You’ve already uncovered the advantages of bringing some new technology into your business. You’ll be able to make faster and better decisions, you’ll boost sales and you’ll increase your employees’ productivity. But now you’ve got to face the challenge of getting all your employees on board – and you know some of them won’t like it.
So, how do you make sure your staff members adopt this new technology quickly and easily?
Present Your Case
To make sure your team adopts new technology, you need to ensure they understand exactly what this technology is and what it’s going to bring to the business. This might mean going over the basics with some staff members who aren’t as tech-savvy as others (covering questions like what is MPLS, for example) before getting more in depth about how the technology’s going to work for the company.
However, once everyone has an understanding of what the technology’s about, you can start to present its benefits. Maybe it’s going to help when it comes to tracking customer data, or maybe it’ll help quantify your business’s advertising efforts. Be clear what’s in it for your staff and offer statistics that demonstrate the cost-effectiveness, time-saving benefits, efficiency-boosting qualities and so on of the technology.
Offer Customized Training
Next, you need to make sure each employee is going to receive the right training for their role and preferences. Some may prefer a mentor who can provide a step-by-step approach while others may prefer to tackle the new system themselves, using an online tutorial as a guide.
To make sure you’re providing these favored training courses to your staff, ask them what they feel will be most beneficial. And don’t forget to show humility during this stage, making sure they see that you’re investing time in getting to know the new system too.
Get Key Members of Staff to Promote the Technology
You might also want to look at getting a group of influencers within your company to promote the technology to other people. These influencers can then help coach others on the benefits of the new system while promoting its advantages. This can help people see that overcoming this change isn’t as hard as they thought.
Pick a wide range of people to do this and don’t just plump for techy IT geeks that wanted the technology introducing in the first place. You want to make sure you’re picking people who have good networking skills within the organization because getting these to adopt the technology early on will help decrease the time it takes for others to come on board.
Make It Fun
Instead of penalizing people who don’t adopt the technology quickly, reward the ones who do. It’s much more fun and enjoyable for everyone involved if employees are getting rewarded with things they like. Consider an incentive they’ll appreciate, such as recognition, a perk or compensation. You might even want to turn this new technology into a game, creating a buzz around it that motivates and engages your team.
By making sure all your employees are aware of the benefits this technology will bring to the company, they’re far more likely to want to adopt it quickly. Make this new technology part of their routine and reward them for getting involved so quickly.