Winning Technology Adoption from the Office to the Field

The construction sector is often wrongly labeled as resistant to change. The truth is, crews readily embrace tools that make sense and save time. The challenge lies with innovation leaders.

When leaders master new systems and clearly prove their value, naysayers quickly become champions. This article explores how to get started with the technology adoption process and offers tips for personalizing training to win over users.

5 key tips for choosing and implementing new tech

New technology should never be adopted for its own sake. It must directly support core goals like risk mitigation, efficiency and safe, profitable project delivery. These benefits must be clearly demonstrated to both office and field teams.

Success begins with leaders who immerse themselves in a system's functions well before a rollout, so they can answer questions, remove friction and show real-world value.

Here are 5 key tips leaders should consider when choosing and implementing a tech tool.

1. Pick your battles.

Tech can’t solve every problem at once. The highest ROI, in money and time, comes from targeting the most error-prone or problematic processes.

For example, if submitting timecards involves cumbersome handwritten forms, inefficient submittal processes and manual digital entry, mistakes will be made and time consumed.

2. Find a versatile tool.

Construction management software can be limited to a certain process, such as those timecard submittals, or it can serve as a platform for further growth.

Choosing a versatile, robust system gives the organization’s technological powers room to expand.

3. Master the system.

Don’t drop a new, untested system into the hands of field people, who are sure to find too much frustration and too few answers.

Instead, the initiative lead should keep the system in the office until features and workflow have been thoroughly tested. The leaders who learn how to operate the system build their expertise, project confidence and establish themselves as the go-to resource for questions and problems.

4. Conduct pilot testing.

After office-level beta testing is complete, it’s time to slowly spool out the system to the field. Start with a handful of champions, chosen for their collaborative natures and the respect of their peers and teams. When approaching them, frame the situation as an opportunity to help improve the company and resolve the field’s most irksome problems.

5. Welcome a mix of perspectives in leadership.

Technology initiatives benefit when leadership includes different voices. Skepticism isn’t a hurdle. It’s valuable, because it forces the team to think critically and refine the process before rollout. If no one naturally fills the role of a skeptic, challenge yourselves as a company to step back and question assumptions.

Making training stick

In addition to clearly articulating value during a rollout, training practices must demonstrate unwavering support to avoid resistance to adoption. Adoption is successful when training shows patience, proves value and supports the team every step of the way.

Instead of having a room full of people watch presentations or get sent to YouTube videos, try personalizing training. Design toolbox training sessions and deliver them as often as needed, one on one or in small groups. Walk users through every step, demonstrating the advantages over previous processes.

Make it clear to every user that someone is available to answer any and all questions. When calls for help come in, a little contrition from the trainer can help users feel comfortable reaching out.

Collect feedback from the team daily or weekly, whether informally or formally. After a technology has been rolled out individually — without a big announcement — bring the team together for open feedback.

Ask how people feel about the system and what they would change. If the rollout has been sensitive to change management and has proven the leader's 100% mastery of the system, there is a good chance that users will say they love it and want more.

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Making change work

“Why change?” is a fair question on any jobsite. The real answer is that change is never about the tool. It’s about building a culture where improvement is constant.

With clear value and strong systems, the hardest part of adoption — the process itself — becomes simpler, and even skeptics can take pride in leading the way forward.

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