Why building a people-first employee experience is critical to your digital transformation and long-term competitive advantage

In their article, 4 Principles to Guide Your Digital Transformation, published in Harvard Business Review last month, Greg Satell, Andrea Kates, and Todd McLees articulated an approach to digital transformation not centered on technology.

They wrote:

"Technology is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It should be in the service of the enterprise, not the other way around. The real value of digital transformation cannot be achieved in one particular initiative or another. The ultimate goal should be a full-scale reinvention of the business that transforms how the organization creates, delivers, and captures value in the marketplace.

People are key to digital transformation.?

It's the people who do the imagining, inventing, building, and executing.?

For years, executives only used people to achieve their objectives.?

Ms. Jackson summed up the culture and corporate mantra of the day with words she made famous, "What have you done for me lately?"

Wall Street Chainsaw Massacre

Remember this guy?

Known for slashing jobs to cut costs and profits at any price, Chainsaw Al Dunlop embodied an era.

People at the top added value by finding ways to eliminate everyone else.?

Boards aligned manager interests with shareholders through huge equity compensation awards that swelled in value as share prices climbed.?

Shareholders were the only stakeholders that mattered.?

Senior executives happily lept onto Wall Street's quarterly expectations treadmill.

Beat the street and get handsomely rewarded with an exponential increase in wealth. What could be better?

Today, many senior executives running companies were up and coming when Chainsaw Al was riding high. Today's focus on employee experience is 180 turn.

The Employee Is Dead, Long Live The Employee

In September of last year, McKinsey & Company released their article, "This time it's personal: Shaping the 'new possible' through employee experience. (Here's what I had to say about it. There's a link to the article in the comments.) In it, the esteemed partners from that most venerable management consulting firm told their clients and the rest of the world that the key to your future success is your employees.?

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation. But it also accelerated something else - the rise of the employee-centric workplace.?

Why do you think Apple spent $5 Billion on Apple Park, on its new corporate campus??

“Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment. We’ve achieved one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and the campus will run entirely on renewable energy.” [emphasis added]?

While Silicon Valley outsiders focused on the hoodies, ping pong tables, pets in the office, and sleep pods, Silicon Valley executives concentrated on people. Neither Steve nor Tim could have predicted the pandemic or its once-in-a-generation transformative impact on the way we work. But, the reasoning behind the office space remains sound.

Innovation requires creativity.

Creativity requires people.

People who feel valued. People who are enabled, engaged and empowered.?

So, McKinsey advises us of nine elements to get right in our employee experience.

I love its simplicity.

Look at how McKinsey has grouped the elements: social, work, and organization experience.

First Among Equals

The first thing McKinsey lists is "people and relationships."???

The social experience is first among equals.

The social experience is the reason for Apple's massive investment in the office. Steve and Tim were looking for ways to encourage their teams to communicate and share ideas, build relationships across functions and perspectives, collaborate, and co-create in new ways in a physical environment designed for that purpose. That's what drives creativity.

Times have changed, however. Post-pandemic companies need to find more virtual experiences that can replace the role that Steve and Tim, and many other executives, hoped the office would play.

Executives can no longer rely on the physical office and serendipity to create the culture.

Virtual experiences where people can be social must become the norm.

People have to be intentional about being social. It can't be left to chance.

The good news is that building relationships and networking is a skill. It's a skill that may executives neglected in the past; but, it is centerstage today.

We can get better at being authentic, connecting, and building relationships with enablement and practice.

Virtual networking and relationship building requires it.

I have argued that virtual networking and relationship building is the most critical digital skill your people need today.?

Whether we're talking about social skills to acquire and retain customers, recruit talent, solve procurement challenges, or engage with colleagues who live on the other side of the world, every person in your organization must get better at being social.?

So, chief people officers, chief human resource officers, leadership and development leaders, and culture teams should be investing in shared virtual experiences that enable their teams to practice being social.?

Global transformation and innovation expert, Greg Satell, explains the new rules for competitive advantage this way.?

"Machine intelligence is quickly replacing human cognitive power much like machines began to replace muscle power over a century ago. More and more, what drives value is the ability to collaborate with both humans and machines. That is where the advantage lies today. That's why today's economy is a social economy with collaboration at its center. In the past, we could dominate by accumulating resources and driving efficiency, but now agility and interoperability rule the day.

People being social is central to competitive advantage in a social economy.

Being social, collaborating, internally and externally, on Teams and Slack, Twitter, and LinkedIn enables people to succeed at human relationships.

Please don't leave it to chance.

Enable your teams with these mission-critical skills.

Create virtual shared experiences that allow them to practice being social.

Begin building your competitive advantage today.