Overcoming cultural challenges in the workplace when adopting new technologies
Here, in this online exclusive, Kallik looks at the need for a change in work culture and implementing new systems and procedures to make a more productive workplace.
Processes and routines are two things that could be considered essential within the workplace. They are necessary tools to keep workflow going, businesses progressing, and employees focused on a day-to-day basis. But do they enable change?
As important as it is to have recurring methods in place, the introduction of new systems and procedures can prove vital to the transformation towards a more productive working environment. Successful adoption often requires a change in organisational behaviour — some might even say culture.
Overcoming challenges
Technology has transformed medicine and has been instrumental in advances within patient safety. This can be seen in the design of single-use auto-disable syringes to electronic prescribing. Containing internal safety mechanisms, the ‘safety syringes’ ensure that after a single use, the syringe will not be able to be used a second time. Patients and providers are embracing change, but what about the industry?
Often, initial levels of adoption suggest a successful roll-out. Changes may happen in the short-term but aren’t always maintained. The more difficult part is migrating the entire organisation across to new ways of working. Key people within the business will need to adapt and adopt the new approaches and lead the way in doing things differently. Some call these people ‘Change Agents’.
Breaking down barriers
Kallik recognises that technology on its own will not drive change. Change is more likely to be driven by new cultures and thinking. Increasing numbers of millennials entering industry will want to share and collaborate the same way they do at home. Forbes suggest that millennials have been transforming the workplace for the last ten years and the trend is set to continue.Industry needs to actively encourage breaking down barriers between different departments and pushing collaborative critical thinking to support the new workforce
The pharmaceutical and medical device industries have continued to evolve over the last decade, but not fast enough. Manufacturers in both industries have been presented with a fundamental challenge: adjust to a new business environment in an open, forward thinking way, to maintain an innovative edge or risk failure.
By keeping the process simple and specific, working together as one team will see results improve, business confidence grow and solidify new approaches to problem solving in a cross-functional, constructive method. This method of working will look to see more people seeking to collaborate to discover better ways of working.
Coaching and shaping
Coaching and change management are crucial processes which can often be overlooked. Such a programme brings greater ownership, leading to higher level of skills and knowledge delivering a productive long-term positive impact on the business.
Adopting the better work practices supported by new systems into an organisation is crucial in seeing changes to the culture and working process of a business. Engaging individuals early on to help shape the solution will expose real value and encourage greater ownership. This will only help the workforce become more motivated and have a positive long-term impact on the business.
Organisations should seek an adaptable solution which help reduce time and streamline labelling and packaging artwork generation processes. Kallik looks to adopt ‘active prototyping’, which brings a solution to life very quickly so that users can see straight away what they’ll be getting and be able to shape the configuration of the solution to best fit their needs.
Embracing the future
Workplace culture plays a crucial role in changing the dynamic of any organisation. An organisation’s culture must develop and adapt to change what is considered the ‘modern’ working ways of a business. New ideas and technological advances are two key methods which will lead to culture change. These are fundamental in both the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, which will benefit greatly in the long-run from people and groups within an organisation not afraid to make changes.