How Do You Deal with Opposition to Technological Change?

If businesses want to stay competitive, they must implement new technology to keep up with other similar organizations in their respective industries. Unfortunately, the downside to implementing new technology is that your employees might not be so understanding and willing to adapt their workplace habits to accommodate your new solutions. How can you overcome this challenge? It all starts with mindset and approach.

Take Time to Understand the Resistance

Sometimes, there are underlying issues relating to technology resistance that need to be addressed before you can successfully implement anything new. Does your team feel that the current technology works just fine? Do they have other issues with the technology that need to be addressed first? Whatever the case might be, you can start a conversation and conduct surveys on what your team wants you to take care of for your technology infrastructure, then take steps to move in the appropriate direction. Who knows? Sometimes, your staff might just not understand the solution or what it does.

Educate and Train Your Employees

This is also where educating your team can pay off in spades. If you want to implement a new solution but you anticipate significant resistance to it, ask yourself why that might be the case. Sometimes the answer is that your staff simply do not know enough about it to have formed an appropriate opinion. Take it upon yourself to have conversations with your staff about the benefits of the new tool and, specifically, how it will make their jobs easier or less stressful. You should be involving your team in the implementation process as well, and you should be developing training programs and materials that will help your staff take full advantage of the new tools as soon as possible.

Create a Supportive Environment

Employees are actually much more likely to jump on board with your new technology when they know they can get the support they need throughout the learning process. Expecting the team to know right away how to use your solutions to their full potential is unrealistic, and you’ll want to provide ongoing support through a help desk solution so that employees can feel empowered to seek out the assistance they need when they need it.

Don’t Navigate These Challenges Alone

All in all, navigating the challenges of new technology adoption from your employees’ perspectives will be challenging. Still, with the right approach, you should be able to minimize resistance and pave the way for success. JS Business Solutions can help your business with much of this process, from implementation to training to ongoing support. To learn more, call us today at (781) 715-1900.