4 best practices to train your teams to a new digital tool

Temps de lecture: 4 minutes

Implementing a new digital tool or software within your organization can improve everything from productivity to efficiency to engagement—but only if your team knows how to use it.

And whether your team knows how to use a new digital tool or software comes down to how well you train them.

Solid training can make all the difference in how well a new tool or software is adopted within your organization. But what, exactly, does that kind of solid training look like? Let’s take a look at four best practices to train your teams to a new digital tool.

Leverage existing resources for more general training…

When you train your teams to a new digital tool, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Chances are, that digital tool already has a variety of training resources. All you have to do is take advantage of them.

While the training resources will differ based on the company, tool, and the level of your company’s purchase or subscription (for example, companies that subscribe to an enterprise software for their team of 10,000+ will likely have access to more training support than a company that purchases subscriptions for 10 employees), some of the resources digital tools may offer subscribers/users include:

• Training videos
• Training documentation and manuals
• Training FAQs
• On-site training sessions 
• Live client support 

At Talkspirit, we know training and support are key parts of a successful deployment. That’s why we offer a variety of services to help you implement Talkspirit as a collaborative tool, company intranet, or corporate social network. In addition to providing support before the launch and throughout the deployment process, we also offer additional training support, including the Talkspirit Academy: a library of training resources to ensure you (and your team!) are getting the most out of Talkspirit as you continue to use the tool.

Before you get too far into developing your own training products, reach out to the company that created your digital tool to find out if they have any training resources or support that might be helpful to your team. And if they do? Take advantage of that support and resources to better train your team.

…and then train your team on the specifics

Tapping into a company’s training resources can be a great way to kick off training. But typically, those resources are more of a broad overview of how to use the tool in general. If you want your team to use the tool effectively, you need to go beyond the broad and general—and train them on the specifics of how you want them to use the digital tool.

Get clear on how you’re planning to use the digital tool within your organization—and then create training resources (like videos, training documents, and in-person training sessions) around those specific use cases.

For example, let’s say you’re adopting a new chat platform. You might use the tool’s training resources to train them on how to navigate the platform—but then host your own training on best practices for using it within your organization (for example, what channels to use for certain types of requests). Or maybe you’re moving to a new project management platform. In that situation, you might have your team watch a training video on the basics—and then create your own videos to walk them through how you want them to structure projects, assign tasks, and share deliverables.

To make these training videos more effective, consider utilizing VEED’s add subtitle to video tool. This asset allows you to place a transcript at the bottom of your video, aiding clarity for your audience. The auto subtitle generator online feature can help create these textual counterparts of spoken words, saving you from the manual labor of transcription. Further, the video caption generator can help enhance understanding by offering descriptive captions that map the screen content and provide context.

The point is, different teams use tools in different ways. So if you want to effectively train your teams to a new digital tool, make sure you’re not only offering general training—but also training on the specifics of how to successfully use the tool within your organization.

Offer different types of training

Different people learn in different ways. And if you want to successfully train your teams to a new digital tool, you need to take those different learning styles into consideration—and offer different types of training.

For example, some team members might thrive teaching themselves how to use the new digital tool. But other team members might need more hands-on instruction. Some people might learn better through reading text while others do better with graphics or video. And if you want all of your team members to successfully learn how to use the new digital tool, you need to offer training that appeals to both of those learning styles. (For example, people who prefer self-instruction might benefit from training videos they can watch on their own time—while people who learn better from others would likely be more successful with an in-person training that allows them to ask questions in real time.)

Bottom line? Training isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation—and if you want to successfully train your teams to a new digital tool, you need to offer different types of training that speak to the different ways your employees learn.

Don’t just give your team a how—give them a why

Teaching your team how to use a new digital tool is important. But it’s not the only facet of training. If you want your team to successfully adopt the tool in the long-term, you can’t just give them a how; you also need to give them a why.

When building your training strategy, make sure to include insights into why you’re moving to the new tool—including how it’s better than your previous solution and how it’s going to make your employees’ jobs easier and more efficient. For example, if you’re moving your team to a new collaborative work platform, make sure your training highlights the limitations of your old systems and processes—and outlines how your new tool will eliminate those challenges and make it easier for your team to work together and get things done.

When you incorporate both the how and the why into your training, it gives teams both the information they need to navigate the tool and the understanding around how the tool is going to improve their work—both of which are critical for the digital tool’s long-term adoption (and success!) within your organization.

Use these best practices to better train your team

Whether a new tool or software is successfully adopted within your organization is directly correlated to how well you train your team. And now that you know the best practices to train your teams to a new digital tool, you have all the information you need to ensure the next time you roll out a new tool or software, it will be a success.

If you’re ready to adopt a new collaborative work platform, Talkspirit is here to help. Get in touch today and find out more about how we can help you get your new digital tool successfully up and running within your organization!

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By Deanna de Bara