All Together Now

As business leaders, we provide technological tools for staff to do their work, making it easier for the entire team to collectively pursue the mission and vision of the organization. When the staff uses the technology they have been given, and when they use that technology well, the business succeeds.

But it’s not always so easy. Maybe staff does not want to use the tools we have provided because they prefer how they get their work now. They have comfortable productivity habits, they trust that their private information will be kept private, and that their public information can easily be shared. Maybe staff doesn’t understand the tools that are now being provided, and the hour-long training session only added to their stress, confusion, and to their fear of change.

If you build it, they will not necessarily come. If you set the table, they will not necessarily eat. If you invite them in, they may not want to join you. If you make new software available to your staff, they may not use it.

Before any announcement is made about the great new software we are introducing, we must first be familiar with our staff and how they work. Important questions need be asked and answered. We need to lead with empathy and understanding. We need to understand the human aspect of work before we attempt to provide technological solutions.

1. How do people communicate?
   We need to know not only what tools staff uses now, but why do they use those tools? What do they use for email, what do they use for chat, what do they use for collaboration? Is it just that they have used this preferred software for a long time and it is comfortable, or does their preferred software address a specific workflow problem?
   
2. How do people save and share their work?
   Where is work stored, and are team projects easily accessible? Is work shared in a way that revisions can be easily made and shared? Can individuals be confident their private files are private, and their team files are accessible?
   
3. How do people collaborate?
   While I suppose email is a form of digital collaboration, it goes a lot deeper than that. How are meetings scheduled? How is work tracked? How are people kept aware of due dates?
   
4. How much do people trust each other?
   Using new collaboration software means that staff members will need to trust each other if work-in-progress is being shared, and that colleagues will stay connected to current work projects.
   
5. How much do people trust the organization?
   Any gap between the employee experience and the mission, vision and values of the organization may result in employee loss of trust. First determine the gaps between what we say and what we do, and explore how the software being introduced, and leaderships’ adoption of the software, can help that gap to narrow.

In other words, we need to know how our staff works now before we ask them to work differently. We need to know how they connect. We need to commit to using the software ourselves before we ask them to use the software. We need to use the introduction of these new tools to generate more trust, and more collaboration. We need to ask the questions.

How are you doing with software engagement at your organization?