How To Address The Five Things Limiting Your Digital Transformation Success

If you want to become a data driven organization and realize the potential value of digital transformation, it’s time to get your head out of the technology cloud. While technology is important, it’s value is in enabling people to be more productive as individuals, collaborative as groups, innovative as organizations, and equitable as societies. Technology will only enable transformation if people use it, and that requires behavioral change from the people in your organization.

In the 2022 Survey from NewVantage Partners | A Wavestone Company , 91.9% of survey respondents cite People/Cultural as the greatest barrier to organizations becoming data-driven. And we aren’t making progress on this issue as the number has increased 11% in the last five years. In contrast, only 8.1% or respondents report technology as the primary challenge in becoming data driven, and this number as decreased 11% in the last five years.

So why are we focusing so little on people? Why do we have a 100-page data strategy documents, that contain 1 page about user testing and adoption? If 92% of our problem is people/culture is 1% of our effort enough to address the problem?

I acknowledge there is progress being made on some fronts like data literacy. I applaud Valerie A. Logan for her work at The Data Lodge. However, the fundamental challenge we must address is neuropsychological in nature. If we don’t understand how the conditioning of the mind, brain, and nervous system, wire up patterns of perception and behavior in people, we will never be successful in creating a data driven organization.

Now you don’t need a degree in psychology or to spend years studying neuroscience. However, you must be aware of the following five neuro-response triggers and ask yourself how you can address them.

• Status: Humans have a deep-seated emotional need to feel valued. A real or “perceived” reduction in status will trigger a threat response, and often at a subconscious level. Therefore, we must look at how our data and digital initiatives impact people’s status. How can you ensure people feel valued and will continue to feel like an important part of the organization?
• Certainty: Humans are biologically wired to fear situations where we can’t predict and prepare for different outcomes. Consequently, change initiatives by their very nature create uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. How can you provide as much clarity as possible regarding what will happen, when, and individuals’ place in the new order of things?
• Autonomy: Humans also have a fundamental need to feel like we have choice in what is happening. If people feel they are being coerced, they get resentful, resist acting, and try to undermine the change in their peer groups. How can you give people some degree of input and choice into how and when change happens?
• Relatedness: Humans are social creatures with a strong desire for connection and sense of belonging. Disruption of the relationships and networks people have worked to establish and nurture, can create feelings of isolation, alienation, and marginalization. How can you help people maintain their current relationships, build new ones, and develop a sense of belonging in the new order of things? ????
• Fairness: Humans have biological wiring that creates powerful emotional responses to fair and unfair treatment. A real or “perceived” action of unfairness will trigger an aversive response, feelings of victimization, and a desire to discredit the process. How can you provide transparency into the process and clear expectations moving forward?

All these neuro-response triggers are related and influence each other. For example, having some level of autonomy creates a greater sense of fairness in changes. And they are all based on scientific research such as neuronal activity in the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and measurement of hormone secretion levels in response to stimulus. Dr. Dr. David Rock used the results of neuroscience studies to develop the SCARF model I outlined above.

I've seen a number of post recently that seems to circle around this topic.

Tom Redman had a post on The Trust Problem That Slows Digital Transformation. Where he says, "Without trust, and specifically the trust among regular people (those without data in their titles), progress will be much slower."

Kyle Winterbottom wrote a post yesterday about Execution Eats Strategy for Breakfast. And it being the reason why some Chief Data and Analytics Officers makes $500K a year and others $100K. While I have no hard evidence, I believe the successful data and analytics leaders either instinctively or through some formal training understand the neuropsychology of change management.

Samir Sharma wrote a post today where he says, "If we are to be completely focused on data and tech that will only get us so far, as we have seen with many organisations, who have failed in their attempts to "transform"

If we really want to overcome the people/cultural barriers to becoming data driven organizations, it’s time for us to get our collective heads out of the technology clouds. And orient ourselves around a human centered, technology enabled perspective and focus.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Do you have examples of the neuro-response triggers of the SCARF model inhibiting success?

Do you have any tips on what has worked for you in addressing them?

If you like this post and want to see more, ring the?? on my Profile, and follow?#TheTechnoOptomist

Also see Ten Helpful Tips for Effective Communication in Digital Transformation

Randy Bean Douglas Laney Tom Davenport Eric Kavanagh SCOTT Olu?waf??mi TAYLOR Susan Walsh George Firican Steve Wanamaker Lance Walter Tina Tang Tina Rosario Maria C Villar Susan Wilson Priya Ramesh Mark Johnson Reuben Abootorabi

#TheTechnoOptimist #digitaltransformation #datastrategy #neuroscience