Embarking on the journey of digital transformation? Here's a fresh perspective. Uncover the roadmap to success, navigating through the complexities of technology, strategy, and innovation. Let's delve into the essence of digital transformation and its pivotal role in modern business success.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made digital transformation an even more urgent need
Companies must also morph iteratively to keep up with the speed of emerging technologies
- It’s a process of continuous learning and pivoting to adapt to an evolving competitive landscape
- Despite the recognition by participants that speed is critical, they reported that digital transformation takes significant financial investment and time
- Seven guiding principles for digital transformations at any stage-nascent, progressing, or stalled
Encourage an outside-in and collaborative ecosystem perspective
Digital transformation requires continuous individual and collective learning.
- Leaders must be empathic about the stress employees feel as they grapple with the complexity and change that comes with digital transformation.”
- Companies can also no longer go it alone, given the speed and capabilities necessary to compete. Leaders must forge new partnerships with key players in their ecosystems, including private companies, government, and sometimes non-profits.
Digital transformation is more about people than technology
Companies trying to digitally transform must change employees’ hearts, heads, and hands
- Leaders must be empathic about the stress employees feel as they grapple with the complexity and change that comes with digital transformation
- Navigating the arduous journey of digital transformation requires certain mindsets and behaviors from leaders
About the Authors
Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration and faculty chair of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School
Manage the power dynamics that come with data
Data shouldn’t be touted as a replacement for expertise or experience
- It should enable employees to question the status quo
- Without a shared sense of purpose and attendant psychological safety, employees will likely reject data instead of incorporating it into the daily practices in their organizations
Recognize the emotional side of digital transformation
Embracing experimentation and the inevitable missteps and failures inherent to the innovation process is frankly nerve-racking for leaders and their teams.
- Step-change innovation takes courage, and even digital-first incumbents struggle to make the necessary longer-term investments when their investors focus on shorter-term metrics.
Design for inclusive and agile problem-solving
As leaders develop and iterate their strategy for where they are going and how they will get there, they need to surround themselves with people who have their fingers on the pulse of the organization
- Leaders need to actively “crowdsource” feedback and ideas from employees, customers, vendors, and regulators
- They must spot even the weakest signals of change so their companies can proactively shape their future
Safeguard ethics and take a proactive approach to governance and compliance
Leaders must articulate values and principles that should guide how employees resolve inevitable ethical questions and create processes and habits that reinforce desired actions.
- As technological advances open up new, previously unimagined use-cases, leaders must be prepared to ask and answer the question: “Just because we can do something, should we?”
Align around a customer-centric narrative
Without a sense of shared purpose, employees aren’t willing to do the hard work required to build a digitally mature organization
- A shared sense of purpose anchors the organization as its leaders distribute authority and delegate decision-making
- Attention to purpose throughout a digital transformation helps counter short-termism, and encourages the psychological safety necessary for cultivating a growth mindset among employees
Build a data-informed culture by upskilling talent
While not everyone needs to be able to code or understand the underlying dynamics of artificial intelligence (AI), participants say that almost all employees need a basic understanding and comfort of working with data-its potential and limitations.
- Digital specialists in an organization should implement user-friendly digital tools to help level the playing field for those who are less familiar with them.
