As the construction industry moves more towards cloud-based systems and online Construction Management software such as Procore, or Autodesk Construction Cloud, it’s important to adopt some of these programs and technologies. However, many companies make the mistake of adopting technology too fast due to time constraints, budget, or other reasons. Often, this leaves some employees struggling and frustrated, doing processes wrong, inputting incorrect information, or just not completing their new responsibilities thereby leaving any ROI back at zero or even in the negative. Here are a few pitfalls to avoid and help your employees succeed.
It Takes Time
We’ve all heard the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Any difficult task takes time and, due to the number of different backgrounds of your employees, it is hard to calculate how much time is needed. However, allocating 2-4 hours a week is better than cramming several back-back days with 4+ hours each of watching videos. Learning a new Construction Management System isn’t going to take a week or a month – it’s going to take a year and perhaps longer. Your company doesn’t need to switch all systems or processes over to a new system immediately. Start with a process, such as Change Orders, and train on that until everyone has mastered it.
Mastering Subjects
As I said above, start with one process and work your way through them one at a time. How do you know if someone has mastered a subject? I’d recommend following what is known as the “Learning Pyramid”. The learning pyramid is a visual example of how people learn, retain, and recall information. I recently brought this up on our Canadian podcast, “The Frozen Layer”, and explained a bit more in detail about it. To keep it short and simple, having your employees watch videos isn’t going to get them to learn any new software implementation. They need to interact with the content, discuss it, and even teach it to others.
Have Frequent Progress Meetings
Have frequent meetings to discuss problems, find solutions, and share tips among each other. I’d recommend once a week but even every other week is acceptable. Anything longer than this and employees may forget about their problem or a solution. This really gives a more personal experience as well. For example, if one employee is struggling with Change Orders, have another help them out for an hour or 2 that week. This promotes team building and helps everyone out at the end of the day. I’d also recommend breaking up these meetings by department, for example the field staff probably don’t need to know everything that the accountants are doing (and will probably get bored).
Bringing in a Consultant
If your team is still struggling, bring in an outside consultant like ZenTek Consultants. We can help you find any shortcomings in the adoption process with real world expertise. Now while your cost to adopt the software has gone up, it does help your employees focus on their jobs and responsibilities more. We’ve helped numerous companies and have numerous long-term contracts with our clients. Having an outsider looking in will also allow you to get a different perspective on your processes and how to optimize them, improving employee happiness and increasing ROI over time.
