simply ask for feedback at weekly meetings. This allows organizations to measure the results of the initiative and test the success of it. With this, it is important to realize that if the testing is not giving the results that you care for, it is not something that is uncommon. It is easy to tweak the new initiative to better accommodate the results that your organization is looking to achieve. 

Step Four: Consider the Importance of Branding and Marketing

Effective branding and marketing can influence program recognition and user adoption, which are critical to the program’s success. Develop a branding message that clearly articulates the program and why it matters. For example, you could highlight the benefits of your new online training program. It’s simple to use, easy to navigate, and the entire program can be completed in 3 hours from your mobile device.  Proper branding and marketing of the new initiative will allow customers and other shareholders to become aware of what is going on in the company. Any new campaigns, ideas, or solutions have to be tested to the market that it is effecting. So, if it is new business practices, then a marketing team can test the program out on that team. If it is a new business offering, the marketing team can test the program out on consumers. Overall, the new initiatives play a big role on the brand as a whole and it has to be marketed correctly to avoid any adverse ramifications. 

Step Five: Measure the Success of Your Program and Adapt

Before you launch your program, you’ll need to have the mechanisms to measure success effectively. Some of the primary metrics you may want to focus on include engagement or adoption metrics. 

Dive deeper into questions like:

• Are your caregivers using the program as intended?

This question will examine if the caregivers are fully understanding the initiative and how it works. 

• Do your caregivers find the program easy to use?

This will evaluate if there is anything that you can do to make the program easier to use and navigate.

• Are your caregivers finding this program helpful? If not, what are the issues?

Asking for feedback on the program will help make the program not only more effective for the caregivers, but for the patients as well.

The goal is to commit to specific, realistic measures of success. That way, you can easily make adjustments. It is important to be adaptable and to stay focused on the end goal. Measuring your progress with the new initiatives should be something that is done on a consistent basis, whether it is weekly, bi-weekly, annually, or monthly. 

Now Is the Time for Change

If it’s been a while since you have implemented a new technology, it’s time to consider how modern technology can improve some of your day-to-day challenges. Doing so will help you stay relevant and appealing to your employees and customers. It will also make your organization more competitive in the industry that it is in. The adjustment period can present some initial challenges, but that is to be expected. Don’t let the initial challenges discourage you. As long as you have a plan in place, you can experience a smooth transition, benefiting your agency and employees for years to come. 

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