You have decided your business needs to modernize its operations and innovate. You have done all the hard work to come up with an app idea, and you are ready to start your project.
But, how do get your staff buy in?
Over the years, we have worked with many businesses who had a tough time when introducing a new tool to their team. What follows is a guide on the simple tactics you can apply when launching an internal tool.
As common sense as it may sound, getting employee buy in has to start at the beginning of the process, not at the end.
Employee buy in is a must when your business changes over to a new system, regardless of the size of the change. The people who will use the new tool day in and day out need to be involved in the process early!
Getting your team involved with finding and choosing a new business app will not only benefit you down the line, but also improve staff engagement.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Involve your people during the trial process
The good news is, the majority of public cloud apps today offer a trial before you sign up. So, why not take advantage of this and get a couple of your staff involved with trialling the system?
The same rule applies if you are building an app from scratch. People who will likely use the new system every day will help with identifying potential issues and opportunities early on.
The benefits of doing this?
- By testing real world scenarios, your team’s knowledge will mean that you will get the relevant feedback needed to make a purchase decision or adjust your custom-built app
- It will be much easier to determine the issues the app can solve, including what the deal breakers and nice-to-haves are
- The selected team can help on-board others down the track.
2. Find champions
As well as selecting a small group to try the software, it is important to find and encourage app champions amongst your staff. These are the so called “super users” or “admins”; the people that will understand the application more in-depth, and be able to support you in providing training to new and existing staff.
What a great way to invest in professional development and increase engagement!
3. Train… and train!
Just because the app may be easy to use, you can’t assume that your staff will get the ins and outs from day one. A great onboarding process includes training, even if that is a simple walk-through video describing the key functions of the software.
Pro tips:
a) Tiny Take can be a good tool for taking screen captures and providing a walk-through video, and the best? It is free!
b) Want a more polished video with a voice over? Camtasia can be your best friend in this case!
c) Don’t have time to create a video? Try a video freelancer from Fiverr. With video services starting at just $5USD, getting an explainer video has never been so easy.
4. Have regular check ups
As much as we would like to think otherwise, getting employee buy in is an ongoing process. Even if your staff loves the new app, know how to use it and the business is achieving the efficiency you hoped for, regular checks with your staff will highlight:
- Who the super users are (and give you opportunity to even reward them!)
- Opportunities for further training
- Any gaps that the tool may not be filling (which could become an opportunity to investigate other solutions)
- The success of your change management process.
These regular check-ins will show your staff that their input is appreciated, which in turn, increases the engagement at work.
While these steps are simple, they are often rushed or even forgotten during a change process. Almost three decades of experience in developing software has taught us that, businesses that adopt these simple tactics are able to successfully find and implement applications that staff use and love.
