My article in BUSINESS INSIDER published 2ndof May 2018.
One thing is certain: every modern organization must undergo a change process leading to full digitization. Some will treat it as just an element of adapting to the modern market. Others will see in it a chance to increase profitability and even a revolutionary change in the scale of operations.
Regardless of which of these perspectives is closest to us, each transformation requires a few basic assumptions, the adoption of which will be valuable for the implementation of bold plans. Maybe not all will prove a guarantee of success, but many of them will make us treat the transformation rather as a rational process, and not as a battle, from which the most battered leader comes out.
I will present a few tips that in my opinion have a chance to ease the violence of transformation. I will present below the role of the Chief Architect of Change (CEO), the competences of the head of the IT or Digital Department, the role of interpersonal relations and additional factors that are of great importance in the process of digitization.
Author’s CEO signature
The effectiveness of transformation begins with the attitude of the leader. She / he sets her directions, is responsible for her goals, gives her tone. For the change to work, the leader should label it with his own name, sign it under each element. It has to be treated by him / her as a proprietary program and has a strategic vision of the role to be played by digital technology in all processes in the company – from helpdesks, to customer service and sales. By formulating a proposal for change, he does everything to connect in a clear way the world of values and goals – attractive from his point of view, his colleagues, board and shareholders – with modern technological solutions.
Technology and values should be unity, and change participants (employees and collaborators) must feel that digitization is not just a momentary whim. It is a means to increase brand strength, market position, revenues. It is a consequence of changes taking place in the modern world.
How interesting it can be to use marketing tools in this situation, we can read in the article “The CEO’s Guide to Reinvention” branded by McKinsey.
The authors give examples of leaders who, when implementing changes in their own organizations, “pack” them as if it was the head of marketing. They treat business transformations as a process similar to branding. In this way, they win supporters and communicate their ideas to others.
People of new technologies
An integral part of an effective leader is the selection of people who will lead the teams. They must understand his general vision, and at the same time have the ability to translate its elements into the available tools that they operate in their daily work. They will also be responsible for continuing to relay the “story” of the leader within the organization, for spreading a new culture and for realizing new values. Among the people with whom the organization’s leader will cooperate in the change process, the head of the IT department plays a special role.
It is he who can materialize the CEO’s visions, make the new values become just a business “machine”. To a large extent it is a co-creator of the digital revolution, because it is responsible for comprehensive changes – both building IT systems inside the company, creating interfaces with which the client contacts, and creating mechanisms that shape the attitude of employees to a large extent.
Because, after all, managers from other departments will observe whether the new tools they use really evolve and whether this evolution brings comfort or drama.
Read more in the full article.
Link to the full article (in Polish)
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Zwierzak
Where are these leaders you are preaching about?