3 Assumptions About Your Employees That Inhibit Field Service Innovation

By Sarah Nicastro, publisher/editor in chief, Field Technologies
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Can you think of an area in your life where the anticipation of change was far worse than the change itself? I’ll share an example of my own. When my first son was born, he slept in our room for the first few months. When the time came to move him to his nursery, he was sleeping well – and the anticipation of rocking the boat was dreadful. I put it off and put it off, terrified of a return to sleepless nights. In reality, the transition was far smoother than what I’d envisioned. When it was done, I felt silly for getting so worked up about it and making such a negative assumption about how the change would play out.

Anticipation of change is normal, even inevitable. But we can’t allow it to become debilitating, and we can’t make so many assumptions that they prevent us from forward motion. I’ve spoken with a few field service executives recently that have discussed the fact that they think too often, companies limit their innovation or growth opportunities out of fear. And moreover, much of that fear or anticipation comes from assumptions about how employees will respond to change.

Let’s discuss three of the most common assumptions that are made about how employees will respond to change, and how to avoid them.

#1: Employees Will Resist Change

You may or may not face resistance from your employee base, but try to start by not assuming the worst. Perhaps they’ll be more receptive to change than you think. When employees do resist change, it’s almost always because they don’t understand the REASON for it – and explaining the why behind the project is your responsibility. Make sure you have a plan in place from the very beginning of the project for how you’ll communicate the need for change to your employees – including why it’s important, how it will benefit them, and what the process will look like. Well-informed employees feel respected and valued, and are far more likely to embrace changes you’re introducing. It is also critical to ask for their input along the way – when they feel they have a voice, your employees will embrace the changes being made because they feel they are a part of the bigger picture.

#2: Employees Don’t Want To Learn New Technologies

 It is true that some (not all) employees will be technology-resistant, and it does seem as though older employees have more hesitancy or trepidation with new technologies. That said, if the technology you’re introducing does in fact help them do their job more effectively or efficiently and in some way make their lives easier (which it should), most employees will be more than willing to learn a new tool if the value of it is explained clearly and properly. Further, as some of those older field technicians retire and younger technicians join the workforce, you’ll find yourself with employees that are not only open to technology use – but may be pushing you for it. Workers that can visualize how the technology will help them in their day-to-day roles will most often be open to its use, even if some do need a little extra time or attention with training.

#3: Employees Don’t Want To Be Told What To Do

Providing instruction effectively is all in the delivery, but most employees DO in fact want to be told what to do. They want to clearly understand what your expectations are, as well as the instruction and direction to achieve those expectations. There’s nothing worse than trying to achieve a level of success that is unclear, undefined, or seems unattainable. The most effective way that field service organizations can tell employees what to do is by setting KPIs that everyone is measured against uniformly, and ideally incentivized in some way to achieve. Having both public and private forums for tracking progress against KPIs helps to ensure your entire workforce knows what they are working toward, and understands when expectations aren’t met.

Lean In To Change

It’s not surprising that companies make these assumptions, or fall into the trap of avoiding change because it seems daunting. But I’d suggest heeding the advice Jamie Smith, CIO of ServiceMaster provided when I interviewed him recently for a cover story: “While change is always challenging, especially in a field workforce, we have found that success comes down to one simple principle — whatever we roll out has to be superior to the previous alternative. If it makes life easier, the field will adopt it,” he says.

Smith also cautions against underestimating your field force’s ability to embrace change. “A lot of people believe the field force cannot accept change,” he says. “We’ve rolled out 15,000 iPhones to our technicians this year. We’ve dropped a new version of the app every couple of days with new functionality. The field’s ability to consume and appreciate change is tied directly to them seeing their suggestions actually make it into the real world. These aren’t all tech-savvy people. But once the employees realized this was a tool to help them perform their jobs better, and that we would truly listen to their feedback, they really started to accept and embrace change. A lot of people try to lean away from change. We’ve tended to lean in to change, and we’ve seen really positive impacts from that.”