Seven effective strategies to get your employees to embrace new tech

Every owner or manager of a tour or attractions company will, at some point, need to install
new technology in some of your processes to ensure that your customers continue to enjoy
the best possible experience, and that you boost your business.
Many of you may already be aware of a potentially huge barrier to this change: push-back
from your employees.

Not all pushback is invalid

Take a moment to consider if your employees’ concerns are valid. Not all projects are
cloaked in virtue. Many of you will have encountered (or even be guilty of) the evil twins:

• The pet project: dear to your heart but not necessarily for the greater (company) good.
• The panic project: just because your main competitor did it doesn’t mean you have to do it; or you throw money at a problem without first understanding or investigating why the problem is occurring.

There are three truly valid reasons for business change:
1. Increase your revenue or sales; and/or
2. Increase value to your customers; and/or
3. Reduce your costs to become more competitive and/or increase return to shareholders.

If the project you are embarking on is not doing any of these, then your employees may be
right to push back: should you really be doing it?

If you can prove that your project robustly meets these three tests but you are still facing
internal resistance, it’s time to figure out how to overcome it.

Seven tried and tested steps to adoption heaven

1. Get everyone to rally around the “why”

No-one likes being ordered around or feeling powerless regarding decisions which affect
them. Clearly explain the expected benefits to those employees, your company in general
and your customers, as well as help them appreciate the ultimate goal(s) behind the
changes. Once they know why the tech changes are happening, they may be more accepting
of them. By helping your people to see the bigger picture, they will be happier about the
role they and the tech play in that picture.

2. Are new tricks really better tricks?

What is good for you as a business owner or manager level may not always be good for your
staff. Your people may have evolved their own best practices and be proud that they can
complete certain aspects of their roles more quickly and efficiently than tech ever could.
Pause for a moment to consider whether bringing tech in really will make their lives easier!

Don’t expect your employees to assimilate the new tech at exactly the same rate. Some will
pick it up very quickly. For others, the mere idea of learning to operate tech will be scary
and they might need more support or time to do so. Review with your people individually
how tech will impact on how they fulfil their role. Identify those aspects which will be
improved by the new tech and fully support them with the elements they find daunting.
Factor this into your roll-out and implementation timeline.
Help your teams understand that, by mastering tech, they are increasing their skillset,
making themselves more employable. Many jobs (and industries) have been lost to
automation, so your teams may be worried that these changes are the beginning of a
slippery slope towards redundancy. The inconvenient truth is that this might be the case.
But if they can learn to love and use new this tech then they will be more attractive to a
potential employer should their role ultimately become redundant.

3. Get buy-in from the employee(s) who will be operating it

Identify a strong internal advocate, preferably from the team(s) which will be most affected
by the tech change. Their role will be to offer a human portal to employees who wish to
raise concerns without fear of reprisal. This will help you unearth, address and resolve
issues. It will also reduce the impact of ‘blockers’ – employees who spread negative
messages or vibes about the new tech.
Your manager level will be essential to the success of any new tech rollout. So ensure that
managers are given particular support and training how to properly use the software.

4. Sweetener power

Don’t discount the power of an incentive and find motivating ways to sweeten the tech
change. For example, if the goal is to increase productivity, then you can expect an increase
in revenue. Consider using this windfall to offer financial incentives, such as a pay rise or
bonus.

5. Make sure your tech solution is the best one for your teams!

Don’t assume that because one team or department will adapt seamlessly, that all of them
will. Make sure you secure engagement from each team, business function or department
that is affected by the implementation of the tech. You may need to adapt your approach
depending on the function in question: what works for employees on an operational level
(eg front of house operators or helpdesk professionals) may be less effective on those
undertaking a sales or marketing function.
However, you may notice that if you have operations in multiple locations, the same
function-focused solutions may apply. For example, employees working street-level sales
roles may benefit from the same tech solution regardless of whether they are in Berlin or
Rome.

6. It’s not the tech, it’s you!

The effectiveness of a tech solution does not tend to fluctuate. What decides if it has a
positive impact will be how well you implement and use it. It is not the tech that makes the
difference – it’s your company. More specifically: it’s you!
In a thriving work environment, you could expect efficient roll-out, excellent take-up rate,
strong engagement and effective use of the new tech toolkit. In toxic or poorly-managed
workplaces, you may see any or all of the following:

• Poor training or explanations to the tech operators;
• Incorrect or inefficient use; or
• Frustration and disengagement.

In short, a waste of time and money.

To get the strongest engagement and most advantage from the new tech, you will need.

• A transparent and inclusive planning stage – involving employees whose roles will be
  affected or impacted by the new tech.
• Methodical roll-out – remember a transparent and well communicated timeline.
• Robust initial training programme(s).
• Ongoing top-up training sessions (either one-to-one or in groups) tailored to operators’
  preferences.

7. Be a good listener

Understandably, your employees will have concerns. If they are on your frontline or in
customer-facing roles, they may worry that they will be losing an aspect of their role which
is important to them: the personal touch. Or they might consider themselves technophobic
and fear that their performance will suffer.

How you address these – and other worries – will count towards the success of your tech
rollout. We have a few suggestions:

• Set up regular forums for you to discuss progress, explain the next steps and gather
  feedback.
• Offer ‘surgeries’ in which employees can confer in confidence with the project advocate.
• Using these events will also be an excellent opportunity to impart success stories and
  build up positive momentum around the change.

Above all, it is crucial that you listen to your employees:
1. Listen to their concerns and suggestions before the change;
2. Listen to their observations and input as you roll out the change; and
3. Listen to their feedback once the new tech is operational.

Conclusion

Your customers are expecting increasingly tailored and personal service and communication. So it is inevitable that, to meet these expectations, at some point you will need to roll out a new tech solution to some of your B2B or B2C
processes.

The good news is that even your most technophobic employees will find our tech so
intuitive and easy to use, integrating it into the relevant business functions will be a smooth
and stress-free process with successful implementation a guarantee.
So contact us today to find out how you can easily implement our booking, payment and
check-in software – pain-free.
Let our tech streamline and boost your tour or attraction business – without internal
pushback!