To Lead Digital Transformation, Promote The Heck Out Of It, Then Get Out Of The Way

What holds business leaders back from all-out digital transformation? It’s nervousness — nervousness about lack of skills and proficiency, not being able to be able to understand, before investing, what technologies are relevant, and what will deliver the best results. However, decisions about digital transformation shouldn’t be top-down dictates on the organization. What works is a bottom-up approach in which managers and employees drive the adoption of appropriate technologies. In the process, informal, motivated networks of people can form to promote and promulgate winning approaches.

That’s the idea put forth by Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley, in their upcoming book, The Digital Mindset. The key to successful digital transformation, they say, is promoting the heck out of it, then getting out of peoples’ way.

Business leaders and managers don’t have to be fully versed in technology skills, Leonardi and Neeley note. One only needs to have “30 percent fluency in a handful of technical topics” to develop a functioning digital mindset. “A non-native speaker does not need to master the English language to work effectively with others,” they relate. “Similarly, to work effectively with a digital mindset, you don’t need to master coding or become a data scientist. But you do need to understand what computer programmers and data scientists do, and have proficient understanding of how machine learning works, how to make use of A/B tests, how too interpret statistical models, and how to get an AI chatbot to do what you need it to.”

Leonardi and Neeley explain how digital transformation can organically embed itself into organizational culture through a five-stage process:

Leaders sell the digital transformation. Be vocal and clear about the change you seek. Develop a mantra that will stick. For example, “doing things faster and cheaper” — versus something technology-laden like “implementing robotic process automation” — is a phrase that will resonate well.

Employees decide whether to use the new technology. There’s no guarantee that employees will shift their work to the new applications. “Employees consider whether the technology enables them as individuals to carry out the goals” of digital transformation.

Employees decide how to use the new technology. Even if readily adopted, technology may be used in many different ways. “The features people to choose to apply are deeply consequential, since they determine what kind of data will be recorded, produced, analyzed, and how that data will be used.”

New kinds of data change the way employees behave. “At their core, relationships between people in different roles are based on data. When people start performing new roles, because they have new data and information, they necessarily start interacting with different people. The result is the formation of new and initially invisible social networks. These powerful new networks may ne the most important ingredient in driving digital transformation.”

Performance improves locally. Once effectively using the digital tools comparing results with their emerging social networks, employees can actually seen real concrete gains they could appreciate.

Local performance aligns with company goals. New social networks formed as digital technologies develop and are embraced spur dialogs that reinforce corporate goals.

Applying the 30-percent rule with a different twist, digital transformation is 30-percent technology and 70-percent people. “Turn frustration about digital change into inspiration,” Leonardi and Neeley urge. “Stress the importance of digital transformation for the organization, each employees’ critical role in the process, and your confidence in their capacity to learn.”