People Are the Top Reason Your New Tech Efforts Fail
Yep, people. Your people. Sure, there are some mechanical reasons as well. But, nearly every conversation about why a new technology endeavor failed to meet objectives comes down to people. In fact, it’s amazing how true this statement is…and amazing how easy it is to mitigate.
Before we dive in, let’s explore and test an overarching and broad-brushed statement about most people and their jobs.
One could assert that upon coming to work each day (or firing up their laptop for remote employees), all most people really want is clarity about what is expected, proper resources to do it well, access to opportunities to learn and grow, and be heard, and to be recognized and fairly compensated.
There are certainly some nuances to this thesis, but assuming most agree that this is close, let’s bring this back to why people are the most common reason your new technology efforts are likely to fail.
At the core, nearly every piece of technology a business can leverage is intended to drive efficiency, growth, regulatory compliance…all in accordance with the company’s own strategic initiatives. And each of these, at some point, require people…people to do the work, people to determine if it is going well, people to determine what needs fixed, people to decide what is needed for the future, people to assess how to move forward, and back to people to do the work.
Sure, technology and any variety of things can impact how many people are needed and what those people do. But we are a long way from a world where business doesn’t need people. A long way.
So, how is it these people’s fault? How are they the top reason a business’s new tech efforts fail? Well, ok, they aren’t. Not your team anyway. Perhaps this is controversial, but the people most at fault…or, more positively stated, those in a role to ensure success, are the leaders of the organization.
Why the hyperbole? Given the assertions made thus far about what people – the team, are looking for at work and how significant people are to literally every aspect of a business, it’s unfortunate to see examples where they weren’t proactively integrated into technology needs, choices, and implementations. Again, rephrasing the positive, it’s amazing to see how well technology needs, choices, and implementations do go when a company’s team is highly engaged and supported through that journey!
This is not a new message, as much has been written and spoken about change management and culture… and deservedly so. But we often get asked for some specific examples. To help, ACT has built a tool kit titled “7 Steps to Better Agency Tech Decisions“. This is a high-level framework to navigating what can be very complex, confusing, and even emotional. Additionally, we’re in the process of updating it to include AI considerations as well.
Let’s dive into several specifics and change the narrative to:
“People – The Top Reason Your New Tech Efforts Succeed”
- Be transparent about your plans for the business now and in the foreseeable future as this will help your team better understand the decisions you are making.
- Be very clear about their role in your plans, their job descriptions, performance metrics, how they’ll be compensated, and again, tie those to your plans.
- Give your team defined processes, make certain they understand why the processes exist, train them, continue to train and coach them, and be open to their ideas about improvements.
- Truly engage your team and offer them safe avenues and opportunities to share what is working well and what isn’t working as intended.
- Address the people and processes areas first.
- Consider technology and new tools after people and process.
- Do a deep dive into your current technology to make certain you are using it to its fullest and that your team is fully trained.
- If new tools make sense, engage the right people on your team to be a part of the selection, due diligence, RFP, demos, installation, training…all of it! Note, not every employee can be involved here based on size of your company. If choosing a subset of the team to be involved, be transparent about what they are doing, how feedback will be gathered, and how updates will be shared.
- After a tool is chosen and installed, your team is trained, and you’re humming along, revisit all of the above and be open to continuous improvement. After all, not everything goes perfectly, and your team will be among the first to notice.
- Keep iterating and involve your team!
As you can see, it takes all of the people in a business to ensure success. It takes leaders who define strategy, create a vision, motivate the team, and give them what they need to be successful. And it takes engaged, trained, and celebrated employees who are bought into the company’s goals.
It takes people. Yep, people. Your people….and You.
Chris Cline is the Executive Director of the Agents Council for Technology (ACT).