Any time a work environment experiences change in any form, things tend to become a little messy before they become clear. When deploying technology solutions in your business operations, you and your team might feel the pressure of this change at first. It’s important through this process that you work with your team to address any issues that arise and more importantly, work together to help the business move forward to a positive future.
Change can be stressful
Managing all the work we do for our jobs is stressful, and it isn’t any easier for the rest of your team. Especially when we are pushing our team to do more with less. If you have gone through any restructuring (aka downsizing) in the recent months, you should be keenly aware of that stress by now. The last thing you want to do is to add even more stress to your team. Nevertheless, the business must move forward. When you are tasked with deploying technology solutions in your operations that are brand new to you and have a significant impact on your business, it is important that you work with your team to ensure the deployment is successful for everyone.
How deploying technology solutions will help them
If you are nearing deployment, you and your management probably have a good grasp on how this technology will help the business, hence the business case for the project. You might even have a good picture of how the technology will help your team, but have you spent the time on your message to them? How will this technology help them in their day-to-day jobs without adding extra work and stress? The message to your team needs to tell a story of how these changes will help them do their jobs better and more efficiently.
How it will help you (and why this is important)
The first thing to do is to get past the sales pitch of all the things this technology can do for your business. Peel back to what you are actually going to do with it now, and describe that to your team. Describe how those things will help the operations and what it will mean to the business. That part of the message should be focused on practicalities and should be reasonable and realistic from their perspective.
Have a plan and keep them involved
Completing all the project tasks for rolling out the technology to all users doesn’t necessarily mean it is a successful deployment. That comes only after they use the solution successfully. Your project deployment plan should take heavy consideration for the concerns and expectations of your team. Keeping them involved will help ensure they are engaged and will set your project’s deployment phase on a positive track forward. Make sure your team has clear understandings of the expected outcomes, and the expected work through the process. Most likely it won’t be easier when you flip the switch but will take some extra work to get over the hump before they become acclimated to the new technology and processes.
Acknowledge and celebrate minor victories together
It’s almost impossible to get through a project deployment without any hiccups. That’s reasonable and realistic, and that’s okay. When you cross project milestones, don’t forget about all the users outside your deployment team. Those milestones wouldn’t be achieved without their part of the work, even if it is just using the technology. If they are doing that successfully, that’s worth recognizing. The solution is intended to benefit the business operations, and your business operations are your people.
Coreon Group is here to provide expertise and resources to help business operations work more efficiently by reducing overhead and direct costs for higher profit margins. Contact us today to learn more about how we deploy technology solutions to help businesses with work management and operations and reduce receivables in the process.
