A few years ago, a mid-level manager at a manufacturing company said something brutally honest that strikes at the core of IT: “We don’t resist new technology, we just don’t know what to do with it.”
That comment wasn’t about fear or laziness. It was about the gap between tools and training, or their practical business use, between potential and practice.
Many organizations invest heavily in new platforms, automation, or AI tools, but overlook the human side of adoption. Employees are expected to “figure it out” and understand how it’s supposed to help them do their job better. Or worse, how it’s supposed to help them do their job better isn’t even accounted for; it’s just a shiny new tool that nobody needs.
Employees are told to figure it out often without the time, support, or confidence to do so. The result? Underused tools, frustrated teams, and missed opportunities.
A culture of training is essential so employees don’t feel like they’re thrown into the trenches to figure everything out.
Creating a culture where employees want to learn about company technology isn’t about throwing more courses at people. It’s about creating an environment where the purpose and process are clearly defined and learning is expected, supported, and celebrated. It’s where employees feel equipped to grow alongside the tech they’re asked to use.
But how do you build a culture where technology thrives and employees care about innovating and doing the great things planned for the tech? I’m glad you asked (ok, I asked, but whatever)! These steps provide a clear way to build that culture and ensure employees genuinely care about how technology is used to enhance their work.
Assess Organizational Readiness
It’s impossible to make meaningful changes in technology at any organization without the people. That’s always one of the biggest challenges, but it’s relatively easy to overcome if the technology is truly valuable.
In other words, employees need to know if the technology is worth it. Before assessing whether an organization is ready for a culture of technology training, ensure the business is effectively communicating the purpose and benefits of the technology.
When technology is meaningful to employees in their work, it’s time to assess whether they’re ready to learn. That’s when you need a clear picture of your current state.
Action Steps
- Conduct a tech skills audit using internal surveys to ask employees where they’d like to grow their skills.
- Interview department leads to identify tech pain points and future needs.
- Map roles to needs (e.g., data literacy for marketing, automation tools for operations).
Example
A mid-sized logistics company utilized a simple Google Form to survey employees on their comfort level with digital tools, including Excel macros and their inventory software. The results helped them prioritize training on automation and mobile workflows.
Build a Learning Culture
Culture is shaped by what leaders do, not just what they say. To embed learning into your organization’s DNA, leaders must model the behaviors they want employees to exhibit. That’s why leadership sponsorship is so essential in change management, too.
That means they’re the ones driving the value in company technology and also the value in proper training. So does that mean they get to skip the training? Absolutely not! It’s essential that leadership takes the training too and ensures that it provides value in using the technology correctly.
Leaders play an essential part in creating a culture of learning for technology.
Training isn’t just a checkbox and should never be treated that way by leadership or anyone else. That also means the training isn’t created simply as a checkbox item without any consideration for how it contributes to the technology’s impact on the organization’s growth and success.
Does it help employees perform their jobs more effectively? If not, and if it’s bogged down with useless information that can be referenced later, even leadership can’t fix that.
But with the right training, leadership’s influence can go a long way.
Action Steps
- Have executives share their own learning journeys on the company intranet, company calls, or even the enterprise social network.
- Encourage managers to set goals during performance reviews for leveraging learning technology and utilizing it in a valuable way.
- Create safe spaces for experimentation and sharing, like a software community on an enterprise social network.
Example
Encourage employees to spend 10% of their time on learning. Have managers support this by allocating time for experimentation and celebrating learning wins during team meetings.
Design Effective Tech Training
Without the best technology training possible for employees, training will fail. It must be relevant, engaging, and accessible. That means the training has to have a clear purpose and be tailored to each employee, but in a way that makes the most sense.
For software, we’re partial to software simulations, which are a powerful way to give employees realistic practice and build training around scenarios that make sense to them. No matter what’s needed for training, it must be done well, because poorly assembled training, even AI-produced training, won’t have a positive impact.
Poor training is a clear path to wasted time developing training and forcing employees to attend it.
Action Steps
- Use the right blend of learning: combine eLearning, performance support, in-app support, and possibly even live workshops if it makes sense.
- Offer software simulations for hands-on practice (e.g., using tools like Articulate or even PowerPoint).
- Create learning paths tailored to roles (e.g., “AI for HR” or “Automation for Finance”).
Example
Create role-based learning journeys for employees. Make it tailored to their role and use scenario-based learning to make the connection to their real use more obvious.
Measure Impact
You’ve assessed your organization’s readiness, built a learning culture, and designed effective technology training. But has it all worked? Yes, it’s time to measure the impact of everything to see if things have changed for the better.
To prove the value a training culture has created at your organization, track both learning engagement and business outcomes. It may require you to work with other departments to see how training has impacted the bottom line.
Measuring the impact of training ensures there’s value seen in a training culture for technology.
Beyond seeing how one course has impacted the bottom line, take a closer look to see how employee performance has improved over time. That will require a holistic approach and review of individual efforts in relation to their performance goals.
Action Steps
- Monitor tool adoption and employee feedback.
- Tie training to KPIs like productivity, error reduction, or innovation metrics.
- Use pulse surveys to gauge employee confidence in using new tech.
Example
A healthcare provider tracked how training on a new EHR system reduced documentation errors by 30% and improved patient throughput. This data helped justify further investment in tech training.
Wrap Up
Creating a culture of technology training isn’t a one-time project and won’t work well if done for just one training intervention. One course can only tell you a small part of the story of how training employees on company technology is making a positive change.
Creating a culture of learning for technology is a continuous commitment. When employees feel supported in learning and experimenting, they become more confident, creative, and collaborative. Innovation becomes a natural outcome of a workforce that’s empowered to grow.
Start with small wins, celebrate progress, and keep evolving. The organizations that thrive tomorrow are the ones investing in learning today. Schedule a consultation with us to discover how we can transform technology training from boring click-throughs to engaging and effective simulations that drive real business change.