Change is a surprisingly difficult thing for most companies and the hard truth is that if you can’t adapt, you lose. This happens all the time when companies spend money on technology. Let's say you’ve just found a great technology solution that promises a big ROI, greater efficiency, happier customers, or even an end to world hunger.
Here's how the process usually goes:
Find great technology solution
Purchase great technology solution
Roll out great technology solution
No one uses great technology solution and business continues as it always has
Sound familiar? I bet you can think of at least one instance where this has happened in your company. Why is adopting new technology into our businesses so difficult? How do we get the people in our company to change?
Here are some tips that we’ve seen make a difference:
Internal Champions
There needs to be an overall champion for the new technology in the business and that person needs to be empowered. Even better, there should be a champion for the new technology in each department. The positive attitude and belief in a better way in a few people can help the rest of the employees change. Thought of the other way, bad attitudes, unchecked, can easily prevent change from taking place. Head those off with your own leaders.
Make Them Believe It
People will change much more quickly when they see what’s in it for them. The internal champions need to work with the primary internal champion to find that key functionality that will make the lives of the people in their department better.
Make It Easy to Learn
Adopting a new technology will generally take more work upfront with the gains coming after it has become part of the business process. That means you want to make any of effort involved in learning how to use the new technology as easy as possible. Take advantage of any training materials that are available from the solution provider. Set aside time specifically for training on the new technology and for refreshers. The more types of trainings you can offer the more likely people will find the ones that work for them—live training, webinars, recorded video, written, interactive.
Crawl, Walk, Run
Don’t set unrealistic expectations on change and don’t be surprised by how overwhelming small change can be. When trying to get people to develop an exercise routine, doctors will sometimes ask people to do something as simple as standing up once an hour while watching television. This seems like a ridiculously simple task, but many are overwhelmed with the idea of exercising daily and then need to gain confidence in a new routine. In the same way we need to start with adopting the new technology into one process at a time or we’ll become overwhelmed and give up.
Celebrate as a Company
Set milestones for adoption of the new technology and celebrate their achievement as a company. Celebrate the adoption and success of that new technology anywhere you can. It might seem silly at first, however people want to be part of success and if you leverage it companywide they can be ride the wave into changing.