DESCRIPTION
This article provides essential strategies for helping care workers in children's care homes become more comfortable and proficient with technology. It covers topics such as gathering feedback, offering comprehensive training and resources, encouraging hands-on experimentation, utilizing in-house expertise, leading by example, and providing ongoing support. By implementing these tips, care home managers can empower their teams to embrace technology, ultimately enhancing the quality of care provided to the children they support.
The Department of Health and Social Care recently published its new strategy, "Data Saves Lives: Reshaping Health and Social Care with Data." This action plan outlines the significant role data will play in the digital transformation of the NHS and social care sector, helping to save lives and provide the best possible care. The strategy is equally important for children's care homes, where the impact can be profound.
1. Collecting Valuable Feedback
Be open to honest feedback from your team about their experiences, hesitations, and concerns regarding technology. Listening to their concerns and addressing them will help you move forward. Gather feedback through:
1.One-on-one conversations
2.Focus groups
3.Team meetings
4, Staff surveys
Use this feedback to decide how to overcome concerns and make improvements.
2. Providing Comprehensive Training and Resources
Most uncertainty and lack of confidence around using technology stem from a lack of knowledge. Overcome this by providing training and resources for your team. Effective strategies include:
1. Holding 1:1 or group sessions
2. Creating user guides / training videos
3. Having a super-user in your homeS
4. Setting up a buddy stem
I’ve also worked for organizations that have devised step-by-step guides, tutorials, and support group sessions to help upskill staff. Be mindful of the language you use when discussing technology and avoid jargon to prevent confusion or misinterpretation.
3. Encouraging Hands-On Experimentation
In addition to providing resources, training, and guides, allow your staff to experiment with new technology before it becomes part of daily service delivery. Setting up a dummy system enables your staff to experiment in their own time, helping them become more familiar and comfortable with new systems.
4. Utilizing In-House Expertise
Not everyone on your team will be uncomfortable with technology, so make sure you utilize your ‘experts’ who are confident and positive. Dedicated team members who are ‘technology champions’ can help embed changes to existing systems, upskill others, and change the mindsets of their more reluctant colleagues. We all know that technology doesn’t always work perfectly during a busy service, so having colleagues on hand who use the technology every day will allow them to understand any first-hand frustrations and work through them.
5. Leading by Example
Learning to use any new technology yourself means you know how systems work and can support your team when they need help. There’s nothing worse than asking a manager something about a company tool that they don’t know how to use. Knowing the system better also means you can highlight its benefits to your team. For instance, you might remind them how long care notes used to take to write compared to electronic ones or how technology has improved children's wellbeing.
6. Practicing Patience and Providing Follow-Up Support
It may take some time for your team to fully embrace new technology. Be patient and continue to provide support and encouragement. It’s important to check in with your team after teaching them how to use a new tool. Depending on the new skill, this check-in might be a few hours later or a week later, just to ensure they’re doing okay or if they need further training. If further training is needed, remain patient and supportive.
Conclusion
Successfully introducing new technology to a care team in children's homes can be challenging, but it is achievable with the right approach. By gathering valuable feedback, providing comprehensive training and resources, encouraging hands-on experimentation, utilizing in-house expertise, leading by example, and practicing patience and follow-up support, you can help your team become more comfortable and skilled in using technology. This not only benefits their professional development but also enhances the quality of care provided to the children they support. With dedication and the right strategies, your team can confidently embrace technology as an integral part of their roles.
