Get them on board with onboarding

Whenever it’s time to implement new software, or any kind of technology, getting employees on board and excited to use the product can be a big undertaking.

But President & Owner of C. Caramanico & Sons, John Caramanico, says it’s an important step if you want to advance your company.

The first step, according to Caramanico, is to take that leap of faith and fully commit to the new software from the get-go.

“With some of these technologies you are onboarding, like an operating system, you have to jump in with both feet,” he says. “Sometimes you have to abandon the old way of doing things. And that change is very hard for people, but you have to do it to make the new technology successful.

“If you’re only going to use half of it, or a portion of it, you won’t get the true value out of it,” Caramanico adds. “There’s a significant investment in onboarding some of these things.”

Caramanico says getting employees motivated to use the software boils down to setting strong, concise expectations.

“Everybody knows that change is hard,” he says. “It’s a simple rule, but it’s just about clear communication. Set what those expectations are going to be because people who’ve been doing their jobs for awhile will revert back to their comfort zones and how they’ve always done them.

“But we were open and honest and explained that these changes were not going to be comfortable, but we’ve got to make them to continue to lead and stay at the front of the pack in our market,” he adds.

Caramanico says this is best done through individualized training — as people understand technology on different levels and some are more adapt at picking it up.

“You have to learn that everybody learns at a different pace. With technology and rollouts, some people pick it up at the snap of a finger and for some people it can take longer. They don’t have that technology background to understand how things work,” he says. “Have patience and know it’ll take some time to roll things out and get everybody on the same page.”

Embracing technology is also important for Caramanico because he feels it helps attract future talent.

“I think the next generation of landscapers are going to be technology focused, and the companies that embrace that and are trying to be progressive and adapt the latest and greatest technologies on the market…that will lead to success for those companies,” he says. “We strive to be an early adopter and continue to grow our company.”