Written by Guy Couillard, CEO of Baton Simulations
Shortly after publishing my article on Preparing Leaders for the Autonomous Enterprise, I found a piece by SAP’s Thomas Jenewein on AI Adoption and SAP Transformation: What Customers Report from Practice.
As I read through the customer stories and research findings, I found myself nodding along. The challenges weren’t new, but they reinforced lessons learned over 30 years of supporting SAP transformations: tools change, but human nature remains the same.
Hapag-Lloyd’s story is a masterclass in this principle. Their network of 265 change ambassadors across six regions empowered local teams to translate global standards into daily realities, avoiding the fatal mistake of treating operational stakeholders as an afterthought.
When key users, operational leaders, and front-line teams are provided hands-on experience with the system from day one, they stop feeling like passive recipients of change and start becoming active owners of it. Instead of resisting the new reality, they evolve into the internal advocates and multipliers who drive adoption across the business.
Research confirms another core truth: dialogue outperforms monologue. Successful leaders don’t just broadcast dates and milestones; they create psychologically safe spaces for discussion, address concerns, and foster genuine Q&A. Real organizational shift doesn’t happen because leaders have every answer, it happens because they construct the right environment for meaningful conversations.
At Baton Simulations, this belief is the foundation of ERPsim®. We don’t just explain how a business operates, we create an environment where participants can experience decisions, discuss outcomes, and learn together. Those conversations are often where the real change begins.
As organizations push into their next phase of digital evolution, the instinct will be to treat that evolution as a technical deployment. But technology only unlocks potential. Real ROI happens when leadership prepare the people to embrace the change.
About Baton Simulations
Baton Simulations helps organizations explore enterprise transformation through experiential learning and simulation-based training, including AI-enabled learning experiences. To learn more, contact info@batonsimulations.com.
