Rolling out new software in a busy lab is never just about getting the technical details right—it’s about getting people to actually use it, use it well, and use it consistently. How you onboard users to new tools is key to maximizing the ROI of your Research Lab Management Software. A good onboarding process will motivate the team and get everyone up and running as quickly as possible.
This article recommends five steps you can take to improve onboarding and set the new system up for success:
- Tailor training to each role’s specific needs.
- Use hands-on tutorials rather than just demos.
- Create reference documentation users can come back to later.
- Stagger training sessions to introduce advanced features later on.
- Schedule check-ins to gather feedback throughout the process.
Why Onboarding Lab Management Software is Hard
Implementing new research lab management software, such as laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and electronic lab notebooks (ELNs), often requires new workflows and new ways of thinking about the work, compared to what team members are used to. In addition to learning the technical details of where to click and where to look, users need to match up the pieces of the software with the ways they want to work. They will need to either configure the software to fit how they work or adjust their habits and workflows to fit the new tools. In other words, software onboarding isn’t simply an education process—it’s about solving a jigsaw puzzle.
The recommendations in this article are designed to give new users the time and support they need to solve that puzzle while continuing to get their work done.
Tailoring Employee Onboarding to Each User
Be careful not to overload users with training on features they will likely never use. When sessions become too broad or complex, some participants struggle to keep up, while others disengage before the key takeaways. Either way, time is lost and they may fail to learn what actually matters.
Of course, the functionality that each user needs will depend entirely on their role and how they approach that role. So it’s unlikely you’ll be able to make a single list of features that is relevant to every role in the organization. Instead, consider designing multiple focused training sessions, each for a different role. These smaller sessions also allow instructors to respond to individual questions and, potentially, adjust the training content as the session progresses.
Tailored training sessions require more thought and preparation. But this personal touch will have a huge impact on getting users up and running faster.
Hands-on Training
Next, it’s important to make training sessions as hands-on as possible. Users generally don’t remember the details of a workflow until they do it themselves. (Often they need to do it more than once.) So if they only watch someone else use the software during the training, and then try it themselves later, they’re effectively starting from scratch. There’s a good chance they won’t remember enough to figure it out again. They’re back to square one.
Instead, it’s better to have new users go through an example workflow themselves as soon as they see it, or even while the instructor is demonstrating. Get out the laptops and turn the presentation into an interactive tutorial. New users may still not completely get it during the training, but they’ll have a much better chance of remembering afterwards if it’s their second time doing it, instead of their first.
Training manuals for the First Week or the First Month
Even with a hands-on tutorial for in-person training sessions, users can still forget some details, particularly for workflows they don’t use often. So to help your team with retention, it’s important to create reference documentation to remind them how the tools work.
As with the training, these documents should be tailored for each role. Don’t just show them isolated features. Remind them of all the steps in each workflow, from beginning to end. That way they’ll know exactly where to look when they need a reminder.
Advanced Training Comes Later
No matter how effective the initial training or how detailed the reference documentation is, there is still a limit to what new users can learn in the early days of a new product rollout. Most systems will have a mix of basic features that are enough to get the work done and advanced features that streamline processes and boost productivity. Users typically aren’t ready to learn the advanced features until they’re comfortable with the basic ones.
In other words, avoid teaching users the advanced features during the initial training. But users do need to learn about these features eventually, for long-term engagement and productivity.
Consider introducing advanced features in follow-up training sessions, spaced out so that participants have time to become comfortable with the basic features. Then they’ll not only be ready for the next level of training—they’ll be excited to learn the new tricks and secrets.
Follow-ups, Check-ins, and Feedback
Ultimately, the onboarding process isn’t just about telling users what to do. It’s also about understanding the challenges users face and how you can adapt the software to better support them. System admins need to understand where users are struggling, where their expectations aren’t being met, and where the software is getting in the way of the science. Based on this analysis, you may identify tasks that can be automated, critical data that needs to be captured, or areas where higher quality standards are needed.
You’ll get some of these insights naturally through informal conversations and questions during training sessions. But to make sure nothing falls through the cracks, it’s also important to schedule check-ins and feedback sessions with individuals or small groups of users. By doing that, you’ll know the effort you’ve put into training isn’t being wasted by an inadequate implementation.
Conclusion
Fast and effective onboarding of users is key to maximizing the ROI of your research lab management software. And a few relatively simple measures can make all the difference. By tailoring training to individual roles, leveraging hands-on tutorials, providing reference documentation, staggering advanced training, and planning deliberate check-ins, you can ensure that the onboarding process is a success and quickly gets your team back to working productively. For even more insider tips, check out 10 Lab Management Software Secrets Every Scientist Wishes They Knew Sooner.
