Today’s technology can help solve many management issues within a hospital system.   It can be tempting to bring on new software to handle an issue,  but it’s not as easy as waving a magic wand to get your team to accept it. Introducing new technology without proper preparation and integration techniques can lead to you being right back where you started, and it isn’t the technology’s fault. Before implementing a new form of tech to help your team, it’s important to plan, prepare and get buy-in to make sure both your team and the technology are successful

The key to integrating new tech is to get support from every level to ensure it succeeds. Making sure your team doesn’t write off its effectiveness before trying – or even after trying and failing a couple of times doesn’t mean it can’t work next time! Just remember that even if it’s a little bit bumpy at the start, in the future those bumps can be significantly reduced for a long time to come.

Five Points of Advice for Implementing New Software

Establish the Objectives AND the Benefits

It’s important for your team to understand the goals and benefits of implementing new software.. If they don’t have a clear vision of what the advantages will be for them then it is more likely that you will face resistance in adapting to this new tech. 

 For example, take a new software program that uses different processes. If your team is so used to their prior tech then it’s going to be very difficult to smoothly implement new software even if the benefits are great enough that the process will be simpler for everyone. Reassurance of this eventual benefit and change is a crucial step to implementing new technology.

Encourage Experimentation

While this may seem counteractive to the prior point, it’s still important to keep in mind and also encourage along the path of adaptation. Empowering your team with the capability to learn on their own and try different things can lead to stronger overall performance. While direction is important the team should still feel like they are trusted to learn and adapt on their own too. Allowing the team to learn new tricks makes them feel more knowledgeable and empowered knowing they figured it out independently. This experimentation can greatly increase the atmosphere of the team regarding the change and have better results overall. They might even become a bigger expert than you!

Be the Lead (By example)

As the leader initiating the changes, it’s key to lead your team by example in showing them how to adapt to the new technology, and showing your enthusiasm for it. . If the new tech doesn’t appear to be fully accepted from the top-down, then it is very unlikely to succeed. So get excited about the new changes! The more you and your team resist or push-back against certain changes then the more likely it is that the results won’t be what was initially expected. 

However, be realistic about the change. It won’t be perfect. Acknowledge the imperfections but emphasize that the positives outweigh the negatives. Being an enthusiastic cheerleader for the product while also being aware of its flaws will build trust with your team.

Listen to and Encourage Feedback

As  the team adapts, it’s important to not just hear out any concerns that may arise, but encourage it, too. For example, you could create a central document to allow users to either openly or anonymously ask questions and contribute to, or you could establish a weekly meeting to pull together said submissions and discuss them as a team.While you may not be able to directly change the technology, you can change how you adapt to it and what parts of it you may use. Or maybe it’s more simple than that and they are just misunderstanding part of the new tech. Opening up the channels of communication will help create a feedback loop where everyone is supporting each other and helping each other learn the new quirks of the tech.

 Another idea to consider with this point is that once this feedback goes back to their providers/partners, then they can make the necessary changes if it’s an issue with the product after all. Most tech partners are quick to adjust but can only do so with feedback from the actual user. A constant feedback loop can help everyone adjust and become better in the process! This could be done by having daily check-ins for the first week or two and continuing to space them out more as the implementation process continues. This ensures any immediate and widespread problems are taken care of quickly.

Acknowledge and celebrate Success

As your team takes steps to use the technology and meets their goals, it’s important to celebrate the wins, no matter how small. This can be on a team-wide level or even on an individual one. Maybe a team member displays mastery of the new implementation and is able to become a strong peer for others, this accomplishment can then  be acknowledged by the lead to encourage future success for them and the rest of the group. Or if the team is implementing a part of the software in their day-to-day tasks effectively, reward the entire team to let them know you appreciate their efforts.  This will ensure that everyone is motivated to reach future milestones. 

 You could show this celebration through various different methods, such as: hosting parties after work, catering for your team, gift card incentives, longer breaks, etc. These kinds of rewards can be that extra motivator to go above and beyond!

In Conclusion

New technology can seem intimidating, and people often become complacent with older tech that isn’t as effective as the shiny new.  We all know what it’s like to enter that loop and become comfortable. Remember that for the better of you and your team the changes often need to be made, and remembering the best practices to do so can help everyone to get through that challenging implementation phase. The world is constantly changing to be faster and more efficient, so why not do everything you can to help your team evolve too!