It’s important for your staff to feel comfortable using your club management software.

They’re the ones navigating it daily, leveraging the tools you’ve purchased to provide your club the full benefit of your software investment.

Too often, though, your staff isn’t using the software to its full capacity, and the prominent culprit is a lack of staff training in the tool. To learn how to clear this hurdle and get the most value out of your software investment, read on.

Training staff in your club management and engagement software takes time, and your time is scarce. After you hire a new team member, it’s easy to fall into the trap of having them hit the ground running. With so much to do, it can be hard to allocate the time needed to give comprehensive training in your software. However, despite the short-term gains you experience by getting them up and running in their role more quickly, without proper software training, you run the risk of experiencing long-term inefficiency.

In addition to the ever-present challenge of limited time, you may also experience considerable turnover with certain positions within your club, especially seasonal or part-time work that attracts younger staff members. You may feel that if you implemented a software training component to onboarding, you’d constantly be training. Surely new staff members will just pick it up over time, right? Not always.

You have spent considerable time weighing the features and benefits of different software for your club. You see how the technology is going to drive growth for your business, and you may assume that your staff will see what you see. Instead of playing the guessing game, your best bet is to establish a software training program within your club, led by someone who works intimately in the software every day. It doesn’t have to be a long intensive process, but it does need to:

1. Educate your staff on the value of the tools
2. Teach them the full functionality of each product
3. Speak to strategies and established best practices at your club

To start building and implementing a software training program at your club, consider the following.

PRIORITIZE TRAINING

Make training a priority at the outset. Don’t wait for a new staff member to figure it out themselves, no matter how experienced they are. Invest in teaching each individual and focus on improving product adoption for all the tools you’ve invested in.

SET A CLEAR TIMELINE

Set a clear timeline for the learning process. Establish goals at the outset so you can be sure that each staff member is learning at a pace that will allow them to implement their learnings as quickly as possible. However, keep your timeline realistic, and account time for your staff to process what they’ve learned before they’re thrown into the deep end. Determining an appropriate timeline takes training experience, which is another reason to leverage your best trainer to set an aggressive but realistic timeline.

LEVERAGE YOUR SOFTWARE PROVIDER’S RESOURCES

Software providers often develop resources that facilitate your adoption of the product–use them! They may offer group training sessions, help desk articles answering frequently asked questions, webinars about new product releases, and more. Take advantage of the resources you have at your disposal and pass them along to your staff members. When there’s an opportunity to join a product webinar, make time for your staff members to attend.

VARY THE TRAINING FORMAT

Consider the training format. Everyone learns differently, and while the traditional lecture training format works well for foundational understanding, it’s not the most engaging format and can easily lead to information overload. When you’re learning how to perform a task, the best way to learn is to practice! Simulate hands-on experiences and consider ways to make the learning process fun.

Ultimately, the key to successful software adoption is to support your staff for the long term, and the only way you can adequately support your staff is if your software provider adequately supports you.

At Club Automation, we offer unrivaled staff support and training resources, so you are equipped to maximize the value of your software investment. To learn how your club can create unrivaled experiences for your members, schedule time to talk with our team.