9 Steps to Combat Legacy System Reliance in Arts & Culture Organisations

Cultural obstacles to change in arts organisations

It’s a common misconception that blockers to legacy system migration are technical. This isn’t always the case, particularly in arts and culture organisations where a small finance function controls complex funding and finances.

More typically, the main blockers to transformation come from cultural resistance and concern around financial process overhaul. Some of these blockers present as a reluctance to change, but more often than not, they are due to miscommunication and fear of the unknown.

The threat of job loss

The purpose of digital transformation is to strengthen efficiency, which means eliminating time-consuming administrative tasks. However, finance staff who are responsible for lengthy manual processes, such as accounts payable and expense management, may feel that digital transformation and the automation that comes with it will replace them.

“Don’t fix what isn’t broken”

Perceived safety is another common blocker to digital transformation. Understandably, replacing a familiar piece of technology feels risky and disruptive, but finance teams can sometimes mistake familiarity for suitability. 

Capacity restraints

Conversations about digital transformation are often triggered when technology providers remove support for legacy products. At this point, finance teams must factor in a large-scale project into their schedules, while simultaneously tracking and managing funds, and providing insight into business-wide data. With these capacity restraints, arts finance teams may already feel overworked, undervalued, and resistant to a finance project that is thrust upon them.

Funding issues

Like many not-for-profits, arts and culture organisations with a charitable arm often rely on funding from local authorities, grants, or donors to operate. For finance teams, this means diligently tracking funds, allocating them to the correct projects, and communicating the fund balance to senior leadership. 

However, problems arise when organisations lack unrestricted funds, or restricted funds are too narrow to use on the desired technological change. As a result, legacy system transformation may be sidelined so the business can focus funds on other areas, such as projects, initiatives, or building renovations.

Promote change during the project

During the project, change management helps control expectations and limit scope creep. Finance leaders who embody change act as role models for other staff members to follow their behaviours and support change. Through proper scope alignment and managed expectations, finance leaders can promote cultural change as a beneficial, rather than harmful, impact on BAU.

Step four: Create champions of change

Projects are most successful when respected team members become internal influencers, championing the change that the project brings. When finance leaders or senior leadership aren’t present in formal meetings or informal conversations, these champions act as the voice of a project.

However, change champions can only succeed if their role is outlined clearly. Those who understand how to give feedback, communicate change, model new behaviours, and support peers are more likely to advocate for change successfully.

When creating champions of change, remember to:

1. Outline roles and responsibilities clearly
2. Choose champions from different areas of the business
3. Create feedback mechanisms to aid communication
4. Provide training resources, such as early testing, project scope documentation, and the benefits of change on individual and business-wide processes

Step five: Conduct regular reviews

Hosting regular reviews is key to project momentum. Not only does it create sessions where teams can listen to feedback from other staff members and offer counterpoints or guidance, but it also ensures that the project is a business-wide initiative.

Regular reviews also create opportunities for the project team and senior leaders to assess staff buy-in levels. By gathering the whole business, finance leaders can see firsthand how other teams are reacting to change and how their change champions and finance team acknowledge these reactions. Listening to opinions in this way also helps to inform post-implementation plans.

Step six: Provide training

Training is essential, and finance leaders who understand how their team learns are better positioned to help them learn new processes quickly and easily. For example, are there members in your finance team who prefer scenario-based training? Or, are face-to-face sessions more fitting?

Understanding how your team learns and capitalising on that method boosts confidence in processes and, consequently, reduces resistance to change.

Maintain post-implementation engagement

The project doesn’t finish when the system goes live. Post go-live delivery is equally important for identifying where the configuration should be tweaked. This time allows users to settle into the new system, get to grips with the live environment, and provide feedback on any issues or impacts that are key to continuous learning. 

Step seven: Reward new behaviours

After the project is complete, your champions of change may be tasked with other projects, and celebration or feedback may slip. However, celebrating positive impact and behaviour, no matter how big or small, helps to drive system adoption when the project is no longer underway.

Simple ways you can reward new behaviours:

• Shoutouts on internal communications platforms (Teams chats and channels, emails, intranet posts)
• Acknowledgements in business-wide quarterly review meetings
• Staff recognition on noticeboards (Winner of the week-style bulletins)

Recognising that change is hard is also an effective way to reward new behaviours. A quick thank-you as you walk through the office or notifying a manager of good work goes a long way in embedding change.

Step eight: Encourage feedback

Maintain open and welcoming conversations, particularly around how people feel, how processes affect workload and mental well-being.

Much like in-project reviews, informal post-implementation reviews also help to maintain long-term user engagement. The welcoming and transparent environment created during implementation can easily be dispersed, unless finance leaders work hard to continue authenticity.

For example, if there are aspects of the system that aren’t working optimally for a few team members, consider opening the conversation to the wider business — you may find the issue is present across different teams.

Step nine: Continue system development

Believing that the system is ‘finished’ after going live increases the risk of stagnation. It can be easy to take a step back and assume that your work is done after implementation. However, post-implementation engagement is crucial to long-term system adoption, efficiency, and staff confidence.

Instead, conducting quarterly or mid-year reviews that focus on how the system is working in BAU can help to identify new resistance areas, differing processes, and areas of further configuration.

Although these reviews primarily focus on the technicality of the system, here are a few questions to bring to sessions that highlight cultural resistance and areas for change: 

• How confident do you feel using the new finance system in your day-to-day tasks, such as fund tracking, project accounting, and donor management? And what would increase that confidence?
• What has changed most in how you approach your work since go-live? Has it complicated how you support exhibitions, programmes, or productions?
• Has the new system changed your workload or stress levels at month-end, year-end, or season launches? If so, how?
• Do you feel you received enough support and communication throughout the project and after go-live? What would have helped more?
• Do you feel involved in shaping how the system is used going forward?

Take control of cultural resistance

At some point, every person will find themselves resisting change. Arts and culture CFOs who approach resistance with empathy and authentic communication will be better positioned to create and maintain staff buy-in throughout the project and into the long-term. 

To discuss how Xledger’s expert consultants and project managers can support your organisation through finance transformation and cultural change, book your free demo today.