In an increasingly technology-dependent world, it’s important that business practices keep pace. IT service management (ITSM) best practice and the tools that enable it to play a vital role in businesses being able to provide high quality IT service delivery and support. Selecting and implementing the right ITSM tool is one thing, but getting your staff to successfully use it is another. To assist you, here are five simple tips to help with training your staff to use your new ITSM tool successfully.
1. Communicate the “Why” of ITSM Tools
The introduction of a new ITSM tool is as much a people change as it is a technology change. Why? Because it changes the traditional way of working. It’s organizational change management 101 – communicating and selling the “What’s in it for me?” to people. Therefore, ideally before any training, it’s important to communicate the necessity of the new ITSM tool and the benefits it will bring to the company and its employees.
These benefits are wide-ranging. For example, ITSM best practice and a fit-for-purpose ITSM tool improve the productivity and daily operations of a business. From simply automating IT service desk operations, enabling effective communication with end users, to efficiently handling employee IT service requests and incidents.
2. Have an Effective Onboarding Plan in Place for New Employees
ITSM tool training is not a one-time thing. It also needs to be provided to new employees and perhaps refresher training might also be needed for existing employees.
A workplace survey conducted in 2016 found that 56% of unhappy employees said their training was non-existent or ineffective. And 53% of these felt they could have done their jobs better if they’d received higher quality training.
Training is a great upfront time investment, with the successful use of ITSM tools time-effective in multiple ways – saving time for both IT users and end users in both how well they use the tool and how the tool makes them more efficient and productive. Ensure that this is communicated as part of the training.
Done well, employees will notice the emphasis you’re placing on respecting their time (and trying to help them to work more productively). Teaching them that correct usage of ITSM tools will save others time too.
3. Provide Quality Training
No two people are the same. The same logic means that no two people learn exactly the same way. Along with the prior steps, an effort should be made to train staff according to their needs. An understanding of the what, why, and how of ITSM tools is the desired result – not how fast staff can complete the training. People will learn at different rates. So, encourage and promote this.
Once again, your employees will recognize this effort. With this hopefully creating a positive relationship with both the training and the employer, and increasing motivation and job satisfaction.
Other things that will help your ITSM tool training to achieve its goal are:
- Placing employees into differently sized groups and organizing activities relevant to size
- Find a relevant venue that accommodates both small and large groups, and you’re set for desk-based ITSM training in conjunction with exercises in team-building.
4. Use Incentivization to Drive the Right Behaviors
What’s important here is that “what gets rewarded gets done.” If you reward employees for new behaviors, then this is the behavior they’ll exhibit. Rewards can be as simple as expressions of gratitude to providing gifts.
5. Evaluate Your Training
Finding the best way to train people on your new ITSM tool can be a challenge. So, once your first training-group is nearing completion, have them fill out a survey. Ask them their opinion on different aspects of the training. They’re the participants and can offer a fresh perspective on any improvements for the training. This will help you to identify areas where the training motivates staff, and where it doesn’t. Plus, any aspects of tool use that aren’t as clear as they could be. From this, you’ll be able to better your training for next time!
So, that’s my five tips for ensuring ITSM tool adoption success. What would you add? Please let me know in the comments.
Want to read more about organizational change management‘s importance to ITSM?
Harper Reid
New Zealand-based writer Harper Reid has always been fascinated by technology. When she’s not writing she enjoys attending tech-related events.
