Growth enablement

Why you should treat your tech like a team member

Lottie Taylor

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June 1, 2023

TL;DR

What would you do if you had a highly capable, knowledgeable team member who was being constantly ignored? What if you were paying them for their potential but they somehow failed to deliver?

Nadjia Yousif, MD & Partner of The Boston Consulting Group, opened her TED Talk with these questions to throw some light on a common workplace issue. But she wasn’t talking about employee integration; she was alluding to our use (and misuse) of technology in the workplace.

The connection between technology and employee enablement is nothing new, but in the context of emerging technologies and the rise of AI in the workplace, it’s evolving into something much more complex. And as Nadjia highlights, the techstack can quickly become a hindrance - cumbersome, over-complicated, and extremely costly - when teams fail to unlock its full potential.

In this blog, we dive a little deeper into Nadjia Yousif’s philosophy of ‘treating tech like a colleague’ and what this means for B2B sales teams looking to make the most out of their sales enablement tools. By resetting our mindset towards our techstack, we can learn to use it to nurture our day-to-day workflows, enhance productivity, and power business growth.

If a colleague was being undervalued, you’d want to address the issue. It’s time we did the same with our tech tools.

The problem with technology

Investment in sales technology is up over 150% since 2020 and over 70% of B2B sales organizations are increasing their tech budgets year on year. Growth in investment seems to be virtually exponential, so why doesn’t this correlate to business growth?

Many (if not all) of the problems with technology in the workplace start from one unrealistic expectation: that tech will provide instant, hassle-free solutions to our pain-points.

This gives rise to a number of issues that dampen the positive impact of tech in the workplace:

Poor or inadequate onboarding to familiarize employees with the tech.
Irregular or non-existent follow-up assessment and training to refresh employees’ tech skills and keep them as effective as possible.
A disconnect between decision-making leadership and frontline employees when it comes to tech pain-points.
An imbalance in responsibility when it comes to tech management.
Over-complication of processes from the assumption that more tech is always better.
Wasted resources - money and effort thrown away on unused tech.

Now for Nadjia Yousif’s challenge: ‍

What if you replaced “tech” in the above issues with “colleague/s”?

Her point is that we would likely approach these issues differently if we were talking about a member of our team as opposed to a piece of hardware or software. If we were talking about a fellow human being, chances are we’d be less flippant about resource wastage and more proactive when it comes to engaging to solve these problems.

But if we’d be prepared to get to know, communicate with, and provide feedback on a colleague, we can learn to do the same with our tech.

Turning tech into a member of your team

We’re not suggesting that technology can or should replace members of your sales team. What we are saying is that ideally, you want your technology to integrate seamlessly into your team processes and empower employees to reach their productivity and growth goals.

Your sales performance is the result of combined efforts between your Business Developers, your Sales Development Representatives, your Account Executives, etc. Your tech stack also has a part to play in relieving your salespeople of tedious manual work and allowing them to focus on the tasks where a human touch is most irreplaceable.

Let’s take a look at how you might approach your tech as an employee or colleague:

1. “Recruitment” and resource hunting

The first thing you do when recruiting a new team member is write a job description. You absolutely need to do the same for your tech tools.

Start from your pain points and look for solutions that fit your team’s needs. Figure out your non-negotiables, your nice-to-haves, and what your dream solution would look like. This will put you in a good position to start assessing products and reduce the risk of investing in solutions that look impressive but don’t actually fit your needs.

As in the recruitment industry, referrals play a major role in B2B SaaS purchases. Asking for recommendations from industry connections is a great way to glean honest insider information about prospective tools.

2. Introduction and onboarding

When someone new joins your team, you make the effort to welcome them, get to know them, and learn a little about what makes them tick.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case when a business adds a new tool to its techstack. Expectations are high, and if the technology isn’t seen to bring instantaneous results, buyers can be quick to question their purchasing decision. All too often the initial novelty and excitement wears off too quickly and employees never take the time to properly familiarize themselves with the newest tech.

Treating your newest tech purchase like a new employee forces you to focus on thorough onboarding:

Set up dedicated training sessions with all relevant team members to introduce them to your newest tech and ensure everyone has the same level of competence.
Explain to your team why the tech is being implemented and where you see it providing value for your business. If your team realizes they have something to gain in using these new tools, they’re more likely to approach them with an open and positive mindset.
Schedule free, unfocused exploration time for employees to get to know the platform on their own and discover features they won’t necessarily be using on a day-to-day basis (Nadjia Yousif refers to this as “coffee time” with your tech). The more familiarized your team members are with their tools, the less stressed they’ll be when using them under pressure.
Ensuring all new employees receive the same training keeps tech skills consistent across your team. Leaving them to figure things out for themselves makes it less likely they’ll reap the full benefits of your technology.

3. Follow-up training and performance reviews

Onboarding is just the beginning of the employee (and tech) story. You should be monitoring and nurturing your tech stack in the same you would provide coaching or performance reviews for your team members:

Schedule recurring (eg. quarterly/annual) tech audits to measure usage and ROI on each of your tech tools to gauge how much value they’re bringing to your business.
If a tool isn’t bringing you the results you hoped for, question whether it’s the right tool for your company (see #4) or whether your team needs further training.
Stay up to date with the latest updates to your tech product or service and arrange routine training to keep your team’s skills fresh.

4. Internal feedback and “peer reviews”

It’s only right that your tech audit processes should involve the people actually using your tools on a daily basis. Asking for feedback from your users will give you a better understanding of where their pain points lie and whether they have the right solutions to deal with them.

This helps to bridge the gap between users and decision-makers to ensure you’re helping - and not hindering - your team with your technology choices. Things you might ask include:

"Are you happy with the training you’ve been provided on tool X?"
"What do you find are the biggest benefits of using tool X?"
"What issues do you have with using tool X? Could these be remedied with further training?"
"Do you feel confident using the company’s techstack in your work? "
"Are there any tools you don’t use regularly? Why is this?"

As well as asking for feedback on individual tools, it’s important to assess the balance and weight of your overall techstack. You might have a set of top-of-the-range tools, but if it’s too much for your employees to handle, you could be actively damaging their productivity and wasting your resource potential.

5. Retiring, renewing, and revising

Treating your tech like an employee means you want it to perform to a certain level and add value to your business. The strategies above help ensure that your techstack gets a fair chance to bring you value, but if you still find certain tools to be a hindrance, don’t be afraid to cut them out or start assessing competitors.

Employee relationships don’t always work out - and neither do tech tools. Just like your individual employees, your tech should fit into your team processes and promote harmony.

You wouldn’t tolerate an employee causing serious upset or discord amongst your team, so don’t take it from your tools.

Takeaways

To view technology as a “colleague” is to nurture the same kind of mutually-beneficial, supportive, and empowering relationships that make human teams thrive.

You put a lot of effort into developing employee journeys for good reason: you want your team members to realize their full potential and bring your company long-term value. Treating your workplace technology in the same way allows you to unlock the full value of your techstack, consolidate your processes, and, in turn, empower your employees to perform at their best.

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