Who really powers successful digital transformation?

Perhaps not who you might at first think!

We often muse over this question - it’s as loaded as someone asking me to define exactly what digital leadership means!? Subjective to say the least.

Easier questions would be; Who challenges digital transformation the most in your system? or perhaps; Who should be more visible in your digital transformation efforts?

It wouldn’t take us long to recognise that leaders play an enormous part in the success of digital transformation from inception to delivery, iteration and sustainability - yet sadly, and more often they are touted as challengers and blockers rather than enablers or role models.

Let’s not be too hard on our leaders

As a good coach or mentor would advocate - judge not, rather try to walk in their shoes and then meet them half way.

Leaders for years have been promoted and placed in post based on reasons that don’t directly relate to the mental model or behaviours required to power digital transformation:

1. We have reached our status based on past achievements (what we did and who we were then).

2. We have been trained and developed to solve problems or to gather intelligence from around us so that we can make the best decisions (ultimately all data roads lead to Rome).

We may have done our leaders a dis-service

How we have chosen our leaders and how we have developed our leaders hasn’t really connected with the modern world in a way that challenges the core foundations of what it means to be a leader, who are our true leaders and if we aren’t here to solve the problems and make the decisions, what are we for?

But I’m equally not letting them off that lightly either!

The time for a new way of thinking and behaving as been called time and again, yet never loud enough to make a big enough dent in our mainstream leadership mental model and behaviours.

So, on the one hand we have digital transformation growing at an almost exponential rate across all business communities whilst at the same time a growing chasm between leadership participation and the digital transformation delivery itself.

Answers not questions are needed

When we recognise what is needed we can see it, experiment with it, develop it. To date we’ve been bombarded with ‘leaders need to think differently’ (And I humbly hold my hand up as one of them), without a straight line answer of HOW.

Throwing a few expert masterclasses at your board, executives or managers won’t do the trick. Neither will a development program that promises mindset shift. What’s needed is a guided mechanism for fundamental shifts in thinking and behaviour - oh, and it needs to stick…

And so digital transformation success continues to grow further away from our leaders mental and behavioural capacity to participate and role model the future.

Output? Culture shift stalls and the change agents from across project management, learning & development, technology, change management, product and service design get more stressed taking more of the responsibility of success on their shoulders. Shame on us as leaders.

Enter the three amigos

There is light at the end of this tunnel. There is a solution. It’s simple, it’s real and it’s darn right critical to every business out there trying to survive these times and thrive as a business as well as collectively as a human race.

The solution (In part of course, I’m not a magician!) is down to what we call The Three Amigos.

Amigo one - The business coach and/or executive mentor.

Think about this for just a second. The majority of leaders who are seasoned leaders having been in post for X number of years are probably unaware of the damage their failure to turn up to the digital transformation table is causing. And to confess this, unpack this and explore this needs safety, trust and privacy. Enter the business coach and/or executive mentor. This amigo is in such an important place to be able to support the leader on their own digital transformation journey. If they know this story themselves. If they themselves have eaten from the tree.

So the key here is to ensure your digital transformation takes account for the training and presence of this amigo (internal or external) to deal with the deep poop, and baggage, many of these leaders have to alleviate themselves of to get in the game.

Amigo two - The digital practitioner

Wow, since COVID-19 I think we should be clapping for these guys like we have for our health professionals. These are the ones who have put in the hours, worked the weekends and literally overnight managed to get us all online, virtual and zooming - with capability support and guides for workforce wellbeing thrown in for good measure - Any digital practitioner who has stepped up to help their organisation keep running over the last year - I APPLAUD YOU ALL.

Now, back to the amigo thing. These digital practitioners get it. They understand the power of technology, data and new ways of working. So we should be elevating their training and support and connecting them with the business mentor and coach.

Amigo Three - The disruptive leader

We’ve been working across business and government internationally since 2013. We’ve profiled over 2,000 leaders in mindset and behaviour using The Dilyn Way™ Profiling tool and one thing is a fact…in every business over a given size (which is a few hundred only), there exists leaders who want to create a better future. They know we design our futures not walk into them. They understand and role model ‘thinking differently’. Yet, time and again their voice is taken by the winds of tradition - not to be heard, and so they are left marginalised.

We should be on the look out for these leaders who dare to think differently in our systems and give them voice. Counter intuitive? Not at all. If we can foster the Malcolm Gladwell Tipping Point with the amount of disruptive leaders present in our organisation - we’ve landed the third amigo. Then, as with the other two - we support them and connect them together.

So there you have it, the three amigos - the true power behind successful digital transformation.

Are you one? Recognise anyone in your system? Recognise a gap?

For more information DM me or head to our community where we bring together these three amigos to connect, support, experiment and power our businesses and governments towards a better world.

The Different Faces of Digital Transformation

After my post last week about 'action not discussion' as a prediction and plea for Sweet ‘16, the team at Adapt2Digital have charged me with writing content which allows the reader to gain as much actionable and relevant knowledge to help them move forward either in Digital Transformation or Digital Leadership

“No problem!” I said. And so, this blog aims to provide a summary of the different definitions of Digital Transformation that seem to have evolved and be talked about today. To what actionable end? So that you can recognise which type of Digital Transformation you are either currently undergoing or thinking of kicking off. So you can recognise which type of Digital Transformation someone might be referring to in conversation and consequently ensure the context is correct.

Somewhat akin to separating the goats from the sheep, or rather searching for the diamond in a coal bunker, the term Digital Transformation has become synonymous with single business area digital transformations, single project focus points, or worse, simply the procurement and deployment of a new piece of technology.

So, how many different types of Digital Transformation are there? Which one applies to you? And which one is the best? The following lists the types that tend to be referred to in the market currently, but without distinction.

1)    Digital Marketing Transformation

Positive

• Raising the importance of the customer and the voice of the customer.

• Bringing the value of engagement through social media and real-time capability to the fore as well as the need to be ready to pick up (and drop) new channels quickly and effectively to maintain relevance in the eyes of the customer.

• Raising the game in regard to data and how connected data and allowing continuous engagement with customers can create richer experiences with together also contribute to more superior product or service design.

Cautions

• It potentially stays as a front end transformation and, without gaining the right visibility and endorsement across the wider business, further transformation may get stuck here forever.

• This type can give rise to the adoption of technologies that may fall outside the visibility of the wider business. For example, the use of a new social media monitoring tool by the marketing or communications team could have far more value if integrated with other technologies or data within the business.

2)    Technology Digital Transformation

Positive

• Gaining access to agile ways of working, using new technologies and connecting with suppliers that can provide the art of the possible.

• Enabling innovation through joining the dots across the audience value chain (that can be a customer, employee, supplier, partner even stakeholder)

• Building speed into the business from an operational perspective to meet demand and differentiate.

Cautions

• Without paying equal attention to culture and communication together with process and the technical fundamentals of deployment, usage and maintenance; this type of transformation can lose momentum and fail in achieving goals and objectives. For example; Using an new internal social platform like Yammer might go 100% smoothly in regard to process and deployment but without understanding the culture of the workforce and communicating the ‘why’ benefits success might be short lived.

• The positioning of technology, especially technology teams within the organisation is of major importance. That the business perceives technology as a provider of solutions to its needs is vital. Equally important is the mindset and behaviour within the technology area itself, to actively go out to the business and seek to provide the business solutions rather than being told ‘I want this technology please.’

3)    Product/Service Focussed Digital Transformation

Positive

• Often one of the most resistant areas of business open to change due to fear of revenue/profit decline, customer loyalty etc. Equally, this is often one of the most celebrated examples of Digital Transformation - how a business transformed by redesigning their product or service to better suite their customers. When product and service goes through Digital Transformation amazing value and opportunity can by realised through adopting a redesign mindset. This can, quite literally, be transformational!

• This type of transformation often delivers one of the most valuable elements of the wider Digital Business Transformation if focus, investment and commitment is placed on customer experience mapping. The value of this is connectivity of the customer journey across all touchpoints, which means the business starts to get visibility and naturally integrate with other teams and business areas to better serve customers.

Cautions

• Can become a one-trick pony. Transform a product or service and then you think it’s done! Without adopting an adaptive mindset, embedding adaptive processes this is not a good route.

• Digital Transformations in this area can become more of a channel shift rather than a full redesign, if there isn’t enough commitment and leadership to drive the transformation.

4)    Digital Business Transformation

Positive

• Carrying out a Digital Business Transformation means, by definition that everyone and everything is involved and thus the overall benefits become far greater than the transformations mentioned above.

Something Beautiful

• A complete transformation of your business from a 20th century organisation to a 21st century organisation serving a 21st century audience! Please note I say audience not just customer. Digital Business Transformation places a focus on each audience within it’s ecosystem: customer, workforce, supplier, partner, stakeholder and increasingly the wider community.

Clearly, for Digital Transformation to be truly sustainable and adaptive, it must be a Digital Business Transformation and that requires an inside-out focus, a commitment toward redesign far beyond a product or service, a commitment and participation by the entire leadership team and be fully inclusive of all audiences within the business ecosystem.

Any business that wants to serve a 21st century audience should, ultimately, have its eye on Number 4 above.

This is not to say the other types of Digital Transformation are without merit, quite the contrary, they can be significant starting points from which a wider business transformation can grow, and often one will effect the beginning of another. In this instance they would most probably become strategic projects or initiatives under the umbrella term Digital Business Transformation movement.

Summary

1)    Recognise which type of Digital Transformation your organisation is currently undergoing or talking about and if it falls within No. 1, 2 or 3 ensure your leadership team know this is only the start of something bigger. Do not dilute the imperative of the wider Digital Business Transformation but use your learnings, your successes as the business case to widen your efforts. 

2)    Think about how you can start to bring other areas of the business along the Digital Transformation Gravy Train – Data, Workforce Engagement, Customer Services…think, be open, share, collaborate, ditch ego and all sense of ownership and get out there!

3)    If you are undergoing Digital Business Transformation make sure you make it real for everyone: from the very top of the business to the very bottom. Everyone must be involved and and have a voice in mapping the journey from a place of contribution rather than a place of being force fed.

4)    Spend time, more time and then some more time, in getting a majority understanding and a solid level of authentic commitment to active participation from the leadership team.

Regardless of which type of Digital Transformation you are journeying towards or journeying through, make sure you are totally aware of your starting point. Ensure any targets are based on an audience benefit and business outcome and not just profit margin or savings quota.

So, one down!  I’m thinking of sharing our Wheel of Digital Transformation as my next actionable blog. Sharing with you the steps we take businesses through to help implement realistic and effective Digital Business Transformation. Sound good!? Please do let me know.

What does Digitally Mature and Adaptive Mean?

What’s in a name? Everything if you want to ensure that you and your business follow the right path to business success.

Why, you may be wondering, are Adapt2Digital concerned about you constantly adapting to a digital world?  Why do we focus on the importance of becoming digitally mature and adaptive? Why do we even use such terms as ‘adaptive’ and ‘maturity’ and ‘engagement’? Because we know that phrases such as ‘doing digital’ or ‘becoming digital’ embed an incomplete understanding of business today; ‘doing digital’ is not enough. Becoming digitally mature and adaptive to a constantly changing digital world is more than about following a process that ends at a final destination.  

The default of a successful business is to be constantly changing, constantly maturing, constantly adaptive, almost without knowing it, perhaps. That’s the language and mind-set of a successful business. That’s the kind of business that’s seeing off start-ups and established competitors, that’s the kind that’s meeting the ever-changing digital needs and wants of customers, the kind, in fact, that’s actually anticipating the demands and desires of all its stakeholders.

Successful businesses don’t do things a particular way because they have always done them that way. They are constantly adapting. They are constantly maturing. They are in a constant state of change.  If you’re ready to join the growing numbers of adaptive and successful businesses sign up for the Adapt2Digital approach here.

Tweet with us on Adapt2Digital Twitter and link up with us on Adapt2Digital: Pioneers of Digitally Adaptive Business on LinkedIn.

What Does a Digitally Mature and Adaptive Business Look Like?

Your toolkit for spotting digitally adaptive and mature businesses in vertical and horizontal markets

We are not a pedantic bunch at Adapt2Digital, but phrases like ‘how to become digital’ or ‘make your business digital’ don’t make good business sense to us. They paint an incomplete picture. Our experience shows that doing ‘digital’ is not enough.  We prefer to make businesses adaptive as well as digitally mature, by building in the ability to, at least keep up with, but preferably to stay ahead, of a constantly changing digital world.  

Change-friendly

What do we mean by that? Well, a successful digitally mature and adaptive business knows that it’s not about being digital but accepting that change as much as digital is the business norm.  The digitally adaptive business views digital change as an opportunity and not a threat.

Engagement with stakeholders

Breaking down barriers by collaborating and communicating with the workforce, has ensured that the C-Suite and managers in a digitally adaptive and mature business spread the message that making the organisation digitally adaptive is not frightening. Instead, it has been explained as a simple and effective means of staying abreast of ever-growing digital needs of stakeholders, whether they are customer, workforce, supplier, or anyone else.  Given that every generation – X, Y, Z, - and any other post-millennial group symbolised by any letter of the alphabet that one can think of – is digital to its toes, the digitally adaptive business, you will find, is recruiting the best people.  

Infrastructure

The entire digitally adaptive business is geared towards digital. Silos are replaced by one, seamless digital organisation. So you won’t find, in a digitally adaptive organisation, separated, isolated and standing proudly alone sales, marketing and customer service departments. The organisation has realised the benefits of understanding all the aspects that affect acquiring, selling to, delivering and retaining customers. People continuously collaborate through technology enabled integration.

Technology-aware

We have placed this lower down in our list because, as we are constantly saying, digital is not merely about technology. Digital leaders keep tabs on technology advances but do not obsess about it. They have established working practices that mean that technology is the enabler by which they have made and continue to make their business digital.

Communication

The C-Suite in a digitally adaptive business does not forget to continue to communicate how the different parts of the digital business keep pace with the digital world and the accruing benefits.  Participation is the word of the decade for leadership in a digitally mature and adaptive business.

Futurism

When looking for your digitally adaptive competitors, customers and suppliers look for a C-Suite where its members show openness to using whatever is required to keep the business digital and where they positively seek out rather than merely welcome ideas from its workforce. An obsession about the future, in terms of emerging technologies that can ensure you keep pace with changing behaviours and needs, is the menu for the day.

Fleet of foot

Long-established companies (or even ones that are a decade or so old) that are not digitally adaptive tend to lumber along. To spot the digitally-active organisation, look for one that is lean and fleet footed even where it faces competition from start-ups that don’t have the overheads that frequently encumber older businesses and organisations.  This hints at the core concept of adaptiveness.

Finance

The CFO and colleagues anchor digital back to the business and prove real, tangible ROI, but acknowledge the value of outcome based reporting and customer centric focus rather than budget focus.

If any of the characteristics of a digitally-adaptive and mature business sound familiar it’s because many are the distinguishing marks of a successful business. You’re not building a digital business; you’re building a successful business that has all the necessary characteristics and qualities to survive and grow in a digital world. Successful businesses don’t do things a particular way, because they have always done them that way. They do them because they make sense in a world that is now built on digital. Now that you’re ready to join the growing number of adaptive, mature and successful businesses, sign up for our approach here.

Tweet with us on Adapt2Digital Twitter and link up with us on Adapt2Digital: Pioneers of Digitally Adaptive Business on LinkedIn.