Bringing any new technology into your organization can increase productivity, help make you better, and make you faster. But it can also be scary. Getting every employee on board with a new technology is no easy task. Not many people like change, even when it’s for the better. There are employees that quickly adapt to new processes and adopt new technology, and then there are the skeptics.
The skeptical employees are happy with their current routine and processes. They don’t like change, and even worse, they make that known. Their negativity and attitude spread quickly, which makes it more difficult to get all employees to adopt new technology. Many times these skeptics are worried about job security or a change in their position. But if you can convince them, you can convince anyone.
Here are a few things you can do to convince the skeptics to adopt new technology:
- Set the vision. Make sure this your vision is compelling and something employees can rally around. Make sure they know exactly how it is going to make their lives easier. Knowing the goal and seeing the vision makes it easier to get on board and adopt new technology.
- Empathize with them. Changing processes in the workplace is difficult for most people, even if that new process makes things easier in the long run. Let them know you understand how they feel and remind them the why behind adopting this new technology.
- Identify a champion. Find the champions of this new technology and use them to promote the solution to others. Allow them to be the ones to show how the technology will work. Just like the negativity of the skeptics spreads quickly, the positivity of these influencers will also spread quickly.
- Highlight quick wins. Draw attention to the positive impact the new technology is having on the company. Seeing the wins will make it easier to believe in and adopt the new technology.
- Offer incentives. Encourage training and adoption by rewarding those that do adopt quickly and use the new technology. These incentives can be gift cards, office perks, swag, or anything that really fires employees up.
The sooner the new technology becomes part of the daily routine in your organization, the better. That’s the key to getting employees to adopt new technology.
If you notice more employees are skeptical than not, take a look at the new technology you are asking them to adopt. Ask yourself the hard questions. Does it really make sense for your organization and will it really make their lives easier? Ask your champions the same thing – do they agree with the skeptics at all?
If you do decide it makes sense and you still want employees to adopt this new technology, keep on the path and stay focused! Focus on getting employees to adopt new technology one by one. Train them and train them well. With greater employee adoption, you’ll see greater ROI. Rally the team together and you’ll really start to see the changes you envisioned.
We have onboarded many organizations with our technology and digital transformation solutions and we would love to share what we’ve seen work and not work. Reach out to us and let’s chat!
