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3. Gaining buy-in from management and other stakeholders

The key to gaining buy-in for a project lies in "understanding"; if organizational leadership and other critical stakeholders understand why a proposed project is important to the organization, they are more likely to do what they can to support your project and ensure the project goals are met. Is there still a possibility a proposed LIMS acquisition and deployment may get rejected by management despite understanding the potential benefits to the organization? Of course there is, particularly if the organizational budget is tight or some other external factor is influencing the decision. But those factors are largely out of your control; you can only focus on prompting greater understanding of the organizational and personnel benefits that can be realized and taking the time to better understand any resistance made to the proposed changes. That's what the previous two chapters of this guide have helped you prepare for.

This third chapter will, ideally, help you put what you've learned from the prior two chapters together to pitch a LIMS acquisition and deployment proposal to not only upper management but also any other critical stakeholders that should be involved with the decision. It will also help you better understand stakeholder engagement and address resistance to the proposal.

3.1 The importance of manager (and stakeholder) buy-in

-- Write an into to this section about management buy-in here --

Management may raise one or more concerns about laboratory information management system (LIMS) acquisition. Some of their perceptions might be rooted in past experiences or comments about computerized systems from the late twentieth century. Among those concerns could be:

• They may have investigated the subject of LIMS, seen it as another software project, and been concerned about opening a financial black hole.
• They may be concerned about adding more stress to an already overloaded IT organization.
• They may ask if the implementation can be done in a reasonable amount of time, and if the organization has the financial resources and expertise needed to get the job done.
• They may ask if there are alternatives to LIMS that might be less costly and easier to implement.

Don't be put off by these concerns, or most any other rejection or resistance; trying to change people or an organization naturally leads to resistance, as people typically don't care much for change itself. This fact is vital to understand in the scope of acquiring buy-in for your LIMS acquisition project, which will require involving the right stakeholders from the very beginning. In her book Leading Business Change: A Practical Guide to Transforming Your Organization, author Karin Stumpf highlights this fact as such:

When you try to change people or an organization, you will encounter a multitude of rejections. If you do not deliberately and successfully extend your circle of influence to include the right people and stakeholder groups, you will undoubtedly encounter major resistance—from critical gatekeepers, from peers, from subordinates, and from all those affected by the changes. Some issues might just be individual ones, linked to power, social hierarchy, or self-interest. However, some resisteance might be well-founded and, if addressed adequately, can help you avoid major pitfalls.
 
I have seen change leaders wait until the populating phase of a project before reaching out to an affected stakeholder group for the first time. By then, the rumors had spread and resistance had taken a foothold.

Even if the attempt to gain upper management's buy-in is made early on, resistance is natural, whether it's emotionally based or a rational response to the proposal. This is where the "understanding" mentioned in the introduction comes into play; in both emotional and rational rejection, a lack of understanding from the stakeholders, and even the project proposer, is often the root cause. In some cases, an actual need may not be met from the proposal, requiring further dialogue. Stumpf further highlights these issues:

Sometimes resistance is emotionally based. Perhaps a person fears getting out of their comfort zone or resents being given more work. Often, though, resistance is a rational response. If someone does not see the need for change or disagrees with the solution, they may try to block the project. Also, if an employee does not not know how to effectively interact with a new toold or how to be productive in the process, the employee may resist. Last but not least, people may resist because there is a real problem—your plan may have not addressed a real need, the tools may be substantially flawed, or the structure may leave a serious gap in operations. It could be that some people see that you do not have the requisite budget or buy-in from upper management. Because they believe your project will ultimately fail, why should they invest their time and energy?

Stumpf's statements emphasize the importance of upper management and critical stakeholder buy-in, as without it, an under-funded, under-supported LIMS project hindered by lack of understanding and lack of stakeholder engagement has cascading effects. This means taking your LIMS acquisition proposal seriously, involving upper management and other stakeholders, helping them understand the implications of the project, addressing their concerns and resistance, and conducting the necessary research to make the most relevant and convincing proposal as possible.

So far we've talked about primarily winning over upper management for a proposed LIMS acquisition and deployment project, but it's not always that simple, especially within larger organizations. While management is often a stakeholder in an organizational project, there often are other stakeholders inside and outside the organization. A "stakeholder," as defined by ISO 26000 Social responsibility, is defined as an "individual or group that has an interest in any decision or activity of an organization." As such, identified stakeholders of the decision to acquire and deploy a LIMS could be anyone from IT personnel to the laboratory's clients, and anything in between. In some cases the number of apparent stakeholders, at first glance, may become daunting, requiring a formal stakeholder identification process that asks questions such as "who can help the organization address specific impacts?" or "who would be disadvantaged if excluded from stakeholder engagement?" Once identified, those stakeholders may be further separated into those most directly impacted by the LIMS decision vs. those who are only indirectly impacted. From there, more refined decisions can be made as to who will be included in the LIMS justification process.

Conducting relations (i.e., interacting) with these stakeholders—management and otherwise—can be seen as stakeholder engagement. Involving management and other stakeholders demonstrates a commitment to the engagement process, as well to its importance. Kujala et al. define "stakeholder engagement" as "the aims, activities, and impacts of stakeholder relations in a moral, strategic, and/or pragmatic manner." Their definition, based on a literature review and descriptive analysis of academic literature, provides a wide level of applicability to organizations of many types, and it highlights the benefits of engagement, as well as why it's valuable in particular to gaining buy-in of LIMS acquisition.

Table 9 shows an adapted version of the work of Kujala et al., highlighting how the different components of stakeholder engagement can benefit the organization. From this chart, we can see how a stakeholder my be more likely to buy into LIMS acquisition (or any other organizational decision) through a stakeholder engagement process that takes into account multiple aspects. If, for example, a stakeholder is involved with determining the potential strategic impacts (from Table 9, find the Strategic row and move right to the Impacts column) of a LIMS, the potential end result of that stakeholder engagement could yield improved efficiency, a greater competitive advantage, greater innovation, and an enhanced reputation for the organization overall.

Table 9. A tabular view of the benefits of stakeholder engagement, based on the definition by Kujala et al. and adapted from their research. Component Aims Activities Impacts Moral • Legitimacy, trust, and fairness • Corporate responsibility and sustainability • Stakeholder inclusion and accountability • Stakeholder empowerment • Democratic activities • Enhanced social and ecological well-being • Giving voice to stakeholders • Stakeholder value Strategic • Financial performance, risk management, and value creation • Knowledge creation and learning • Reputation building • One-way and two-way communication activities • Co-creation • Supportive organizational structures • Improved efficiency and competitive advantage • Innovation • Enhanced reputation Pragmatic • Context-dependent problem-solving and decision-making • Organizational and societal development • Collaborative and dialogic activities • Relationship cultivation • Broad stakeholder involvement • Inclusive accountability and disclosure activities • Achieved resolutions

Outside of upper-level organizational management, LIMS consultancy Third Wave Analytics breaks down a laboratory-based organization's LIMS stakeholders into five groups, while adding what value a LIMS adds for each group. When you seek buy-in from any of these stakeholder groups, it will be useful to keep these potential benefits in mind during justification processes:

• Laboratory technicians and sample testing personnel: These stakeholders realize improvements from knowing sample status and location, using sample processing protocols, having automated data capture and analysis, and managing training activities.
• Laboratory managers and supervisors: These stakeholders realize improvements from having more granular sample management tools, tracking inventory, managing analytical test scheduling, and verifying regulatory training requirements are met.
• Laboratory directors and clinical lab scientists: These stakeholders realize improvement from having the tools to manage sample review and sign-out, identifying documents that require review and approval, and tracking quality control procedures for reagents and instruments.
• Quality assurance and quality management services personnel: These stakeholders realize improvement from ensuring the appropriate review and storage of all testing and quality control (QC) data, managing controlled documents, and auditing lab data and records.
• Research personnel: These stakeholders realize improvement from ensuring the difference between clinical and research samples, seeing which samples and data are associate with which studies/projects, and querying data from a single location.

Now that we've discussed why gaining buy-in from upper management and other critical stakeholders is important, let's take a closer look at the actual LIMS proposal process.

3.2 Pitching the LIMS project

-- General advice about pitching the project goes here --

3.3 Developing a cheat sheet for management

-- Write intro to this section here --

Address how the LIMS acquisition specifically addresses organization goals and challenges.

If management isn't familiar with a LIMS, you'll probably want to include a more broad list of bullet points as to how LIMS can benefit labs of all types. That list might look something like this:

A LIMS can...

• Increase efficiency: LIMS can help laboratories manage data more efficiently by eliminating data silos, managing standard operating procedures (SOPs), generating custom reports, facilitating data interoperability and exchange, tracking reagent inventories, and managing staff training. This in turn can minimize wasted resources.
• Improve process control: LIMS can help laboratories better manage test/sample status and workload evaluation, resulting in better customer support and smoother workflows. With a LIMS, these and other tasks are automated, so we can spend more time on what really matters: research and testing. As an added benefit, LIMS also reduces errors by automating manual processes and eliminating the potential for human error.
• More rapidly disseminate business data and analytical results: LIMS can help laboratories communicate test results more quickly and accurately. In research, this means faster project execution and better decision-making. In production, this means faster release of products, quicker evaluation of incoming raw materials, and prevention of wasted products.
• Enable access to data anywhere, anytime: Many LIMS can help laboratories access lab data from anywhere, particularly cloud-based LIMS. With cloud-based LIMS software, we can access lab data from anywhere with an internet connection. That access capability means we can work remotely or collaborate with team members across different locations, all with a high level of security.
• Provide safer, more secure storage for critical lab data: LIMS can help laboratories centralize and secure their various data and information. LIMS software provides a centralized location for all lab data, making it easy to access and share data with other team members. It also ensures that data is secure and protected from unauthorized access, especially when the LIMS is purpose-built to meet data- and information-related regulatory requirements.
• Facilitate better results interpretation and retrieval: LIMS can help laboratories interpret and retrieve results more quickly, increasing customer satisfaction and lab productivity.
• Improve billing processes: LIMS can help laboratories streamline their billing processes, improve record access, and provide greater insights into organizational financials.
• Increase productivity: LIMS can help laboratories realize 10-20% productivity benefits based on a reduction in clerical work alone. By automating manual processes and providing easy access to lab data, LIMS software frees up time for researchers and analysts to focus on their core work. Using automated reporting, and giving clients controlled access to the system—i.e., through a secure, administrator-controlled client portal—for sample logging, along with having automated instrument connections for worklist downloading and data entry, will greatly increase those productivity gains.
• Facilitate collaboration: LIMS can help laboratories share data and collaborate on tasks and projects, resulting in improved communication and streamlined workflows.

-- Talk more about a cheat sheat here --

-- Also mention Appendix 1 and the workbook here --

Citation information for this chapter

Chapter: 3. Gaining buy-in from management and other stakeholders

Title: Justifying LIMS Acquisition and Deployment within Your Organization

Edition: First Edition

Author for citation: Joe Liscouski, Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: