With new technology and business solutions being introduced seemingly every day, many companies are eager to adopt new skills to take their business to the next level. There are essentially two schools of thought with this: a company that wants to change behavior before investing in new technology, and a company that believes it needs to get new technology before it can change employee behavior.

So which school of thought is correct? Neither.

The real answer is somewhere in the middle–in order to truly be successful and adopt lasting change and efficiency, organizations need to focus on changing behavior and technology at the same time. You may want to change your employees’ behavior so they collaborate more, but if you don’t have the tools in place for them to actually collaborate, you can’t drive that behavior. On the flip side, just giving your employees collaboration tools and software without any instruction or guidance won’t be successful either.

The trick is to work on technology and behavior simultaneously. Start early with behavioral training and explanations. If you want to increase collaboration, start early by talking to your employees about collaboration and telling them the value of these tools. You can then introduce the new technology and watch the behavioral conversation grow in light of the new technology. By connecting behavioral change with new technology, you’re getting employees excited about something and giving them the tools to make it happen.

Planning your new technology and behaviors is not only an efficient way to future-proof your organization, but it also minimizes the risk of wasting money on new technology that doesn’t get used or behavioral training that is never implemented. It also helps your employees feel more valued and that they are a part of new initiatives in the organization.

How does your organization present new behaviors or technology?