Have you spent a lot of time writing processes only to see them sitting in folders and gathering dust? What about spending lots of money on new technology and systems for them to only get used a few times before being forgotten about, a bit like that new year gym membership!
Having invested in Monday.com to enable the team to collaborate, communicate and reduce time wasted constantly asking for updates, it was disappointing to see the slow uptake in usage from the team.
No matter how much I reminded, politely enquired and in the end, nagged the team (yes, the mum in me came out) to set up project plans, provide updates and include day-to-day activities on the system it still wasn’t working in the way I had hoped or planned.
A new strategy was needed. I wasn’t going to abandon the project, firstly I am not a quitter and secondly I truly believed in the benefits the system was able to deliver. I needed to share that passion and belief with the team and get them onboard the Monday.com bus too.
Who doesn’t like a prize? So I invented a game. The prize a packet of Maryland cookies. (This later turned into several packs of different flavours.). The person who put the most updates on the system each week got a shout out in our weekly team meeting and the person with the most updates at the end of the month won the cookies. Which they usually shared with the whole team, so everyone was really a winner.
Initially competition was fierce, “I’ll add that new project to Monday.com” “I’ll write up the actions from that meeting” was often heard, knowing that would boost their update tally.
In a week the average number of updates went from 300 to nearly 1,000. My cookie plan was working.
How did I make these benefits long-term? This is where the benefits of Monday.com really started to show. As the team used the platform more, they started to understand how it worked, what the benefits were, and they could see how the change we were trying to make would actually help them. Now cookies weren’t the prize, time savings, efficiency, less interruptions in work were the real benefits. Cookies were a bonus.
Here's my tips on how you can use a short term incentive to make long term change.
1. Make it fun – people love a game
2. Get your team on board – teams are more likely to embrace change when they understand the purpose, where there is a time lag a little ‘sweetener’ helps bridge the gap
3. Measure the start – Knowing where you start means you can measure the benefits over the short and longer term.
4. Don’t give up – If you truly believe that this change is for the best, think about the challenge from a different perspective to understand the barriers your team have with adoption.
5. Repeat – Overtime it is common for people to fall into bad habits. That doesn’t mean the system is broken, a refocus, refresher training or new game can re-energise the team and get everyone back on track.
Getting people excited and interested in using processes and new systems is often about making sure a team understand the reason for the change and what the long term benefits are. Plus who doesn't love a game!