When employees resist new technology, the instinct is to frame it as a cultural problem. Organizations often assume people are set in their ways, unwilling to change, reluctant to embrace the future.
That framing is unhelpful and inaccurate.
According to the 2025 Yooz Workplace Tech Resistance Report, 39% of employees admit to being reluctant to adopt new tools. However, the primary driver is truly a lack of confidence in their own ability to use those tools effectively. So, the resistance is a due to their own doubt.
A workforce that is culturally resistant to change requires a different intervention than a workforce that simply doesn't feel equipped. Confusing the distinction leads to the wrong solutions. For example, say you address a confidence problem with a change management campaign. You might shift attitudes temporarily but will leave the underlying capability gap unaddressed. However, when you apply learning designed to build competence and self-assurance, you create the conditions for adoption that actually sticks.
Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute say manufacturing will need 3.8 million additional workers between now and 2033. In fact, demand for digital skills is accelerating significantly as operations become more complex and technology integrated. If 1.9 million of those roles remain unfilled due to skills gaps? Well, the organizations investing consistently in developing the digital capability of their people will be best equipped to weather that storm — not the ones scrambling to hire their way out of it.
Why Conventional Training Misses the Mark
The way most organizations approach digital training is fundamentally misaligned with how confidence is actually built. A one-day session, a series of instructional videos, or a generic e-learning module can transfer information, yes, but not capability. Confidence comes from doing something, getting feedback, doing it again, and gradually reaching the point where the skill becomes natural.
More than 80% of Canadian decision-makers say employees want company-provided training on new technology. However, a significant gap remains between that demand and what organizations are actually delivering. The same data reveals people are telling organizations clearly what they need, but the organizations are simply not delivering it:
- More than half of employees’ report receiving only basic training on new technologies
- 20% receive little to no guidance at all
- Nearly half say that better training would directly improve their technology adoption.
In manufacturing, when a line supervisor lacks confidence in a digital reporting system, they delay using it, find workarounds, or make errors. When a team lead doesn't trust their ability to navigate a new scheduling platform, they default to the informal processes. This may be efficient for them individually, but fragment the data and create inconsistency across the operation. The technology investment sits underutilized while the business waits for a transformation that isn't coming on the timeline anyone planned for.
What Building Digital Confidence Actually Requires
The key is to move from a training-event model to a learning-journey model. One that is designed around how adults actually develop new skills rather than what's most convenient. That journey starts well before the technology is introduced.
An honest conversation about what's changing and why, what the technology is designed to do, and how it will affect the day-to-day work of the people is required. Because when employees understand the purpose of a new tool, they approach it with more openness than when it arrives as an edict from above with no explanation attached.
From there, the learning needs to be role-specific and contextually relevant. Generic training on a platform feature rarely translates into confident use on the job. However, training that is mapped to the specific tasks, workflows, and decisions builds competence that carries over into daily application.
Practice, repetition, and feedback are what turn competence into confidence. They are the elements most consistently missing from how organizations design digital learning.
The Role of Leadership in Digital Confidence
There is a dimension of digital confidence that no training program can deliver on its own, and that is the signal that comes from how leaders engage with the technology themselves. Teams take their cues from the people above them, and when supervisors and managers approach new digital tools with visible discomfort, avoidance, or scepticism, that signal travels through the team faster than any communication about the importance of digital adoption.
This is not an argument for performing enthusiasm that isn't genuine. It's an argument for equipping leaders first — giving them the time, support, and practice they need to reach a level of competence where they can model confident use for their teams, answer basic questions, and demonstrate that the technology is something they trust and use themselves. Leaders who have worked through the learning curve of a new tool are also significantly better positioned to support their teams through it, because they understand from experience where the friction points are and what kind of support is actually helpful.
Learning That Travels with the Work
We need to move away from the assumption that learning happens in a room, at a scheduled time, and then gets applied elsewhere. In reality, confidence is built closest to the moment of application — when support is available at the point where the skill is actually being used, not just in the session where it was first introduced.
Virtual and blended learning environments make this possible in ways that weren't available before. When learning is accessible on demand, the gap between learning and application closes dramatically.
This is the model behind VirtualGlass, our virtual learning platform — a space designed not just to deliver content, but to support the kind of ongoing, connected learning that builds real competence over time.
For organizations working to develop digital confidence in frontline and non-digital teams, the platform provides the structure, flexibility, and follow-through that one-time training events cannot.
Explore how VirtualGlass supports digital confidence building across your organization: https://glassoflearning.com/virtualglass
