Is there a manual for modernisation?

According to Dell, 89% of organisations are activating strategies and programs to reduce the gap between modern customer demands and what is actually delivered by organisations.

I attended a lively discussion group recently hosted by the NCC Group where the subject of Digital Transformation was discussed and presented from a host of interesting speakers

One of the themes of the event, entitled, “Is there a manual for modernisation?” posed the following question:

Where does your digital transformation journey start?

·      Strategy

·      Culture

·      Technology

·      Processes

The results came up with 55% of attendees opting for Strategy and culture attracting only 35% of the vote – This amazed me.

I was sure that Culture would have trumped the other 3 options and through-out the day, Culture continued to be the common theme that brought together the wider discussion points of the day.

The importance of ensuring your organisation is fit for purpose, not only in under-going digital transformation but ensuring your organisation continues to remain relevant is deeply rooted in its cultural aspects.

This was discussed in a presentation given by Alex Butler, a digital strategist, who provided some fascinating case studies and examples as to how she has helped organisations get “fit for purpose” by applying changes to the cultural aspects of various businesses.

Alex recalled some great insights especially implementing technology within organisations and getting employee buy-in to adapt to new processes and platforms.

Rather doing it all in one go, consider introducing certain elements of the platform that can win over employee buy-in for example focusing on the email capability and encouraging wider participation through Yammer.

Also look to support the employees that are leading on innovation and new ways of working by encouraging a “start-up culture” – to embed a culture of creating safe spaces for staff to voice their fears and to make mistakes

Managing the Digital Skills Gap

The theme of Culture continued into the talk of “How to Manage the Digital Skills Gap” a presentation given by Dr Tim Sparkes, business psychologist of Hudson Talent Management who discussed how organisations who are undergoing significant transformation can gain a competitive advantage from identifying and deploying key individuals not with just the right skills, but more importantly with the right mindset.

What’s becoming ever more clear is that the challenge for organisations is to address the people question around the changing workplace - "The data piece is the easiest, data is data, it's the people piece that's the challenge"

The Changing Workplace

The growing skills gap impacting business is that within 20 years 90% of all jobs will require some element of digital skills.

Dr Tim Sparkes identified some key insights into managing the digital skills gap, specifically around four key areas:

1.     Portfolio Careers – There is a growing trend for people to be taking on multiple part time jobs rather than working on a traditional full time job.

2.     On Demand Economy – Stemming from the “portfolio career culture” is the growth in workforce on demand, defined as providing opportunities for more flexibility and for individuals to treat their profession on a project by project basis. 

AirBnB and Spotify are good examples of brands that have disrupted and redefined age-old industry sectors by building their brands through a changing workforce culture. 

According to Recruitment International, by 2025 38% of the UK’s workforce will be part of the on demand workforce

3.     New ways of learning: The critical areas for employees to develop their skills and competencies will be around: conceptual thinking, collaboration, communication, intuition and being socially confident – skills that again compliment the growing on demand economy and more importantly are geared towards individuals attitude and mindset, not necessarily focusing on specific siloed skill-sets

4.     The change to the organisational hierarchy - Current organisational structures limit the speed of change and ways organisations can adapt to changes in the market place.

So, is there a manual?

No, there is no manual. That went a long time ago with the industrial revolution. But what is safe to say is that culture is firmly rooted at the foundation for any organisation wanting to truly transform.

And to get culture right and fit for purpose, more organisations need to adapt and cater for their workforce, their needs and requirements.

Author Mitch Joel, in his book, Ctrl, Alt, Delete declared that more of us need to re-tune ours and our organisations thinking into 4 key elements:

1. You are about to lose your job – Those employees that like to follow a manual and to keep their heads down are perhaps creating themselves a route to becoming unemployable
2. Look to the edges – Start to take the initiative a lot more and ask yourself what is the company I am working for not doing that I could be creating value? Where could I be demonstrating added value for the organisation?
3. Invest in yourself – Don’t be afraid of re-skilling. More organisations are expecting their employees to take on the responsibility to re-training and learning skills that will help support the business over the next 2-3 years.
4. Embrace your squiggle - Don’t assume the path to success is climbing the corporate ladder anymore or not changing jobs and not changing industries.

What we were told in school was how to succeed in the industrial revolution – this is not the case any longer and this video provides some fascinating insights courtesy of Sir Ken Robinson

These four elements compliment very well to the focus and need of organisational culture building on the need for more of us to focus on: conceptual thinking, collaboration, communication, intuition and being socially confident

So as your organisation embarks on digital transformation, ensure you’re activating a strategy that builds from addressing the importance of culture.