Digital Transformation: Mindset Before Technology

Buckle up. Digital change is going to get faster—and it'll require a new leadership mindset.

When we dig into history, we find that digitization began in the mid-20^th century, but it was slow. Change was an upheaval that happened every few years. Today, the pace of change is speeding up—it's now so fast we call it a transformation—and it's constant.

Customers drive the change, and their expectations have never been higher. They have become connected and informed technology users, and they expect the companies that serve them to lead the way. According to Salesforce, 70% of consumers say that new technologies make switching easier, and we know that most of them will switch if they have even one disappointing experience.

Whether they are consumers, businesses, or governments, customers expect the companies they do business with to keep on innovating. Your employees have the same expectations. As a result, you may look at your current technology to see if there are better ways to do business. You might even think it's time to make a change.

We advise caution. Consider your leadership mindset before you set the wheels in motion.

Old Ways of Thinking

Over the past 23 years, we have seen many struggles. Years ago, part of the problem was that the new cloud vendors and their partners often pushed all the change management thinking and planning onto their new customers. It was only when their customer satisfaction feedback began telling them what was going on that they changed that practice.

Another issue was that many implementers asked customers to analyze how they did business and configure their new software to duplicate it. Many still do it that way. That way of thinking doesn't help your team prepare for the future. Consider how you'll serve customers next month, next year, and three or more years from now and how you can adapt to changing expectations.

Before the implementation, we need to step outside our comfort zones and consider the impact of change on our organization and processes.

A New HR Mindset—Lead the Leaders

MIT Sloan Management Review surveyed 4,394 global leaders and followed it with executive interviews and focus groups of emerging next-gen leaders. Their results give us reason to be concerned. Only 12% of respondents strongly agree that their companies are building robust leadership pipelines; only 10% feel that their organizations have leaders with the right skills to thrive in the digital economy (Figure 1).

These results show us that digital transformation is about more than just technology. To transform the business and the workforce, we, as leaders, must transform ourselves.

The immediate and ongoing future requires a fresh approach to organizational design, corporate culture, talent management structure, and related processes. HR must lead digital transformation efforts by leading the organization's leaders.

A new breed of digitally savvy, data-driven, creative leaders is coming. Many of them are already in positions of responsibility. HR's next best move is to show hide-bound, command-and-control leaders how to work with and leverage that new mindset.

Motivating traditional managers to become digitally savvy leaders who can leverage the capabilities of creative, data-driven people is a process that requires a change in mindset. We suggest the following roadmap for driving this change:

1. Begin by understanding what digital means in your industry.
2. Identify achievable definitions of digital transformation and set precise targets for them within the organization.
3. Assess your organization's readiness or digital maturity and preparedness for change.
4. Encourage executives and employees to adopt digital thinking and cultivate a digital mindset: agility, innovation, and willingness to experiment.
5. Identify suitable areas for digital investments. Determine which investments would be most beneficial based on which ones will bring the highest returns after digitization.
6. Upskill your workforce. Offer training to leadership team members and beyond to gain new knowledge about modern leadership, such as using information technology.
7. Redesign internal work processes around digital collaboration platforms: create networks among staff by removing barriers between departments that could hinder the exchange of ideas, fostering collaboration towards achieving common goals.
8. Roll out in phases, introducing digital initiatives gradually and letting people learn from mistakes made while making and testing changes.
9. Monitor progress and adjust strategies based on feedback and results..
10. Celebrate small wins to keep motivation high among those involved directly or indirectly in the process
11. Adapt to change, keeping pace with shifts occurring within technological advancements and business environments worldwide to develop more effective ways of doing things. Capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Following these steps will help leaders who still practice traditional methods gradually shift towards becoming digital-oriented leaders by using the creative inputs necessary to propel growth. Leadership transformation is a thousand times more critical than your next technology. Transformation is about to touch everything you do. So, prepare the way for your next digital move, so you can invest in technology that will grow with you.

About Pixentia

Pixentia is a full-service technology company dedicated to helping clients solve business problems, improve the capability of their people, and achieve better results.