How to introduce best practices into your team’s project management approach

Introducing new project management software into any kind of business or team environment will inevitably be met with mixed feedback: for forward-thinking team members, there’s most likely going to be excitement and anticipation, but for those who are resistant to change, there may be some less-than-positive reactions.

Committing to any kind of new workflow can feel overwhelming, no matter your appetite for change. With this in mind, how can you set your staff up for success when migrating to a new project management tool such as BVDash?

Here's some easy guidelines that will help make the transition more ‘yay!’ and a whole lot less ‘nay’.

1.    Require full commitment from your team. While it can be tempting to ease people into change, this is a surefire way to remain stuck in between systems, frustrated with both the old way of doing things and the new. Instead of slowly moving your team over, make sure your project management environment set up to facilitate your team’s projects and workflows, then set a hard deadline for the jump. If it’s the rule for communication, task management and time line creations as of Monday, don’t let anyone hang around in the old project management system come Tuesday. Make sure all files are in place within BVDash, that there’s a clear home for each project within the software, and that you’ve streamlined the transition process through thoughtful project setup as much as possible.

2.    Equip your team with clear protocols for use. It’s wise to utilize not only the service-created resources for educating your team, but also to customize your guidelines for your own team’s use. If you’ve established clear and replicable project frameworks within BVDash, put some notes together explaining how (and why!) these frameworks can be used. Incorporating in screenshots in to a custom user guide designed for your team specifically is a great way to ensure a smoother transition and minimize confusion as the new system is adopted.

3.    Designate a point person for questions, discussion and feedback. Rather than letting a dozen people run a muck and set up different projects under different types of workflow, have a clear sense of who’s in charge of what, and designate a point person for the transition process. This will give your employees a place to direct their questions and feedback and will ensure nothing's lost in the loop of multiple conversations happening in different areas.

We're confident your entire team will see the many benefits of using BVDash after just a little bit of time in the app, but you can set them up for transition success by clearly identifying the purpose of the transition. Are you looking to improve response times, increase healthy communication, minimize manual workloads, increase sales results? Communicate this ‘why’ to your team and invite them to take ownership in realizing that why - the motivation to commit to learning new software and incorporating it into daily life will improve immensely.

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