5 Ways to Get Your Reluctant Boss on Board With New HR Tech
Low-quality leadership is an industry-wide problem that’s stunting the growth of recruiting and HR departments around the world. A recent survey of 1,000 employees conducted by Approved Index found that the recruitment industry has the worst bosses of all industries.
So, how do you get through to your boss? How do you get them to take your ideas seriously?
Use these tactics to discuss HR tech with your difficult boss, and you’ll have a better chance of winning them over to your side:
1. Show Some Weakness
Your boss thinks your recruiting process is awesome. It has worked for years, so why change it now?
But you actually work with your recruiting process every day, and you know the process could use some serious updating. You’re aware of the weaknesses in your current process, so make your boss aware of them, too. Show your boss what’s not working. What’s taking up the most time? What’s eating up the most money? What barriers are keeping you from quickly finding the best talent? Focus on these problems when talking about HR tech with your boss.
By pointing out the flaws in your hiring process, you may be able to open your boss’s eyes to problems they didn’t even know existed. After that, they may be more willing to hear you out.
After you lay out the problems, present the new HR tech as the solution. Show the bosse how the technology will make the process faster, more cost-effective, and easier for everyone.
2. Present Stats
Numbers are hard to ignore, so build your case with solid statistics. Track your recruiting process, and use the d
In addition, find data that shows the value of the HR tech you’re proposing. Use case studies and talk to colleagues who use the technology, or something similar, about their experiences and the ROI of the tech. Do your research, and seek out studies on candidate experience and the hiring process that show the need for new HR technology.
3. Outline the Pros and Cons
Your boss is ready to shoot down ideas based on their risks, so show them both the risks and the benefits of your new HR tech. In fact, a 2013 study conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and Capgemini Consulting found that technology is often slowly adopted in the workplace because of a lack of urgency and a lack of communication.
Clear up any confusion, focus on clear communication, and present your boss with the potential pros and cons of the new technology. Your boss will want to say “no” based on the risks, so anticipate negative feedback and prepare a response. Emphasize the benefits of the tech and prove that they outweigh any associated risks.
4. Let the Boss Try It Out
You can go on about the benefits of new HR tech forever, but some managers aren’t going to take your word for it. Instead, they’ll need to see it for themselves.
Talk with the vendor and set up a product demonstration or trial period. This way, your boss can experience the technology without any of the risks.
If a trial isn’t possible, gather all the information you can about the technology and ask your boss to look it over before you meet to talk about it. Let them read through the information, process it, and form their own opinions about it before your discussion.
5. Make a Plan
For all the benefits of new HR tech solutions, they can be a pain to install, implement, and start using. Do the legwork for your boss and create a plan. Show how and when the implementation should happen, how employees will be trained, and how troubleshooting and crisis situations will be handled.
Although you may feel like your boss isn’t listening, if you take a very careful, very strategic approach to introducing HR tech, you can convince them o hear you out and consider the new technology.
How do you get your boss on board with new HR tech?