As technology continues to rapidly develop, we continue to invest in products aimed to increase our operational efficiency and improve our marketable positions. For example, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a central part of conversations around how we conduct business and where we’re headed in a future that seems to be pulled from the pages of science fiction. Just to be clear, this is not an indictment of AI. Adopting emergent technology is essential to growth. What I am indicting is our eagerness to embrace new technology without understanding the implications for an already strained workforce.
Tell me if this sounds familiar: You’ve allocated a budget for a multi-year project to implement a new ERP, WMS or some other new tech that’s going to bring your supply chain into the 21st century. Your product and/or project management team has helped you map out a timeline to implementation.You may even have a comms team ready to craft internal messages and generate excitement. But somewhere along the way, the investment in your people has been re-scoped or reduced to “training at go-live,” or even worse, the dreaded training shared drive.
The result? Frontline team members, leads, and supervisors are left reacting to change rather than being equipped to lead and thrive in it. They struggle to keep pace with new expectations, and the organizational return on investment falls short because the workforce wasn’t brought along with it.
This isn’t really anyone’s fault; it’s simply the fact that we treat our product timelines like timelines. And the inherent issue is that timelines are linear. So in order to prevent poor customer experiences and wasted time and resources, take a moment to put your people first. Here are a few thoughts on more effectively aligning your people with your products more.
Why Reinvesting in Learners Is Crucial Right Now
In 2021, McKinsey & Company published a survey showing that over 70% of digital transformations fail, and one of the top reasons is lack of user adoption. To speak directly to my dollars-and–cents folks, “on average, their organizations have realized only 67 percent of the maximum financial benefits that their transformations could have achieved.”
Ongoing research in change management and organizational behavior continues to reinforce a simple truth: technology doesn’t change behavior, WE do. With a proactive investment in learning and development that keeps pace with technological advancement, leaders in the industry have the opportunity to better prepare their workforce for the future.
And as we continue to barrel towards an era of AI, automation, and interconnected systems, your competitive advantage is how well you know your own workforce, so you can bring them tools they need, not just the ones that have a good sales pitch.
A Roadmap for Reinvesting in Your People
As you plan your next wave of supply chain innovation, consider building this learning and development (L&D)-centered reinvestment roadmap in parallel with your tech deployment:
Step One: Start With a (Human) Capability Assessment
Before you install the software, you have to build the understanding. What roles will change? What knowledge, skills, and behaviors will team members need to thrive in the new environment? Oftentimes, the analysis of whether to make a massive technology or infrastructure change focuses on analyzing ROI and physical capacity limitations. Factoring in the human element can be the key to unlocking those extra percentage points on the financial backend of a product launch. Use surveys, interviews, and observational data to ensure the people in your business are equally analyzed so you can get a clear picture of your current state.
Step One A: Challenge Yourself To Seek Understanding
As a secondary assessment of whether the business can take on the new project, reflect on your personal gaps AND your leadership team’s gaps. Is your team equipped to effectively communicate the coming challenges, changes and outcomes of this opportunity? That exercise, in and of itself, will make your organization, not just the project, stronger from the start.
Step Two: Build a Learning Strategy, Not Just a Training Plan
A training plan is reactive; a learning strategy is proactive. Work with your trusted learning and development partners or consulting team to define learning objectives tied to your business outcomes. Trust me, they’ll probably cry tears of happiness if you approach them as a partner rather than a prescriber of plans.
Step Three: Engage and Upskill Early Champions
Identify change champions across your impacted teams. Invest in their development early. Equip them not just to use the technology but to coach others through the change. Their influence is your force multiplier.
Step Four: Leverage Blended Learning for Just-in-Time Support
Gone are the days of one-and-done training. Create microlearning modules, job aids, and simulations that reflect real-life scenarios. These resources should be available at the point of need—on the floor, on the tablet, in the moment.
Step Five: Create Psychological Safety and Learning Loops
As an organization, this is inherently going to be one of your hardest challenges. Change creates uncertainty, and human beings are inherently resistant to change. Ensure that your managers are equipped to lead with empathy, transparency, and feedback. This is done by creating a direct line of feedback between your frontline leadership and their teams to share information effectively. Find ways to build that feedback into your town halls, fireside chats, or other communication formats that fit your organization.
Step Six: Plan to Empower Learning as Performance Goals
Learning and change initiatives fail when they aren’t set to performance goals and standards. Set metrics that intentionally tie learning goals to business impact. Are adoption rates increasing? Are productivity and accuracy improving? Are employees reporting more confidence in using new tools? These metrics help make the case for ongoing reinvestment.
The Bottom Line
Without a doubt, the future of the supply chain industry will continue to be connected to technological innovation. The question is whether or not we prioritize technological innovation over our workforce. Taking the opportunity to reinvest in your learners at the apex of another technological revolution will put you in front of the line as a leader in the industry.
If you’re ready to spend millions on new tech, you must also be ready to spend the time and resources to grow the human capabilities that make it work. Because in the end, it’s not the technology that builds resilience, it’s the people who know how to wield it.