So, you’ve pitched the technology that you believe will benefit your team. Your manager is on board, and the implementation process is about to begin. It’s necessary to have a plan to get your team members to adopt the technology in their workday once it’s rolled out. Without a plan, implementing new technology can cause more harm than good.
This is a scenario that many companies face when adopting tech. Consider these three tips to get your organization to adopt technology, so your team can do their best work.
1. Be transparent.
There’s typically a ton of great reasons why a team decides to implement technology. However, this information isn’t always relayed back to the team members that it was implemented for. Instead, the technology is introduced in a way that makes it seem like more work rather than a solution.
When encouraging the adoption of technology and attempting to change the habits of team members, it’s necessary to be clear about the benefits of the technology in addition to sharing how the team will use it. Leading with benefits will get the team excited about the technology and increase interest among the team.
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Pro Tip:
Make All-Hands meetings interactive! At Capacity, we use an Ask It Basket during our company-wide meetings. By using the event polling app, Slido, we encourage team members to ask questions about virtually any topic, anonymously, and receive answers from the C-suite in a large-format meeting. This is just one example that you can use to enable transparency during a product rollout.
The more information you share about the technology, the less hesitant team members will be. One way to stay open and transparent about technology includes holding open Q&A sessions about it. If one person asks a question, there’s a good chance multiple people have that same concern. Encouraging the team to ask questions about the technology when rolling it out will also lead to a higher level of trust.
Here’s an example of how to get your team excited for implementation:
Good Morning!
We are very excited to announce that today we are implementing Capacity for our internal team. The HR team has already tested Capacity and ironed out most of the kinks, and the knowledge base is full of wonderful information that will benefit all of our team members.
New hires will have instant access to forms such as setting up a direct deposit, setting up a 401k contribution, enrolling in a health plan, and so much more. Existing employees can easily request time off, change their 401 contributions, check the sales pipeline and status on accounts, and find information such as NDAs, brand guidelines, and how to login to the VPN within seconds of asking their question, without logging into multiple systems.
We are asking for your help!
To make this platform a success, we need you to USE it! Before reaching out directly to HR or IT, please ask your question to Capacity by logging in here. If Capacity knows the answer, you are in luck! If Capacity does not yet know the answer, a ticket will be created, and a subject matter expert will be in touch as soon as possible. Then, the answer will be added to the knowledge base, so the next time the question is asked, it will be answered instantly for anyone in our org (based on account permissions). If your question is asked between 8:00 am-5:00 pm, your question will be answered via live chat.This new technology will help our team do its best work. Thank you for helping us make this a success.
Mark your calendar for this Thursday at 3:00 pm. We will be hosting an All-hands meeting to answer all of your questions about Capacity.
Best,
Robert
2. Stay consistent.
Communication about a new product rollout should be consistent. Don’t think that a single email or a meeting will lead to immediate buy-in. In addition to sharing how this tool will positively affect their work, it’s necessary to constantly share updates and reminders about the new resource until it finally clicks.
Consider the process of increasing adoption similar to making a sale. A salesperson doesn’t contact a prospect once or even twice about the product they are selling. They reach out multiple times. In sales prospecting, it can take an average of eight touches just to get an initial meeting! With this insight, it’s easy to see how important multiple updates and reminders are when it comes to increasing adoption rates.
It could also be helpful to use different mediums of communication when bringing up the new technology. Instead of only getting email updates about the new tech, consider making announcements during team meetings and even company-wide meetings. A practice that we’ve seen work with adoption with our customers includes involving the team that the product is solving for.
For instance, when companies implement Capacity to alleviate frequently asked questions for the HR department, we recommend the HR team to remind team members that Capacity is available to answer questions when they are approached with a repetitive question. Though this is a subtle reminder, people tend to catch on and remember that Capacity is available when they have HR questions. Different mediums of communication attract different attention, so don’t pigeonhole your outreach to one method.
Some companies have seen success in setting up a dedicated communication channel (via Slack or Teams) for their new technology. Leadership can introduce new features through the communication channel as well as suggest use cases. They can also use the Slack channel to answer questions about the rollout and ease any concerns.
3. Get creative.
Every company is different and has its own unique culture. Keeping that in mind can lead to higher technology adoption by incorporating different activities in the process. Rather than scheduling a standard meeting to introduce the technology and its benefits, set a theme for the meeting to increase engagement among a team and get them excited.
Consider teasing that something new is coming, but don’t tell them what it is, incorporate a game where the winner gets free lunch. Don’t be afraid to incentivize. Try sending out sneak peek e-blasts to your customers and/or employees to generate excitement. Our customer, AmeriSave, held a contest of naming the bot so everyone was involved and aware of Capacity before it was implemented.
The more familiarity your company has with the new technology before it’s implemented, the better the outcome will be. The goal is to get the team excited about adopting tech and encourage others to feel the same!
Pro Tip:
Consider offering prizes to employees who use the new technology, so new habits can be formed. One way to do this is to enter all employees who use the new technology into a raffle and to draw names at the end of each day or week for the first month. Giving away gift cards to Starbucks or local restaurants is always a crowd-pleaser, but also consider giving away company branded t-shirts and gear.