During the implementation of the BIM methodology in large organizations, several departments or areas are affected, and the agents and their media.

In these cases, it is common practice to propose the implementation of BIM processes gradually, defining a series of stages until reaching the maximum level of BIM maturity in the organization. 

To guarantee a better transition from traditional processes to the BIM methodology, great attention must pay to change management to avoid rejection by the organization’s agents who are not inclined to adopt the traditional processes to the BIM methodology.

Change Management in BIM Implementation Strategies

When drawing up a strategy for implementing the BIM methodology in a large organization, one must be aware of the risk that a process change of such magnitude entails. For this reason, it is necessary to take into account change management strategies such as those proposed by John P.Kotter in his book “At the forefront of change.” In the book, Kotter collects the steps or considerations to consider when an organization faces a reengineering process to guarantee success. These can adopt considerations to define the BIM methodology’s implementation strategy and achieve a correct adaptation of the traditional processes to the BIM processes. According to Kotter, the considerations to take into account to make a change in the work processes of an organization should be the following:

  • Impress a sense of urgency: the first need to adapt the processes to be carried out correctly is to inform the organization’s agents of the need for change.

The agents of the organizations are accustomed to consistently carrying out the work in the same way, so the change in these processes can cause the agents’ rejection due to implementing a new way of carrying out their activities. If the agents are aware of the need for change, it is easier for them to be favorable.

This urgency may be caused by a change in the public bidding system in which the use of the BIM methodology in projects is beginning to be requested, a trend in the market for digitizing processes, etc.

  • Creation of an elite team: For process reengineering to take effect, it is necessary to create an elite team with enough power to give credibility to the change.

When the services of a BIM consultancy are contracted to define an implementation strategy, it is common for there to be misgivings that people from outside the organization cause changes in traditional work processes.

Having an elite team made up of influential agents in the organization and from all the affected areas makes it possible to have a group of change leaders and give credibility to the adaptation of the proposed processes since these will represent the organization and the absolute need for change.

  • Develop the vision and strategy for change: It is necessary to create a vision that helps direct the change in the organization. This mission must be clear, understandable, and whose benefits are easy to understand by the organization’s agents.

As a general rule, people are more collaborative when they see the benefits of change. Therefore, it is necessary to define the organization’s BIM objectives and the expected benefits of their fulfillment through the BIM methodology.

At the same time, the necessary strategies must be developed so that this vision can become a reality. The strategy for implementation must include the steps of how the mission will be fulfilled and serve as a reference for the organization’s agents to carry out the necessary tasks to fulfill the mission of change.

  • Communicate the vision of change: one of the fundamental pillars that ensure success in adapting processes is to have a plan for disseminating the vision of change and the progress made during the application of the implementation strategy.

It is necessary to use all available communication channels to communicate the new vision and strategy constantly. In this way, the message will permeate the organization’s agents to understand the need for change and the future state it intends to reach.

These communications must be simple so that all areas of the organization, whether they are involved to a greater or lesser extent, understand the mission of the change.

  • Train employees and eliminate obstacles: in implementing the BIM methodology, the agents must be trained to align themselves with the vision of change and adapt to the new work methodology.

Within the development of the implementation strategy of the BIM methodology, it is necessary to define a training program that allows the agents to carry out the new processes through training in the BIM methodology, in the new tools, etc. Likewise, risk-taking should be encouraged so that agents have freedom when carrying out new processes without fear of possible errors due to novelty.

At the same time, it is necessary to remove the obstacles and change the systems and structures that undermine the vision of change. If necessary, the organization’s structure must be adapted and its means. In addition, specific training should be carried out for agents who do not favor the change to understand its need.

  • Generation of short-term successes: the achievement of small victories during the BIM methodology implementation helps give credibility to the change. It helps agents with doubts about the change to be favorable. The successes also reaffirm that the defined vision and strategy are correct since they give credibility to the change process and help convince the most skeptical.

It is vitally important to incorporate pilot projects in the BIM implementation strategy to generate success stories and communicate successes through the defined dissemination plan. In this way, it will be possible to give visibility to the results, and the message will reach all areas of the organization.

  • Consolidate achievements and generate more change: in BIM implementations in large organizations, the inertia of small victories should be used to propose more changes and adapt other traditional processes that are compatible with the adoption of the BIM methodology.

The successes generated during the first implementation phases should be used to gain credibility to obtain greater BIM maturity in the organization. Likewise, other digitization strategies that may be compatible with the BIM methodology can be considered.

Likewise, it will be necessary to implement continuous improvement cycles such as Deming’s PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) that guarantee detecting points of improvement and adaptation of the processes defined for their optimization.

  • Anchor the new points of view to the business culture. Implementing the BIM methodology must ensure that the new processes are part of the organization’s policies and culture. It will be necessary for all decisions and processes to be articulated based on the BIM methodology to guarantee change and its continuity.


In this phase, it must guarantee that all the knowledge acquired during the development of the implementation is registered and accessible both by the organization members and for future incorporations. In this sense, it is creating a knowledge management platform such as a wiki, a space on the local server to store documentation, etc.

Conclusion

As we have seen throughout this post, while adopting the BIM methodology in large-scale organizations, it is necessary to plan change management since the adaptation of processes can affect agents from various areas of the organization and its infrastructure. Defining the progressive stages of the implementation of the BIM methodology and having a change management plan will gradually eliminate the obstacles and avoid the rejection that may occur on the part of the agents since, to a greater or lesser extent, their processes. It must adapt to the new work methodology, leaving its comfort zone to guarantee the success of the implementation and the achievement of the organization’s strategic objectives.