Partner Spotlight: AroFlo

How to encourage technology adoption and minimise tech resistance in your workplace

Any business owner can tell you that integrating new technology into a business can do wonders for everything from efficiency to profitability. But what they rarely mention is that with every new addition comes the potential for tech resistance.

Encouraging technology adoption can be a tricky prospect in any workplace, and businesses within the trades, services, and construction sectors are not exempt from these pressures. However, increased reliance on digital automation has firmly shifted this focus to individual tech-savviness, and as a business owner, you now need to expect a certain level of proficiency from your employees. This is unlikely to change either, as modern industrial workplaces continue to be fragmented by technology and more employees begin to operate without direct contact with home base. So why then are employees often so quick to resist adopting new technology when the benefits of doing so far outweigh the work that goes into upgrading their knowledge? In the first article of this two-part series, we’ll examine tech resistance by discussing which factors lead to employee refusal, who is most likely to be affected, and what’s holding them back.

Read on to find out why your workers are dragging their feet and refusing to adopt new tech.

Understanding the factors that lead to technology resistance.

Employee age isn’t everything when it comes to tech resistance. A common myth (likely stemming from later generations having been exposed to more advanced technology from a young age) is that older workers are far more likely to exhibit tech resistance than younger members of a team. Within the trades, services, and construction industries you’ll find that while this can sometimes be the case, it’s often not what’s going on beneath the surface. Instead, ask yourself, ‘is the problem how old my employee is, or simply how set in their ways they’ve become?’ The longer your employees have had to grow comfortable with existing systems, the harder it will be for them to adopt new technology without immediately exhibiting some degree of resistance. While it is true that this can sometimes align neatly with age, don’t make the mistake of confusing one for the other. Instead, take a closer look at your employees and you’ll no doubt find that even younger team members can be very tech resistant at times. The age of your employees should never dictate their capacity to take up and become proficient with new technology.

‘Lack of urgency’ – What it is and why it affects technology uptake.

A problem you’re likely to experience when encouraging technology adoption is employees failing to see the importance of learning new systems and then resisting change as a result.

The exact reasons for this resistance can vary widely depending on factors such as the size of your workforce, your business structure, and even the type of tech you are trying to integrate. Broadly speaking, however, the most common situations that lead to a lack of urgency in employees are: • BEING TIME POOR

Working with very little time to spare from your day can sometimes blind employees to the potential that new technology has in making their lives easier. The less time they have, the more likely they are to drag their feet in learning new technology as a result.

• STILL BELIEVING THAT THE ‘OLD

WAY’ WORKS FINE

If you feel like your employees are stalling the process of adopting new tech, consider whether they might think that what they have now is good enough or even better than the new alternative? Remember, as the boss you have far more operational oversight than your employees and they might not yet fully understand what they stand to gain from adopting a new piece of technology.

• BEING INFLUENCED BY THE

‘GROUP MENTALITY’

Never rule out the potential for your employees to come together and decide what is best for themselves without your input. All it takes is one vocal member to say, “that can wait until next week” and suddenly everyone agrees that adopting new tech is no longer as urgent as you’ve made it out to be.

Knowing the difference between technology resistance and technology anxiety.

It’s worth keeping in mind that not all cases of employees refusing to adopt new technology can be strictly categorised as ‘tech resistance’. Sometimes the thought of adopting new technology can scare employees, a feeling they might not choose to share with either you or their peers without some prompting.

Reasons for technology anxiety can include:

• Fear of losing one’s job if they fail to learn a new technology. • Fear of losing one’s job as a direct result of more technology being added to a business. • Fear of looking incompetent to peers or superiors whilst learning or utilising new technology. • Fear of failing to use technology properly and causing harm or compromising their work. These fears pose a serious threat to your business and in some cases can completely prevent employees from adopting new technology willingly and successfully. Solutions to this problem are usually developed in-house but take care to ensure that every one of your employees is on the same page before progressing to any kind of implementation.

What do we mean by ‘on the same page’? Join us next issue when we discuss these solutions and outline the steps you can take to ensure that your employees are always ready to accept new technology.

SCROLLING TO A HALT

Our social media news feeds are stuffed full of advertising, so it’s no wonder that we have become so desensitised to adverts. On top of that, the volume we are exposed to daily is increasing — making it difficult for companies to cut-through the wake of adverts and stand out to their target audience.

In 2019, LinkedIn noted that we see approximately 5,000+ adverts PER DAY, with that number set to rise. Compare that to the 1970s, when it was estimated to be a few hundred per day.

The only way to keep our brains functioning without going into drooling overload is to pay attention selectively.

Barron’s Dictionary defines selective attention as the “tendency of a consumer to pay attention only to messages that address a need or interest or are consistent with the consumer’s attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.” Have you noticed that when you decide to buy a car and start looking into red Mazda MX5’s, you suddenly see them everywhere? It seems that overnight everybody had the same idea as you and rushed out to buy one. Weird right? Well, the psychology is fascinating. You started seeing them because you cognitively chose to pay attention to that car.

So how the hell does that relate to owning a trade business?

Good point. You want to be that shiny red car that the customer sees and remembers. The second that they decide they are going to, for instance, renovate their bathroom, you want to ensure that YOUR plumbing company is the brand that they see and recall. This is called being 'top of mind', and it's a tough place to get — but not impossible! You need to be creative and unique with your marketing and spend your money wisely.

Social media is where most businesses spend their marketing dollars.

As mentioned, our social media feeds are already packed with adverts. The implementation of cookies and data tracking, are allowing the adverts we see to be more targeted to our interests, wants and needs — in a bid to cut through the clutter and grab your attention. That’s why the second you punch in “Red Mazda MX5’’ to Google, suddenly every second advert in your social media feed is for cars, or car related products. Your phone is tracking your search history, in order to provide you with targeted advertising. (creepy right??)

Research suggests our collective global attention span is narrowing because of the abundance of information presented to us. Therefore in order for your advert to stand out, you need to get smart. One way around selective attention, especially on social media, is humour — we are more likely to pay attention to funny adverts, and social platforms are a great platform for humour as it’s easy to like and share. Humour is a way for businesses to make an emotional connection with consumers. It tugs at our emotions, eliciting a positive emotion like laughter, which creates an impression. If you can get a potential customer to stop, and look at your advert because it’s funny that’s a massive win! Because they stopped scrolling and selectively CHOSE to pay attention to your advert.

The billboard methodology.

Scrolling through social media is similar to zooming along a highway.

When you’re speeding along a highway at 80kms you have approximately three seconds to see and digest billboard advertising. Given the miniscule time frame, it’s a basic marketing principles billboards therefore, should have a maximum of;

• Five words. • One simple image. • Logo positioned at the bottom right-hand corner. • Bright colours. These elements when combined, grab your attention and make the advertising quick and easy to understand. So it’s easy to understand why similar marketing principles should be applied to your social media marketing. We also tend to remember funnier things better than factual information, so keeping your advert short, punchy and humours is a sure-fire way to break through that attention barrier. So overall, to be a true scroll stopper you need to push past the selective attention barrier. The best advice is to just have fun with your marketing. Don’t overthink it, just create content that you believe resonates with your ideal customers wants and needs. You want them to notice you, and keep noticing you!

Marketing always feels daunting, and like throwing money into a black hole. But when you can break it down into small bite sized chunks, and understand the psychology behind it, suddenly it doesn’t seem so scary, and you can start creating scroll stopping adverts.

NEXT ISSUE

Quote Like A Pro

You spend big to get the customer to give you the opportunity to quote on the job. But then after you’ve sent them the quote… How often do you follow up with them? Once? Twice? And then what, nothing? The truth is, most quotes get approved on the EIGHT OR NINTH contact.

Mid-year Drag

Do you feel like you start the year full of ideas and hope? Then by mid-year you’ve lost all motivation, and your short-term plans have been thrown out the window? We feel that! We chat about how to keep on top of your goals, and keep the motivation train moving through the mid-year lul.

Fergus ad 210x74.indd 1 “We never miss a job and we never miss a product [cost] now. Everything gets billed out. So the difference in turnover and cash flow has been huge.”

Tyler, AXT Plumbing

Get started with a Free Trial at

fergus.com

22/03/21 6:12 PM

Lifestyle Tradie Magazine is published by and © copyright by Andrew & Angela Smith, Lifestyle Tradie Group Pty Ltd 2021. All Rights Reserved. This newsletter and any accompanying material are for general information purposes only. It is the responsibility of the reader to comply with any local, state or federal laws. The Publisher has taken all reasonable measures to ensure that the material contained within this newsletter is correct. The Publisher provides no representation and gives no warranty as to the accuracy of the information and does not accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in the information contained herein and shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising as a result of any person acting in reliance on information contained herein.