The other day, I was getting my nails done and chatting with the nail tech about random things (as one does). She asked me about TV shows I watched and mentioned that she doesn’t have basic cable so she misses the network shows and has to hope it comes out on Hulu. I confirmed she owned a television, and then I said, “Why don’t you get an over-the-air antenna?” She had no idea what I was talking about.

This isn’t bashing the youths of the world – when’s the last time YOU saw an over-the-air antenna (OTA) on a modern television set? I have them top of mind because my mom has one, and I only got her one because I worked for a pay TV company once upon a time and remember when the transition to needing OTA happened. And my mom doesn’t want cable (this is the woman who uses Netflix to watch NCIS reruns, so there you go). So the fact the nail tech didn’t even think about an OTA as an option wasn’t surprising to me. I was happy she was excited to look into it so she could watch her shows real time.

The conversation got me thinking about organizations and their approach to process improvement. There is so much content pushing the latest and greatest HR technology to solve ALL the world’s problems that it impacts how teams think about solutions. Think back to the last 5 problem solving meetings you were in. How many times was technology offered as the answer? If your world is anything like mine, it was probably a lot of times. Too often, organizations think tech first, Old School second – often to the detriment of the the long-term solution.

One example that comes to mind around this topic is employee engagement. So many organizations (and providers) want to believe that if they just had the BEST software solution, all their engagement issues would disappear. Anonymous surveys and online action plans and emailed reminders are all an organization needs to get maximum engagement! FINALLY. And yet…the Old School approach of treating people better, showing value in others as human beings, and paying people what they’re worth will have a more lasting impact.

There is nothing wrong with technology as a solution. I love it. Big fan. Lots of cool things happening out there. Anything that automates administrative tasks, helps streamline a process, or removes risk from data is a wonderful thing. I just don’t think technology is always the best option all the time.Technology is dependent. If you have a bad process, technology won’t make it better. It will just let you do that bad process faster, or it could overly complicate it.

So don’t laugh at the person who eschews technology in favor of a post-it note. Listen to the idea. Be open to considering an Old School solution, especially if you’re new, whether it’s to the industry, to the company, or to the workforce. We built amazing things with Old School solutions, and some of them can still get you to the solution you need.  It may not be cool. It may not be sexy.

But it works.