What My First EV Car Rental Experience Taught Me About Change Management in People Analytics
So, my first EV car rental experience went something like this:
I showed up at the rental counter at 1 AM and was told it was either the EV or nothing.
When I said that this was my first EV car ever and asked if there was any guidance on how to charge it, I was told that I didn’t have to charge it and could return it after use.
I showed up to the car, and it only had a 53% charge (147-mile range, though, which was promising). The counter was closing, so vehicle change was unlikely at the time.
I get in the car and drive ~40 miles on the highway. The charge is now down to 33%, and I have an estimated range of ~70 miles on the display.
I knew I had to charge the car if I wanted to make it to the office in the morning, so I panic-called my husband and asked for help figuring out how to charge the car (sidebar relationship advice: marry someone who will pick up your call at 2 AM, roll out of bed, search and subsequently send you instructional YouTube videos on how to charge your rental EV).
I watched 20 minutes of instruction videos and then spent time looking for charging stations near me.
I arrived at the charging station early the next morning and spent 10 minutes downloading the app, setting it up, and figuring out how to pay the charge.
Here is what I learned about change management in People Analytics upon reflecting on my little EV adventure:
Anticipate the user experience and questions as you design your People Analytics tool.
Please think about the user journey from the moment they interact with your solution to after getting the desired outcome. What questions do you anticipate they would have for you? Take those questions and create an FAQ at a minimum because “no, you don’t need to worry about this” is the worst answer you can provide when someone is genuinely trying to adopt your solution. And this is even worse when/if the thing you said they don’t need to worry about becomes their reality.
Self-service only works when you provide guidance and teach someone how to do it first.
I don’t know when self-service became “figure it out yourself with Google.” I cannot think of a quicker way to lose a potential analytics user than telling them to figure it out independently. Most people don’t reject change. They need some help to overcome the fear and resistance towards it. To drive People Analytics usage and adoption, we need to focus on providing guidance and coaching before moving on to self-service driven analytics consumption.
Whatever your intended outcome is for your People Analytics solution, add a 15% variable factor for human ingenuity.
My rental EV looked and felt super futuristic. I also took 5 minutes to find the buttons that adjusted my rearview mirrors. So, while those buttons may have been super obvious to the car designers, without any reference point, I had to try a few buttons before getting to the right ones. Whatever you think is evident in your solution, you need to account for the first-time users who may not feel that way.
If you want your first-time users to become repeat users, then focus on their first-time user experience.
At some point during my little adventure, I said, “I am so not buying an EV as my car.” All this could have been prevented if someone had just given me an instruction card on how and where to charge my car.
Provide alternatives while you are changing processes and rolling out new tools.
I wish I had the option of choosing the EV vs. gas-powered car. While turning on the switch and forcing people to change may be a necessary evil in certain use cases, I would never advocate for that as the first option. Ease people into the change; it’ll have a better payoff in the long run.
A beautiful product will rarely make up for a bad experience.
My rental car was brand new with 5 miles on the odometer, brilliant interior details, and incredibly well-designed—a great car by all standards. However, instead of appreciating the car, I am reminded of my not-so-ideal rental and charging experience every time I get into it this week. No matter how great your Analytics solution is, the adoption and repeat usage rate will suffer if your users do not enjoy it the first time they interact with it.
Finally…
Please don’t make your users equate your great People Analytics solution to mean that they have to do extra work to use it.