Let's talk about training and the wastage of not having it. I mean, I think it's a no-brainer—everybody would agree you want your staff trained. You hire them with a certain level of expectation coming in.

But we see time and again (you and I have spoken about this in the past), people hire for great credentials and experience, and then they let that go stagnant. We introduce new technology and make the assumption that somebody coming into our organization three or four years ago with fabulous credentials, fabulous education, fabulous experience—three years later without keeping up that training, without keeping on top of things—that they're naturally going to be able to move into that new technology. It just doesn't work that way.

The "Joe Will Help Everyone" Trap

What happens in an office sometimes is, "Oh, it's okay. Joe over there? He's really good with technology. He just goes around and helps people." Or they all bug Joe with their questions. Yeah, but first of all, Joe isn't getting time to do his work. And second, does Joe really know that much? Is he just showing you or doing your work for you? Is he giving you the best way?

People equate their time working with technology to their knowledge of it. "Well, I've been working on Excel for ten years, so I'm intermediate." Then I'll send them an assessment form, they fill it in, and more often than not they say, "Sorry, Connie, I was wrong. I'm not intermediate... I'm introductory, even though it's ten years."

Time with something does not equate to level of knowledge with something. Usually, we're doing the same thing in that product over and over. We're not taking advantage of the ways to make that product work for us within our organization.

The Basement Renovation Analogy

It's like the guy that buys a new house but wants to finish the basement himself. He has no carpentry skills at all, but he thinks, "How hard can it be? I'll just watch a few YouTubes and figure it out."

Maybe he puts it together, maybe it works out okay, but the walls might be a little crooked. My daughter's actually in the process of trying to find a new house, and she's telling us how many places she's gone where the basements make no sense—there are these little areas, and it just isn't mapped out right. It's because they didn't have the perspective of how to do it.

I can visualize myself trying to finish a basement—going to the hardware store and just randomly picking tools and materials I think I need. Bringing them back, starting a project without a blueprint, just a general idea in my head, figuring it out as I go. How much wastage is going to happen? I've probably purchased the wrong materials or the wrong tools. And when I sit back and look at the finished product, I might think, "Hey, not bad," but I've spent significantly more in wastage and time than necessary.

What Proper Training Delivers

When you do training, it's the instructor's job to make sure we understand your end goal so we can help you learn the features of that product to reach that goal—so you're more efficient, so your team hears the same message.

Standardization is one big thing. Another thing I find when you take the step to understand that training's important is that you're acknowledging somebody else has a perspective that you don't.

Lots of times people don't come to me when they first buy a product. They come when they can't stand it anymore or things aren't working. It's more a reactive approach rather than a proactive one. They have the pain points. So I look at their situation, and because I understand all the pieces of something like Microsoft 365 well enough, in my brain I can see how everything connects. I help them plan out the best approach instead of them just trying this one little trick or that shortcut.

Real Results from Real Training

I had one client who went from getting text messages in the middle of the night from field staff saying "I don't understand where I'm going tomorrow" to that never happening again because we created a system. She went from having the stress of housing all the documentation for her safety program and manuals in one place to centralizing it and making it so easily accessible that everyone is on top of it.

She actually sold her business shortly after. I'm not saying that's why, but she was so happy with how she reorganized her world into Microsoft Teams and related products like OneNote, Lists, and SharePoint. All her staff had easy access and were happier for it. The field people loved it!

There's so much value to a potential buyer being able to come in and take on a business instead of having to work into it and correct everything. That just erodes the value. They want something that's going to generate revenue based on what that business is supposed to do, not something they have to clean up first.

The Hard Question You Need to Ask

The question business owners should ask themselves is: "Am I ready to make a change and willing to stretch myself, get out of my comfort zone enough to maybe look a little vulnerable in that I don't know stuff, and learn this technology? Am I ready to give up on a system that maybe isn't serving me anymore so I can find one that serves my business?"

We want to move from "me" to the business. Am I willing to give up what I'm comfortable with for what my business should have to make future owners comfortable?

One of my biggest pet peeves is that people purchase new technology—it's like buying the hundred-dollar hammer. If you don't know how to use it, what good is it? "Oh, but my IT guy showed me." Your IT guy giving you half an hour every six months to show you something? Showing isn't teaching. Showing is showing.

You aren't invested if all you've done is purchased it. You're invested when you purchase AND you learn it AND you do everything needed to make it work so your business is better. That's when you're invested.

With new technology comes new knowledge. How are you going to achieve it?

-Connie