Make It Happen
The Make It Happen movement (to make Revit happen) began gradually, but gathered momentum as excitement grew, and it became an unstoppable movement. Suddenly, BIM was cool! It's success provided an interesting lesson to me about the power of motivation, and how simply connecting with people's passions and sense of adventure could make difficult initiatives much easier, and even fun.
2006
2008
The images above offer two snapshot of models created during the Make It Happen campaign. The image at left (2006) is a model using Revit Structure and Revit Building (architecture), and shows the very first version of Revit Systems being tested. In the image at right, two years later, we created a model with eight (8) different disciplines linked together. These were all in-house models: Architecture, Structure, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire protection, Fire Alarm, and Telecom.
A lot of Make It Happen's success came down to two things: first creating an initial sense of excitement, and second, the power of envy. For the first item, I circulated a newsletter highlighting the great work staff were performing with BIM, and called out the individuals by name who had made it happen. This triggered the second element:envy. Once staff saw the 'cool' results and how those results were lauded, they wanted to show they had equal capabilities, and quickly emulated the early leaders. Organically the firm gravitated towards the new methods. BIM is one of those major advances that once folks adopted it, there was no going back to the old 2D methods.
The 20' High Jump
One of the key principles in carefully crafting success with BIM was the concept of the 20-foot high jump. The argument is that no-one can jump 20' in the high jump, but many people can jump 6'-8 or more. Therefore the trick to jumping 20' is to jump 6'-8" three times.
Using that analogy, we had to choose what the first 6'-8" jump would entail. Once that was accomplished we could focus on the next 6'-8", and when we were done had scaled 20 feet. By adopting this 'stepped' approach we were able to cautiously transition from 2D CAD to BIM one step at a time and to keep moving forward at all times, leaving room for future growth.
The Importance of Metaphor
Taken on May 4th, 2013
The Jedi
The excitement, and core message, of the Star Wars saga proved to be unexpectedly powerful as we forged ahead with BIM implementation. As I began to explain how Revit could be both a strength and a trap (because, hey, it's software) I found myself explaining, "You don't see Jedis pulling out their light sabers and killing people just because they can. They wait till all other options are exhausted before they use their power." It became a metaphor for wisdom over brute power when using a new tool, and a powerful motivation for the power and limitations of technology. It inspired the vanguard group to be both savvy, and yet restrained. Revit experts soon became known internally as The Jedi, and to be a Jedi proved a badge of pride for those who showed the winning blend of ingenuity and restraint.
When we had achieved our goal of full BIM implementation, I purchased 30 Hasbro light sabers, customized them with a saying that read "It'is more important to be wise that to be powerful" and personally delivered them to each person who had shown the vision, the resourcefulness, and the restraint to help make it all happen. We made it happen, with teamwork, with hard work, but also by generating excitement. I have refined this motivational lesson throughout my career in many other initiatives. People want to work on exciting things, that mean something, that make a difference.
The success of New Initiatives
One other unforeseen lesson from the Make It Happen initiative was that the key to success in many new technology endeavors is often a two-step process - 1) Excitement, and 2)Envy. If one were to present a new initiative to a room of 100 people, it would be normal to expect that 20% of the people would be excited, 60% scared, and 20% angry. The ‘excited’ group sees the possibilities afforded by new technology; the scared group is experiencing trepidation because of the unknown, and the angry cohort is mad because of the shift that the new approach precipitates. Success for new initiatives relies on the ‘Excited’ group. By harnessing their attitude and belief, you can first prove that the new methods work.
The second phase, Envy, occurs when the Scared group loses their trepidation (thanks to the ‘Excited’s success) and craves the same benefits and esteem that the Excited group enjoys. (“Oh that. I can easily do that!”) . When this second phase is complete, you now have 80% of the original group adopting the new approach. The last group, the Angry, have two fates: either they don’t last in the organization, or they slowly adopt the new methods, but many years later. It’s never good to expect 100% of folks to change. Statistically there will always be outliers.