If your team has always done work in a certain way, implementing changes could probably bring a bit of friction. This applies to getting your team to adopt new tools and new ways of doing work. For most businesses, adapting to new tools and new ways are brought by the transition from office work to remote working models. However, these practices can be applied almost every time you undergo certain changes in your company.
Just asking someone to make a change is quite often a recipe for disaster. If your staff have been working under time pressure, they’re probably going to revert to the old way of doing work when you attempt to implement changes. And that might look like:
- sending documents by email;
- asking project questions via phone calls, or;
- going about their work without a sense of accountability
Now, we see these scenarios many times in businesses that abruptly shifted from working in an office setting to flexible work. It takes years to get the flexible work setup right. But thankfully, Onsite Helper has a shortcut to help you move faster. We’ve been doing this a long time ourselves, so we know how to implement efficient and effective change to businesses. And we’ve also helped thousands of businesses in Australia and throughout the world, in making their transition smoother and easier.
How to make remote working easy and apply changes effectively
Right off the bat, there are two things to get right. But the idea here is that we have a multi-pronged approach in helping you to implement new technology. So let’s talk about what it looks like when implementing cloud tools that significantly improve remote working.
Having the right setup makes all the difference in remote working
The first step is the setup. And that’s actually making sure that the tools are being set correctly, and they’re fully applied or executed. Now, many business owners just jump into SAS software and will start setting things up themselves. And they do this because they don’t want to miss all the features, but what they don’t know is that they missed something important. They missed the process of making sure it’s the right fit for their business.
- Does it fit in with your business processes, rather than shaping the business processes around the piece of technology?
- Can you make sure that the piece of technology actually shapes itself around your business processes?
- Can you ensure that you do it in a way that’s not clunky?
- Are you using the right kind of technology implementation methodology?
These are guide questions to go by. Onsite Helper has delivered literally thousands and thousands of project implementations. So rest assured, our team has got some sweet systems, and quick wins to make sure technology implementation goes well.
We want to start your team with something that’s really easy in order for your staff to build some confidence. For once they build a couple of quick wins and confidence, they’re more likely to implement the technology tool. In turn, they’ll be engaged with learning the new technology and how it can help the business.
Google Chat setup
When your team has a workroom set up in Google Chat, then that would be a place where they can go to jump in and ask questions.
If there’s no group chat, then creating one is going to be perceived as harder than talking via email. And if that’s the case, then the team will revert to the old methodology – talking via email.
To prevent the team from going back to their old ways, we:
- Set up the group chat,
- Properly brief the team, “Hey, this is the best place for you to go and ask for help.”
- Set rules and boundaries, “We’re not going to use email anymore for our internal chat”
So we’re going to set up a new system, we’re going to give the team some baby steps, some encouragement. But we’re also going to set a boundary by removing the old system. So little tricks like that are going to help the implementation go well.
Google Drive setup
If the storage structure for your files and your folders are set up correctly inside Google Drive, then it’s pretty easy to know where to put or find files. Files like the annual report or any of the documents that the team are working with will be easy to find if you have a basic and logical file structure in place. With a structure like that, you don’t have to bother workmates and ask where files are stored.
Additionally, having the right file permissions and DLP regulations means that everyone has access to the files that they need. Files are also safe from breaches or unnecessary downloads or sharing, which keeps company data safe. Moreover, if a new team member joins the company, they would immediately have access to the files that they need to start working. This ultimately means fewer interruptions, everything is organised, and you have access to the files that you need.
But with both of these strategies, you can see it’s not just enough to throw the technology tool at a team member. They need to be actually set up and configured to match your business. You need to make sure that you bring your team in to actually experience those tools and work with those tools effectively as well.
Proper training will keep things working
Now training in the old way of doing would be like death by PowerPoint. Typically, it’s wherein you stick everyone in a room and be all “here’s how you do the thing”. But now, training should really be a lot more experiential. And for us to really get engagement and buy-in from the team, we want to show the benefits of the new tools.
The key to making sure that people actually adopt a new piece of technology is ensuring that they know how this new way of working is going to help save them time, make their job easier.
Every time we’re implementing a technology tool for our customers, we want to make sure that their team gets access to knowledge on how they’re going to actually use the tool. Now the focus here is on the positives, we want to help them get some quick wins. So they can make sure that they feel embodied in “this is going to help me”, “this is a great tool”, or “this is a great change”. And then from there, it’s about supporting that change.
Merely telling your team to use the tools without furthering their usefulness and how they can help their work, is just going to get resistance from them. But when someone shows them how their work is going to be a lot easier with these new tools, they will be inspired and more proactive in adapting to the change in your company. This works perfectly for hybrid, office, and remote working systems.
Takeaways to reflect on
So Onsite Helper has given you some tips on technology implementation. Think about your business right now, reflect on where things are at right now. And if you have some technology systems that you’ve kind of half-implemented, but it hasn’t really happened the way you wanted it to, or maybe you set something up, but you find your team is not really using it right now, then we can absolutely help.
Onsite Helper specialises, not only in Google Workspace, but a whole host of applications and services specifically for medium-sized enterprises, and even companies with larger system space. We love helping teams to be more efficient and effective by implementing the right technology for them.
Our mission is all about having happier work teams so we can have happier lives, whether for office or remote working systems. For us, it’s all about putting the right tools in the hands of your team. So you can empower them to do great work. If you’re interested in jumping on board with our team or even just having an introductory call, jump on the button right down below. We can run a system audit for you to know exactly what you need to implement and help you get the most out of your investments in the cloud tools that you have in your business.
