5 winning strategies for driving adoption in construction technology

The technology we need for transforming the construction industry already exists.  Many of these technologies have been captured in platforms and products which means the remaining challenge is adoption.

How do we drive the adoption we need to get the benefits of technology that already exists?

1 – Focus on the top 20%

It’s natural to focus on those that resist change the hardest, who kick back and complain about doing things differently when they don’t see anything wrong with the old way of doing things.  Studies have shown that the true path to behavioural change lies in focusing at the other end of the spectrum.  Engage, empower and recognise the champions and evangelists of change.  They will become energised, drive the change process and drag along the remainder of the team.

2 – Make it simple enough for the “laggards”

There are 5 types of adopters - innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and laggards.  Simplifying the user experience and making use of technology the path of least resistance to complete a process will accelerate adoption through these types of users and bring the laggards on board.

3 – Change habits before process

Research suggests it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic.  If it’s possible to augment technology into an existing process before that process is changed, or allow users to have a familiar process to use in parallel then adoption rates are generally higher.  It’s going to take at least 2 months of daily use for adoption to become a habit and behaviours permanently changed – some systems may only be used once a week or even less frequently so perseverance is key!

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4 – Relentlessly follow through

There is a tendency to trial technology, systems and platforms for relatively short periods and expect instant adoption and benefits.  In practice, to gain long term benefits, we need to work on the three steps above and relentlessly follow through with the team.  This takes tenacity, active and adaptive leadership combined with communication channels allowing for constant feedback.  Adopting new technology needs senior leadership engagement and passion, anything else results in a suboptimal result.

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5 – Small steps are worth celebrating

Adoption is a long game.  The innovators and early adopters will give the impression that it’s going to be easy however unless you follow the steps above that’s as far as you may get.  Celebrate small successes, recognise and reward the top 20% who are driving adoption.

Our philosophy is that you don’t need instructions for Netflix so why should you for construction technology?

Raildiary has been developed with User experience and simplicity at its core, click here to find out more: https://www.raildiary.com/en/book-a-demo

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