If you discovered that someone on your team struggled with reading and writing, I’m guessing you would see the necessity of helping that person gain an essential life skill. It might be awkward to align the right support and motivation but I don’t think you’d let it pass. If you discovered that someone on your team struggled with electronic documents and processes, I’m guessing you’d get frustrated and try to avoid working with them.
What if technological competence is the literacy of today’s workplace?
Without it your organization is stuck in the 1980’s; dependent on paper files, perpetuating manual processes, burdensome approvals, no mobility. Unless you like being trapped at your desk surrounded by stored paper, that makes it your problem too. Or maybe it’s you who gets frustrated and tries to avoid new ways of working
Regardless, it’s high time we ensured that everyone on our team has these essential skills. Here’s a handy checklist of key concepts and capabilities. Does your whole team have mastery over every item?
Key concepts
Files: Awareness, Findability, Authorship, Access
Email: Action, FYI, CYA
Database: Record, Field, Relationship, non-duplicative
File Management 101
“Where” is the file?
Shared network drive - folder organization
File naming conventions
Search features
Save As
Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V
Print to PDF
Archive and purge