70% of all digital transformations fail. This is due to organisations over prioritising technology and under valuing the very things that enables the technology to deliver- the people, processes, and culture. Therefore, organisational change management is crucial for the successful implementation of digital transformation initiatives. Below we explore key change management principles that you will need to leverage to effectively support individuals through the change and to achieve true digital adoption.
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Set the vision and objectives and clearly communicate them
Before embarking on any form of digital transformation it is essential to have a clear vision for the future. Your vision and objectives should articulate what you plan to achieve and how you plan to get there. This will underpin everything you are striving to achieve and will be your foundation for driving organisational change. Your vision and objectives should align with your organisation’s values and strategic direction. Once the vision and objectives are defined and agreed, they must be understood by all. As a result of creating and communicating a compelling case for change to your employees, they will value the reasons why the transformational change is important, which in turn will reduce resistance and aide adoption.
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Leaders must advocate the change
It is the responsibility of organisation Leaders to make sure everyone feels confident and comfortable with the upcoming change. More importantly, by making all employees feel like they have a part to play to achieve the transformation, Leaders can help create a sense of shared responsibility and collective ownership for the change. Additionally, Leaders should role model new behaviours and ways of working and should be seen to be as involved and impacted by the change as everyone else in the organisation.
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Communicate the benefits
To change the hearts and minds of your employees you must think wider than just the technology itself. Therefore, you need to identify what the real benefits will be for employees i.e., reduced admin, improved data quality, a less complex interface. By identifying what will benefit the people every day you are making the people feel listened too, that their issues are being acknowledged and resolved as part of this transformation, whilst simultaneously gaining employee investment in the successful outcome of the transformation.
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Build the knowledge and skills
Successfully delivering training and building knowledge and skills across the organisation is arguably the most important driver for adoption. Don’t underestimate your organisations training requirements, make sure to cover all technical, process, behavioural and ways of working changes that will result from your digital transformation. It is likely employees will be apprehensive about learning a new technology, so make sure you have developed a training approach that appeals to different learning styles and covers learning on how to use the new technology, developing skills and building confidence in the new tool(s). Training is not a one-off activity, to ensure successful adoption you must periodically assess your organisations knowledge and skills and identify any further training requirements and/or areas of improvement.
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Encourage involvement and feedback
By encouraging your employees to get involved in the transformation from the very start you will help to create organisation wide buy-in and accountability for the change. Additionally, by creating robust feedback loops and genuinely welcoming feedback, and then actioning it, you will in turn create a culture of openness. The collective input of employees and shared accountability for the transformation will enable long term digital adoption.
Ultimately, for digital adoption to be successful you must place an equal focus on both technology and people and invest in a change management from the outset. Additionally, by applying the above principles and using a change management framework that works for your organisation, you will ensure digital adoption is achieved and will result in your organisation falling into the 30% of successful digital transformations.
Going through digital change as we speak? Know you need to digitalise to stay ahead? These points will help to get you started, and we’re here to take you further. Let’s chat
