When you introduce new technologies into your organization, it's natural to face some resistance. But educating employees on how to use it will increase adoption.
With so many new technologies appearing seemingly every day and constant updates on the horizon, it can be difficult to ensure that all of your employees stay up to date. However, it is a critical task to keep your business running smoothly.
What's more, your employees are probably frustrated with everything they need to learn and wonder why it's so important to constantly adapt to the ever-changing technological landscape. So, what you do? Here are 10 tips for educating your employees about the essential tools they need to use in an increasingly digital landscape.
1. Research your options
Before you try to teach your employees about new technologies, spend some time making sure you're choosing the right platforms and systems for your business. This will require a great deal of research and consultation with employees who know the technology landscape, such as software developers and IT staff.
With so many options for virtually every business function, from human resources to marketing and finance, it can be difficult to identify the best one for your business. Consider factors such as:
- The value the tool offers
- The industry standards and platforms your competitors are using
- Who will use the tools
- Your expectations for the software
- What other systems exist – you will need to be able to integrate them into your technology ecosystem
2. Understand New Systems
Once you've chosen the right software for your business, spend some time learning the ins and outs of it yourself. You can't expect your employees to understand the software if you don't understand it yourself. Furthermore, every student needs a well-informed teacher. They will know if you are not up to date.
Whether you're the one leading the demo or not, employees expect you to be a leader — and that includes knowing how to do what you expect them to do. Of course, those who are actually training employees should also be adept at using the tools.
3. Bring in external experts
In some cases, you may have the necessary expertise on staff to train your other employees on how to use your new systems. In other cases, you may need help from outside experts, such as an external team that already has a lot of experience using these tools.
Whether you don't have the time or expertise required, outsourcing your training needs is a viable option that will help you get your message across. Additionally, some employees may be more willing to trust an outside perspective, clearly presented as an expert perspective.
4. Field Training
Just as you need to pitch a startup to investors or pitch products to buyers, you must also introduce these new technologies to the employees who will use them. There may very well be a lot of skepticism surrounding these unknown tools, so you'll have to sell the idea to your team.
Remember: it is essential to create buy-in and support for technologies to be successful in your business and to enable your employees to do their jobs well.
5. Encourage
Likewise, you should try to get employees not just compliant, but actually excited about these new tools. Ideally, they are intrinsically exciting by virtue of their capabilities. But your employees may not see it that way, especially if training is taking up time in their day that they could be using to fulfill their core responsibilities.
So reward them for their engagement. You could, for example, gamify the training process, encouraging employees to get involved with new tools by earning points. Or you can turn to extrinsic rewards, like offering lunch or snacks during your workout.
6. Tailor your presentation for different audiences
People respond to different teaching methods. They also learn at different rates. As a leader, you must be willing and able to accommodate these different styles and timelines for learning the technologies you are instituting in your organization.
This will often mean adapting your presentation to different audiences. While it's probably not possible to create a different presentation for each employee, consider changing it for various groups, such as different departments. Also recognize that not all audiences need to learn all resources; Therefore, focus on the critical functions each audience does need to know.
7. Develop a timeline for implementation
Time is an unfortunate but very real constraint. At the outset, establish a timeline for implementing the new platform in your organization, including benchmarks for when you expect different groups or departments to use it. You must also determine when you would like the entire company to be fully integrated, understanding, of course, that problems will likely occur. So set a schedule, but allow some flexibility in it.
8. Set goals
What are your goals for this project ? What concepts do you expect your employees to master? How do you want them to use the platform you are launching?
These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself when formulating your goals for the tools you are implementing in your organization. Make sure you have clear objectives, including employee learning, timelines, benchmarks, and anything else you would like to accomplish.
9. Celebrate wins
What happens when you achieve the goals you so carefully set? You celebrate! Whether an employee managed to master a particularly complex objective or an entire room of employee-students grasped the intricacies of a difficult tool in record time, take a moment to recognize the achievement.
And even after training for a specific new tool is more or less complete, you should still draw attention to it by demonstrating how it is improving your organization in the “real world.” Highlight the team's accomplishments, for example, that they wouldn't be able to accomplish otherwise.
10. Keep improving
As you continue to accelerate digitally , you will adopt new technologies and update existing ones. This is essential to move forward. And as you grow technologically, you will need to continue training employees.
Continue improving your training process to accommodate new technologies and teach employees more effectively. After all, there is always room for improvement!
