How to prepare employees for a new system in 3 steps

Step 1: Appoint 4 ambassadors before you buy the license

A common mistake of business owners in Krakow is buying software 'from the top' and imposing it on employees without any consultation. At Wawel Solutions Group, we always suggest choosing a group of 4 or 5 people from different departments at the very beginning who have the most influence on the rest of the team. They don't have to be managers – Mrs. Basia from accounting, who has worked here for 9 years, and Mr. Marek from the warehouse, who everyone listens to during the coffee break, are enough.

Invite them to a 25-minute meeting and show them the demo version. Ask directly: 'What annoys you the most about the current vacation filing?'. When these people feel they have a real influence on the choice of tool, they will stop treating it as an enemy. In one warehouse near Krakow we worked with, this approach shortened the system adaptation time by 14 days because the employees themselves explained to their colleagues that 'it's not that hard at all and finally you don't have to run around with papers'.

It simply has to work every day, not just look pretty on the CEO's presentation.

Step 2: Focus on one small benefit (The 12-Minute Rule)

Don't tell employees about how the company will gain 'better analytics' or 'resource optimization'. They don't care. You have to show them something that directly concerns them. We called it the 12-Minute Rule. If the new system saves an employee 12 minutes a day on tedious re-typing of data from a binder to Excel, that's the only thing worth talking about during training.

During implementation at a transport company in May 2024, we focused on only one thing: the electronic vacation request. Instead of filling out a paper form, going to room 14, waiting for a signature, and returning, employees could do it from their phone in 32 seconds. Once they saw that their request was approved in 3 hours instead of 3 days, the rest of the system's functions – like time tracking or mission settlements – stopped causing fear. We count facts, not promises.

Step 3: Implementation schedule without unnecessary binders

Don't plan 8-hour training for the whole team on Monday morning. People hate that because they have the most work then anyway. Instead, organize short 15-minute 'Q&A' sessions in groups of 6. It's best to do this on Tuesdays or Wednesdays around 11:00 AM. Show one specific thing, let everyone click it on their device, and go back to work.

Also, prepare a simple 2-page instruction with pictures. No thick user manuals that no one reads. In July 2024, for one of our construction clients, we created a list of the 4 most common tasks in the system with screenshots. The sheet hung in the dining area next to the coffee machine. As a result, the number of calls to the IT department with the question 'where do I click this' dropped by 67% in the first week. Less clicking, more work – that's our rule.

The user manual should be shorter than a neighborhood pizzeria menu.

When to cut the cord and turn off old methods?

This is the hardest moment. There will always be 2 or 3 people who want to 'the old way' bring a paper request at the end of the month. You have to set a hard date – for example, the 1st day of the next quarter. From that day on, the binder cabinet in the HR department is locked. It sounds brutal, but maintaining two document flows at once is the simplest path to chaos and payroll errors.

At Wawel Solutions Group, we recommend a transition period lasting exactly 21 days. This is a time when we allow for mistakes but don't allow a return to paper. If someone has a problem, one of the ambassadors appointed in Step 1 helps them. This way, responsibility is spread across the team, and the boss doesn't have to be the only policeman in the office. Remember: it's meant to work for people, not against them.