How can you use digital tools to create a more connected workforce?

If you truly want to harness the full potential and capabilities of your people then consider digital tools that embrace employees contributions and ideas. One such tool I use is a digital motivational platform which is simple to use and which enables employees and managers to understand what motivates employees so it can be harnessed to create an energetic workforce that want to contribute to the vision and productivity of the business. I find Digital platforms like this are amazingly powerful, as do my clients as they embrace all the current challenges of hybrid working; quiet quitting, great resignation, war on talent, mental health, productivity, diversity and inclusion and talent management, in a simple but effective way.

Simplicity. Technology must be simple, minimizing the effort for the employee to learn how to use it. And it must address basic simple needs. Too often corporate technologies try to do too many different things and many of those are far too complicated compared with the need of the user, the end result being that most of the features remain unused and the ones that are actually used or not as effective as they could be, since the same technology tries to do many different things often one very diverse from the other.

One thing I have found helpful is including people who will use the digital tool in the design, building and testing stage. Secondly remember the old adage of “K.I.S.S” keep it simple stupid! The more intuitive and less complicated means less training time and more successful outcomes.

In nearly all organizations, there is tech that enables people to connect with and interact with one another. MS Office / Teams, Google Workplace and Slack are most common. Layered on top are functional tools like Atlassian (Jira, Confluence), Salesforce / Hubspot that enable teams within engineering or sales & and marketing etc to work together to deliver results. The best learning and development tools are actually embedded into the flow of work which usually means they are built into the tech used. For activating and building leadership and collective capacity, platforms like Produgie can scale this. Stand-alone apps to trigger kudos will go away as this functionality is getting built into all sorts of collaborative technology.

I like the idea of leveraging an intervention using digital tools, to build this connect. I consult for an NGO where we launched a holistic well being program in July 2022. Only one in person session has been held, and we have had 7 online sessions so far using Zoom. We have also measured the initial stage of well being using a survey and then did another assessment in March 2023 to see if it made an impact. So, my key message is to plan an intervention and guide it using online engagement tools.

Digital tools allows more people to contribute than would normally happen. One of my more introverted clients shared with me how one of the blessings from the pandemic was that people are more open to using digital tools. They give her an opportunity to think at her own space, and contribute more. Because of this she has been recognized as having leadership potential. Before she used to sit quietly in meetings and struggled to contribute.

One is the aspect of training people in digital tools which is so true. One of my clients spent 6 months trying to figure out how to change his Zoom account setting to allow anyone to present. The second aspect is to leverage platforms to create reinforced learning using elearning programs. Some of the routine training includes on boarding with mission, vision, values, training in goal setting, in performance appraisal, in some of the important policies of the company etc. Elearning makes the learning asynchronous and allows people to train at their own pace. Certification is used alongside to test their knowledge and at least provide them a Level 1 certification.

Deploying a new tool without proper communication, training or guidance is a sure shot recipe of a failed initiative. It is extremely crucial to involve the team members who are going to be using the tool from an early stage to gather their inputs and create a buy-in. During all our consulting projects we ensure to provide detailed training along with recorded video tutorials. We ensure the team undergoes a certain level of assessment to gauge their understanding of the tool before we go-live. We build a forum to address any queries or concerns raised post go-live. We ensure to do regular audits of tool adoption and ensure timely support to the team.

Example. It doesn’t matter how good is the technology we adopt if leaders don’t show how to use that properly. And when I’m saying “show” of course I’m not referring to how to use that technically, but to how you use technology at best to work with others. Therefore your leaders are the first ones you need to train.

Establishing a more connected workforce means removing any and all barriers that prevent meaningful and collaborative dialogue from happening because that is the real foundation for all relationships. When online and offline conversations carry the same weight - when the chatroom and the boardroom have equal distribution of legitimacy - then team narratives and a sense of connectedness can truly thrive.

Building a forum around the tool is extremely crucial to foster sharing ideas, concerns and suggestions. A great way to drive tool adoption and build a community is by building a point based leaderboard based on tool adoption, query solving and other positive indicators. Linking the leaderboard with non-monetary rewards can lead to positive and healthy competition within the team and push people to drive positive actions.

Transparency across a fast growing organization is key to align with the strategy and progress of an organization so finding other ways than email is really important. Having F2F interactions are not always possible so increasing the reach with interactive digital tools can help create an on and off line network to collaborate.

It goes without saying that organizations need to act on the feedback received and communicate the actions that have been taken (or not). Digital tools that provide coaching tips as a result of feedback are also very valuable.

We should all know now that real-time feedback significantly contributes to repeat performance. Suppose you have an organization that would allow for the gamification of this process. In that case, you can use apps and internal communication boards to create a positive feedback environment. My favorite way to communicate this past few years has been Microsoft Teams. It is rich with tools, reminders, doc sharing, live meetings and integrates with the rest of your MS platform. I also like; Bonusly: A platform focused on peer-to-peer rewards and recognition, offering a point system for employees to give each other bonuses that can be redeemed. TinyPulse: Known for its employee engagement surveys, TinyPulse also offers a "Cheers for Peers."

The top companies in their sector have one thing in common: alignment. Digital tools can align culture by upholding the best of change agents, and nurturing the cautious. The cautious are so valuable to a group. Address their fears and you ease the pressure of change for all. Digital tools allow nuanced, responsive, respectful engagement with change. Let everyone know where they stand. You'll see who needs attention. With 'directed nurture', you allow them to imagine their place and contribution in your shared future. Digital tools are a gateway for the most muted, anxious voices.

Interaction. Here the challenge is designing a product that attracts your attention as a magnet. Too often when we use corporate technologies to interact we are distracted by many other things we have on our mobile phones or laptops. Corporate technologies should learn a lot from consumers applications, and especially from gaming applications. When you use those (and many of those have interaction features), you are totally immersed in what you’re doing. Of course working is not the same as chatting with your friends or playing a videogame and it will never be, but there are some principles in the design of those applications that can be adopted also in a corporate environment.

Digital tools as tokens… That promote agility and flexibility among all stakeholders anywhere and at anytime. The tokens do not dehumanize work but create an interesting community of learners and actors both at home and at work. It becomes culture when it is seamless in its use and identity. When the tokens become way of life or way of doing things, then culture is born!