One of the biggest challenges any organization faces when implementing a new system is user adoption. It's difficult to get users to engage and make significant changes in their behavior, and user adoption is probably the single most important key to success with a new system.

So to address that issue, one of my clients came up with a very clever idea: offering prizes for two specific actions related to the implementation of their new AMS. The executive director has told all staff that he will be providing prizes for the best dashboard idea and the best process idea.

This is a great idea (he should get a prize!) because it will require the staff to be at least engaged enough to know what kind of data is in the AMS (best dashboard) and how data is being managed in the system (best process idea).

Other ideas I've seen include prizes around training completed and number of new ideas submitted.

Anything that encourages engagement with the process is better than nothing.

(Hat tip to Joe Schroedel, executive director, SAME, for letting me share this idea.)