So you’ve found the best new tech for your growing team, but the seemingly insurmountable task of training them how to use it has burst your tech-y dreams. Cue the immediate defeat.
Many brokerage owners and real estate team leads assume that training their team on a new system is going to be a huge undertaking. The time, effort, and troubleshooting can seem overwhelming, and they are worried about ending up back at square one. Meanwhile, others simply don’t know where to start.
No matter the technology or the system, we train each of these teams the same way with great success. It’s simple, but it does take intentionality to get the results you want from your training. From our years of experience, here are our three best practices for training your team on a brand new system.
1. Get your team excited about what the new system could produce.
Over and over again, we see team leads make this same mistake: They hop right into training their team on the new system without giving them much insight as to why it’s going to be the game changer they’ve all been waiting for.
Remember, while you’ve been researching this system for weeks or months, your team has not. They’ve merely been keeping the status quo.
It’s important to start the onboarding process with vision instead of education. Begin by painting a picture of your team’s future with this improved system. If it’s going to save them time, money or headaches, share that!
Speak to your team’s pain points with the current setup, and share how this new system will help to ease their greatest burden. They’ll be more driven to implement it if they know how it impacts their work directly.
2. Make the new system simple to learn.
You’ve got your team behind this new initiative, so now it’s time to start teaching them how to implement it. This step is key to maintaining the excitement you’ve built with your team, so be intentional about simplifying the training and providing adequate and accessible support.
We like to use a combination of live and recorded training alongside what I like to call a cheat sheet. Your initial training should be live and engaging so your team can catch your vision and have the opportunity to ask questions.
Try hosting a lunch or other informal gathering for your first training. The relaxed setting will help to combat your team’s reluctance to attend another dreaded team training. Leave plenty of time for questions at the end, and encourage conversation in order to make the team feel their thoughts are being heard and their needs are being met.
When it comes to your cheat sheet, we’ve got a few pointers on what exactly to include to help save you from a few headaches.
Always include quick answers to the most frequently asked questions about the system. If it’s an online platform you’re implementing, I always make sure my cheat sheet includes things like screenshots of where to find necessary components or navigation menus.
You can also include logins or passwords and shortcuts they can use in the program. Think through the features your team will use daily and focus your cheat sheet information on those items.
3. Set up ongoing support and small, actionable trainings.
You might be tempted to host consecutive in-person trainings shortly after your first one, but give your team some time to get acclimated to the new system. Save the team’s time by creating small actionable trainings they can regularly access.
I like to pre-record these trainings using an online platform, like Loom, and then host them where they are easily accessible, whether that’s an online drive like Google Classroom or — our favorite — a program called Trainual. That way, the team can have access to training at any time without having to eat up time in meetings or lengthy back-and-forth emails.
You’ll also want to set up ongoing support to help troubleshoot any major issues with the system. That could be getting a direct rep from the company who created the system or just ensuring they know who to go to internally if they have a question.
It may also be helpful to look at hosting a quarterly or yearly training to keep your team up to date with any changes made to the system.
Adding value without burnout
These three steps are a tangible solution to add value to your business and create less burn out when switching systems and tech. As your brokerage or team grows, your business will have expanding needs, and implementing new systems will become a part of that growth.
The fastest way to avoid the added stress of migrating over to a new system is to focus on the best training and making it accessible to your entire organization. Next thing you know, your team will be fully trained, and the fruit of that labor will show itself in your team’s results.
Jennifer Staats is founder and CEO of Staats Solutions.
