The Edge July/August 2025

Photos: Level Green Landscaping

where you can communicate to every body to trust the plan, trust the process, and if you keep changing that every five minutes, then it’s hard for them to trust or lean into that plan.” After setting the expectation of adoption, DeJournett says they never waiver on holding everyone from the top to bottom accountable for using the new technology, rewarding those who embrace the change. Thalmann says one strategy they use in change management is to win over those in the middle. “You have a portion of your staff that are eager for change, so there’s not much need to win them over,”Thalmann says. “Spend the time bringing those who are in the middle of the spectrum – not anti-technology, but also not on the cut ting edge. Make them feel like they are a part of the decision-making process. A good trick is to allow them to come up with the solutions on their own. That will allow them to buy in.” Delano agrees that once a majority of your staff has bought in and experienced the benefits of the new technology, it’s

our people’s willingness to fully utilize the technology, so working with them upfront to ensure openness and minimal resistance is imperative.” DeJournett says they’ve developed the three Cs of technology deployment: Commitment, Commiseration, and Car rots. Commitment is making it clear to the team that the change is here to stay. “Commiseration is a bit tongue in cheek, but we know change is hard, so we help our team members get comfort able with the new technology, both the upside and the challenges,” DeJournett says. “Doing that requires one-on-one training, walking them through the process on their own computer, phone or device to where we know they’ve mastered it.” The carrots encourage team members to embrace the change, typically in the form of monetary rewards paid after a period of time or a defined usage mile stone with the technology. Swank adds that if you want your team to adopt a new tool, you have to create a win-win situation for everyone. “Make sure everyone understands how it will help them in their role spe cifically,” Swank says. “If you just do this change and you expect adoption with out any level of recognition or a reward, then you’re going to lose momentum. People are going to say, ‘Well, why am I doing it?’” Swank says having an immense level of transparency and ensuring everyone understands the issues and how the change is going to help them is critical. “From really a high level, it’s just clear communication, knowing what the implementation itself is going to be, not going into it with any sort of gray areas. The process needs to be fleshed out. You’ve got to put yourself in a position

research and demo the different options before deployment. “It’s not possible in every case, but we place much greater trust in vendors that believe enough in their own product to offer a trial,” DeJournett says. Delano says they conduct extensive testing and communicate with the sup plier upfront to determine compatibility with their systems. “We also leverage our contact network to gather feedback from existing users,” Delano says. “This approach typically ensures a good comfort level when introducing new technology.” Delano says their history of working with technology partners in the land scape industry has given them valuable contacts who keep them informed about new technologies. “Awareness of new technology comes through our professional networks, at tending events like NALP’s ELEVATE, and technology companies’ marketing and sales teams,” DeJournett says. Thalmann says their leadership team keeps their ear to the ground about what technology is working in the indus try. When it comes to AI usage, they are looking to other industries for inspiration and working directly with technologists to bring cutting-edge applications to the landscape industry. BUILDING BUY-IN Once you’ve done your homework on your new tech solution, the next step is ensuring user adoption across your company. “Before launching any new technol ogy, we conduct extensive discussions with all potential stakeholders to gather their feedback and understand con cerns,” Delano says. “We recognize that rollout success ultimately depends on

“You have a portion of your staff that are eager for change, so there’s not much need to win them over. Spend the time bringing those who are in the middle of the spectrum – not anti-technology, but also not on the cutting edge. Make them feel like they are a part of the decision-making process. A good trick is to allow them to come up with the solutions on their own. That will allow them to buy in.” –Lawson Thalmann, chief technology officer with Chalet

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