4 Tips to Implementing Technology Into Your Team

⏱ 4 min read

Most of us understand the need for technology. Especially in construction. And, ultimately know it will help the business but bringing technology into a team that is under-skilled and underprepared for the change can have the opposite effect on business productivity and team morale. So how can you go about rolling out technology to your team without the backlash or growing pains?

1. Make sure the technology is solving the problems that your company is facing

When it comes to technology, it can be tempting to jump on the latest trend because it seems smart or flashy, without knowing whether it is really right for your business, or if it is actually going to fix the problem that you are facing. Before investing in any new technology for your business, take some time (we recommend a few weeks) to note all of the pain points that you are facing in a clear and concise list. This way, when you go ‘shopping’ for your technology solution you will be able to choose the one (or two) that meet your business's specific needs.

One of the best ways of finding out if technology can really work for your business is by gaining access to a free demo version. In software, this will give you a chance to have a ‘play’ around, see how easy it is to use and learn if the functions advertised suit the way that your business operates.

2. Slow and steady wins the race.

The phrase ‘go big or go home’ could not be less accurate when it comes to a tech rollout. Getting a tech rollout wrong across multiple sites, sometimes in multiple countries can have catastrophic effects on productivity, staff morale and budgets. Try starting small, by introducing new tech onto just one or two sites at a time, you can assess whether or not the initial adoption period has an effect on productivity, and if so, make a plan to phase the rollout in a way that reduces any impact as much as possible.

Similarly, if you have operatives that you can move to different sites, you could adopt a ‘buddy’ system, where one operative is trained on the pilot site, they then swap to the secondary site that has not adopted the technology yet and lead the rollout over there.

3. Select your key team to facilitate a smooth rollout

Once you have chosen your technology, we highly recommend that identify the best individuals to lead the rollout and become champions of the tech. Whether this is your site manager or a younger site supervisor who is part of the digital native era (generally considered to be between the ages of 18-25), make sure they are fully involved in the adoption of the technology, and attend any formal training that is offered by the company introducing the tech to your business. If they understand both how to use the technology, and why it is important that the technology is used correctly, they can become advocates for correct use across all sites, provide short training sessions for other operatives and ensure that the whole team can adapt to the new ways of working expected of them.

4. Rollout, launch and monitor…

Congratulations, you’ve made it this far and this is the exciting part. With lessons learnt from the pilot, and perhaps a new direction taken all together (it’s okay not to pick the right solution on the first try) it is now time to take the technology to the rest of your team. Task your chosen tech champions with delivering in-house training to their teams and leading by example showing good working practices and highlighting the benefits of the tech in real-time.

When launching a technology product, the most critical time in its adoption is the first few weeks, if the technology does not show that it is solving the highlighted pain points by this time, those that were resilient to the change may lose interest and revert back to old working practices.

Continue to monitor how the technology is being used, and report openly on the benefits that both the company and operatives are seeing due to the change. Honesty is the best policy at this point.