Outdated systems, scattered workflows, and spreadsheets patching over missing functionality all make the day-to-day work harder than it needs to be. Clinics don’t decide to implement new platforms because it’s fun; they do it because the current setup is slowing them down, draining their teams, and limiting the quality of care they want to deliver.
So when a clinic decides to modernise, it’s already clear that “doing nothing” isn’t an option. But the moment the contract is signed, another misconception often appears: the belief that implementing new technology is primarily a technical exercise. In reality, technology is rarely the challenge. The change around it is.
This is something we’ve learned at wawa over and over again, across large, multi-site networks, small independent clinics, surgeries, labs and cross-country teams. The clinics that thrive with new systems aren’t the ones with the biggest budget or the fanciest equipment; they’re the ones where leadership actively carries the change from vision to daily behaviour.
When leaders treat the implementation as “the project the IT team is doing,” teams understandably hold back. But when leaders communicate clearly, stay visibly engaged, and continuously remind the organisation of where they’re going and why, everything accelerates.
We’ve also learned the hard way what happens when that doesn’t occur.
One of our implementations was, frankly, not a success. The owner had a clear vision for the future and chose wawa because it aligned perfectly with where he wanted the clinic to go. But he never translated that vision into day-to-day leadership. The team wasn’t brought into the “why” and therefore couldn’t understand the “what” or the “how.”
We completed phase one, went live, and things initially looked promising. But without consistent leadership, momentum quickly faded. Phase two was postponed due to changes in their market. The team was left in an uncomfortable middle ground, somewhere between the old world and the new, without a leader actively steering the journey. And without leadership driving the change, the clinic naturally slipped back into old habits.
Technology alone can’t overcome that gap. This pattern is not unique. Care teams don’t resist new systems; they resist uncertainty. Nurses, embryologists, admin staff, they all want to do their best work. But if they don’t understand why a system is being introduced, or if leadership disappears after the kick-off, the safest thing to do is stick to what they know. And unfortunately, “what they know” is usually exactly what the clinic is trying to evolve away from.
The clinics that succeed treat change as a strategic priority.
Their leaders show up not only at the beginning but all the way through: in decision-making, communication, resource allocation, and in backing their teams when things feel unfamiliar. They anchor the vision repeatedly. They set expectations when scope grows too fast. They protect their people from chaos instead of adding to it.
And perhaps most importantly, they understand that successful change isn’t linear. Teams move through predictable phases: excitement, confusion, frustration, acceptance, and eventually ownership. When leaders are present, teams move through these phases with confidence. When leaders step back, teams get stuck.
At wawa, we’ve structured our entire implementation approach around this reality. We build with clinics, not for them. We involve their care teams early. We bring clarity to workflows, not just software screens. And we are ruthless about keeping scope focused so that teams can actually feel progress instead of drowning in it.
But even the strongest implementation framework cannot compensate for leadership that isn’t engaged. We can guide, support, teach, challenge, and co-create, but we cannot replace the internal momentum that only leadership can provide.
The truth is simple: software might modernise a clinic, but only leadership can transform it. Clinics that embrace this shift are not only easier to implement with, they grow faster, operate more safely, unify their teams more effectively, and create a foundation for continuous innovation rather than one-off projects.
Buying software is easy. Leading change isn’t. But the clinics that truly lead it will define the next era of fertility care, and they’ll bring their teams with them every step of the way.
