Corporate Digital Transformations

Digital transformation, mergers & acquisitions and modern workplace development are all lofty objectives for today’s executive. Enabling the workforce to utilize the resources offered to them is the difference between success and failure of these shifts. The key to conquering these goals lies within the corporate culture. Adoption and Change Management offer the answers in creating the right culture. The question is, which comes first – Adoption or Change Management?

Organizations seeking to evolve require a foundation of support and encouragement from the top down and vice versa. Creating a flexible and enthusiastic environment is not easy but quite necessary for new technology or processes to be embraced. Change Management (CM) delivers the tools to create the proper mindset for employees to accept and acknowledge new ways of working. CM on its own will not guarantee actual utilization, thus the need for Adoption. Adoption goes beyond a simple training module and provides support to ensure participation at an acceptable rate.

New solutions or ways of working require a fresh approach from the beginning. Integrating the technology is a mere piece of the puzzle that leaders must address. CM and Adoption offer the roadmap to align the vision, effectively communicate, warrant participation and promote on-going support. These essential components are often an afterthought when a new process or technology are put in place, inevitably resulting in poor usage rates.

When the latest solutions are put into the workplace via outdated methods and policies, it is a recipe for disaster. Legacy cultures of hierarchical pyramids, siloed business units and unannounced changes are met with resistance. Employees avoid unfamiliar procedures and without a plan to tackle this, time will crush any hopes of evolving, using and consuming what is being offered.

End users see technology coming towards them faster than Usain Bolt in a race against the cheetah. Delivering new services and tools to an employee’s desk and calling it a “solution” does not make it a fact. Presenting the new entity as the answer to employee problems is often met with confusion. The employee may not have a “problem” or be unaware that the company was trying to fix one. Certainly, they are aware of their individual performance but insight regarding a new investment is frequently left out of the conversation, even when that corporate investment lands at their desk.

Supplying good technology is important, but passing it over to an employee and assuming they will begin using it because it is there is a big mistake. Your employees may be familiar with brand names and vendors like Microsoft, Amazon, Google or Apple. That consumer experience does not equate to a welcoming mindset in a business arena. Even when the collective workforce uses Facebook, Instagram, Smartphones and/or Fitbit, that social exposure is not equivalent to technical certification, nor does it guarantee the desired effect of technology exploitation and enterprise-wide usage.

When communication between the executives, management and business units are addressed the same old way, the outcome is stale. Modernization occurs when dynamic and collaborative workplaces are developed. The first step in developing this is to identify and acknowledge the current state of the culture.

Recognizing that workforces are made up of diverse employees that think differently is critical to any transformation. Multi-generational profiles and diversity are abundant in social and business arenas. Expecting each individual member of an organization to embrace a new resource the same way is unrealistic.

Let’s look at the executive striving to be a leader in their market. They know that digital technology is no longer a question of “if” but “how soon”. Leveraging digital resources is becoming a quandary of its own. Timelines are fraught with delays and a “back to the drawing board” mentality takes hold. Workers feel surrounded in doubt and become incapable of moving forward. They question their own abilities, the corporate objective, the new technology and inevitably lose confidence in their leaders. Instead of celebrating their capture of market share, executives are left dealing with employee turnover.

As new items, solutions and services come into the market, their measurement of success comes down to one thing – usage. If the population is not utilizing the resource, then, despite its capabilities, it will fail. Employees need to feel supported and reassured that their opinion is worthy of consideration. Incorporating the human capital into the conversation early on will deflect much of the resistance to new technologies and processes.

Microsoft had a good product with proven Nokia technology and a solid OS platform. However, since developers never embraced the solution, popular applications were not created and unavailable to consumers. The phones were not widely adopted by users because the access to cool applications was lacking. Unfortunately, Microsoft did not implement a solid CM program that empowered those developers. In this example, Adoption was not possible without CM.

Change Management (CM) has been around for years but never has the need to implement such a methodology been more vital. BOTH Adoption and Change Management are necessary when a shift in business needs to happen. Change Management (CM) is about embracing the new technology by opening a person’s mindset. Adoption is the actual usage or utilization of the new resource. Which comes first, CM or Adoption? When these processes occur will vary by project or situation. In other words, the order in which CM or Adoption commence, will be as unique as the person and environment they enter.

Depending upon the vision of the organization, the current state of IT, staffing, skill set and culture determining the path to success requires both Adoption and CM planning from the onset. The earlier they are considered the more likely the end users are to embrace and utilize the new resource(s).

Each organization will begin their journey from a different starting point. The sequence of CM and Adoption will vary in every case. Reaching the finish line is no longer an accomplishment, as transformation in the digital age is a continuous entity in order to be effective. Change Management (CM) and Adoption are the drivers and catapults that turn a corporate vision into a desired reality.