We use technology on a daily basis, in one form or another, with the most prevalent being the smartphone with an 81.6% adoption rate in the US.1
10 years ago, our tech adoption of smartphones was only estimated at 35%2 of adults. It has taken over two decades to get the majority of Americans to adopt the smartphone, and now it is considered a digital extension of our human body.
Change
It is human nature to resist change, our minds naturally direct away from it, and out of self-preservation the amygdala switches on the fight or flight mentality. Change in human habits doesn’t always happen quickly. New technology develops at a far greater rate than our adoption to it, so how do you build up the culture of adoption when it comes to technology in the world of heavy/highway construction?
Even with laws governing our safety in the industry we did not adopt the “safety first” mentality for decades after those laws were enacted. Today after decades of preaching, teaching, and implementing greater tools to educate our workforce, there is a culture of safety awareness. Technology will take a similar path, but we can expedite that path.
The Heavy/Highway and Heavy Civil side of our industry has been susceptible to lagging behind the rest of the industry, and the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality.
We shouldn’t expect overnight companywide adoption to any new technology brought into the workplace, but we can help move that adoption phase into a shorter cycle by implementing smaller steps that become the stepping stones to faster technology adoption. These small steps include: