Monday, December 01, 2008

Getting Employees to Love New Technology

If you are before Generation X, or Z, or whatever they call us now, you probalby find new technology overwhelming. Many employees find that technology quite overwhelming as well. Trying to get them to embrace changes that help your business can be daunting at times. They either are just too overwhelmed to learn it, or they simply can't grasp it. The days of simply pumping out Kohler faucets with arcane technology is slowing passing us by. Now employees are supposed to adapt with the new technology environments they are put into. Either that or they become obsolete.

The most common mistake in implementing new technology occurs when the selection comes solely from the top, says Stephen Andriole, a former chief technical officer who teaches business technology management and corporate strategy at Villanova University's business school. Employees bristle at being force-fed new ways to do their jobs, especially if the technology is difficult to use and actually makes those jobs harder in the short term. "Many users will happily nod their head as the technology gets deployed," Andriole says. "But within days, they have figured out ways around it so they can do their job the way they always did, which results in a big waste of time and money all around."


Here. Here. Employees are actually a lot more creative than we give them credit for. When they are so used to doing things a certain way, usually they DO ffind a way to revert back to the old way because it is simply easier for them to do it that way. In the long run that doesn't help them, or the company if they continue to shelve new, and better technology to do their jobs.

How do you get them to not only use, but love that new technology? Take a look at this in depth report on how to implement new technology in your business, and how to get your employees to use it successfully.

Managing Your Business: NFL Style

I always like when someone uses something like football to describe the process of running a business. Certainly I love the use of catch phrases and people who use sayings every time they talk like coaches do. "We have to play a full 60 minutes", "We need to pound the rock", "That guy has a motor", etc. Nothing better than phrases you can use in everyday life to show that you don't like to actually think of things yourself.

If you watch the NFL you may not see it all the time, but the game is a manager's dream. The process of the vbuilding and running a football team is much like a business. This guy talks about how the NFL mirrors a business, or at least lessons you can learn about simple business concepts by seeing it in the NFL.

Whether you produce ball lock pins, or you are a financial advisor, seeing things in simplistic terms like he says is kind of important. Only a businessman could think of business all the time when they watch sports. Surely, his mind works that way and many of ours do too. Seeing opportunity, or seeing how to prevent loss in business in other aspects of life is somethng that we should notice in everyday life.