The ERP Rollout That Stalled at 60%
An 1,800-person distribution company is 12 months into an 18-month ERP rollout across 22 warehouses. Classroom training is 60% complete, but warehouse supervisors still run pick lists in spreadsheets and reconcile inventory manually. Inventory accuracy is 71% against a 95% target. Supervisors say the ERP "does not match how we work" and that they will be blamed for errors during cutover. Senior leaders have held three town halls and posted a FAQ. A pulse survey shows 68% understand why the change is needed, but only 31% believe they have the tools to succeed. The project sponsor wants to mandate attendance at a fourth town hall and add a compliance dashboard. You have 90 days before peak season and can spend limited training time.
1. Using a change-management model, explain why the town halls and compliance dashboard are unlikely to close the gap.
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The gap is not mainly awareness. If 68% understand why the change is needed but only 31% believe they have the tools to succeed, the bottleneck is capability and reinforcement, not communication. In Kotter's terms, urgency and vision are partly established, but the organization has not removed barriers or created short-term wins. In force-field terms, the restraining forces include fear of blame for cutover errors, loss of spreadsheet expertise, and a workflow mismatch; the driving forces are weak because supervisors see no safe way to practice. A fourth town hall adds communication when communication is not the constraint. A compliance dashboard increases the restraining force by signaling punishment before competence exists. It may produce spreadsheet use that is hidden rather than eliminated. The sponsor should instead reduce the threat, provide floor-level coaching, and create a safe pilot where errors are treated as learning data rather than grounds for blame.
2. Design a 90-day intervention with two measurable outcomes that would show the change is taking hold before peak season.
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Start with two volunteer warehouses as pilots, not all 22. Identify respected supervisors as change champions and give them two hours per day of floor support during cutover. Build a sandbox where staff can practice the ERP with realistic pick lists, and revise the error policy so cutover mistakes are logged and reviewed without discipline. Run weekly 20-minute accuracy huddles that compare spreadsheet and ERP counts, and publish a quick win when a pilot warehouse closes a shift with no manual reconciliation. The two measurable outcomes should be behavioral and operational: spreadsheet pick-list use in the pilot warehouses falls below 20% of shifts, and inventory accuracy reaches at least 90% in those warehouses. Training completion alone is not an outcome. If both move, expand to four warehouses; if not, diagnose whether the barrier is workflow fit, coaching capacity, or supervisor incentives before mandating a fourth town hall.