6 Ways to Jell: Your Guide to Better Technology Adoption

Introduction

Ah, the joys of new technology adoption.

If businesses want to keep their competitive edge, efficiently adopting new technologies is a must. However, this is often easier said than done. Perhaps one of the most important things to keep in mind is that every team is comprised of at least three different types of people:

1. The tech guru that loves to try every and any new technology.
2. The willing participant that’s just not tech savvy.
3. The person that, regardless of technological savviness, has no desire to stray from the status quo.

So how can you convince all of these different types to adopt a new technology effectively and smoothly? These six tried-and-true methods are sure to get your team up and running with minimum hassle.

1. Share the “Why”

Nothing is more annoying than being told that not only do you have to go to the trouble of learning a new technology (which is frustrating enough by itself), but you also have to do it without knowing why. Just because someone “says so” isn’t always going to cut it, right?

Many employees need to be shown what’s in it for them in order to truly invest their time and energy into technology adoption.

By sharing why you want the whole team to adopt a new technology, you can pull them into your vision where using it makes their lives easier.

With Jell, it’s important to communicate with your team before you start onboarding about why they need to take time out of the beginning of their day to fill out your questions.

While Jell’s value is obvious to you, it won’t be obvious to everyone at first. As Adoption Officer, part of your duties will be to share the benefits specific to your team so that all stakeholders can share your vision of a better future.

2. Training, training, training

Remember those different personality types we talked about? The tech gurus on your team aren’t likely to need a lot of training on adopting a new technology; however, not everyone is going to share that same enthusiasm and aptitude – which is why you have to show them how to use your new technology.

As Adoption Officer, it’s important that you provide training to your team before the adoption date and in more than one format. Some members of your team are going to prefer to read the manual, while others will prefer watching videos. Still, others will need more hands-on and individualized training. Adoption rates soar when teams provide different training methods.

For Jell, we provide documentation, videos, and individualized training on request. Teams that make a training plan and implement it before the adoption date find they have an adoption rate much higher than teams that don’t.

3. All the cool kids do it

There’s nothing quite like positive peer pressure, even for adults. Find the most socially influential people on your team and get them to help you with technology adoption.

If you can get your “popular” folks on board with the adoption process, they can cajole and help train your more reticent team members into a smoother adoption.

4. Make it routine

Studies show that it takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days for things to become habit, with 66 days being the average. That being said, no one has 66 days to try out a new technology.

This is why it’s so important to have your team members trained and on board with the adoption plan from day one. The teams that have an assigned Adoption Officer who makes sure everyone is submitting as they should every day are the most successful.

With Jell, we provide you with a free trial so that you can make sure our product is the best fit for your team; however, it’s important to actually use it every day. Otherwise, there’s no way to properly gauge the fit. If you run into any problems or have any questions, feel free to contact us – we usually return emails within 1 – 2 business days.

5. Everyone wants to be a winner

Gamification is a real motivator for people, young and old alike.

Rewarding your teammates for their participation with incentives is a sure-fire way to make sure your technology adoption plan rolls out smoothly.

One of the best examples of gamification we’ve seen is where the company provided the team with the highest adoption rate for the quarter a gift card for each team member. Other teams have offered an extra day of PTO, an office lunch, or UberEats ordered for the winners of their challenge.

6. Make it fun

Which are you going to be more likely to use – an app that feels like a chore, or something that’s fun?

Daily standups aren’t necessarily going to be the most enjoyable part of everyone’s day, but there are ways you can make them more fun.

Beyond gamification, we’ve had teams that have incorporated weekly “pun days” on Fridays or emotional check-ins using emojis.

There are countless ways you can make asynchronous standups less like a chore, but you should make sure they’re tailored to your team’s individual needs.

Conclusion

Make sure you’re getting the best ROI for your new product by making use of these key takeaways:

1. Make sure your colleagues share your vision of a better future where the technology makes their lives easier.
2. Before your first day of using a new technology, make sure that you’ve trained everyone in at least three different ways.
3. Leverage the social dynamics of your team in your favor.
4. It takes a minimum of 18 days to make something habit, so your Adoption Officer is going to have to stay on top of your team for at least that long if you want a decent ROI.
5. Find ways to play to everyone’s inner child with challenges and rewards.
6. The less like a chore you can make a product’s usage, the better. Keep users from getting bored with team specific strategies that generate good will.