digital-transformation – Its Just Good Management

How to Make Change Stick in Your Organisation

Organisational transformations are complex undertakings, often involving significant changes to processes, systems, and culture. While the initial excitement and momentum can generate early wins, the real challenge lies in sustaining these changes and ensuring they become deeply embedded in the organisation’s DNA. To truly lock in your transformation investment and reap the long-term rewards, focus on these three critical areas:

Scenario: Imagine “Sunnies & Shades”, a fictional, mid-sized Aussie retailer specialising in sunglasses and prescription eyewear with stores across the country. They’re undergoing a significant transformation, aiming to shift from a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to a more integrated online and offline experience. This shift involves a new e-commerce platform, in-store digital kiosks, and a revamped customer loyalty program. But like any good transformation, it’s not just about the initial launch; it’s about making those changes stick.

Build a Culture of “Always Improving”

A successful transformation requires a culture that embraces continuous improvement, where employees at all levels are empowered to identify opportunities, contribute ideas, and adopt new ways of working. This change can be particularly challenging when introducing new technologies or digital tools, as it requires a shift in mindset and a willingness to embrace change. Not only does this drive ongoing improvement and innovation, but it also helps attract and retain top talent who thrive in dynamic and forward-thinking environments.

Give Your People the Power: Empowering employees to participate in the transformation process is crucial because when individuals feel a sense of ownership and are actively involved in shaping the change, they are more likely to embrace it and contribute to its success. Empowerment means involving them in decision-making, encouraging them to share their ideas, and giving them the autonomy to experiment with new approaches. This involvement starts people planning how they will change what they do and positions them to be more prepared for the upcoming changes.
Get Feedback Regularly: Establish robust feedback mechanisms to gather insights from employees, customers, and other stakeholders. This feedback loop is essential for identifying areas for improvement, addressing concerns, and ensuring the transformation stays on track. By actively listening to feedback, organisations can make necessary adjustments and ensure the transformation remains aligned with the needs of the business and its stakeholders.
Never Stop Learning: Invest in ongoing training and development to equip your workforce with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the transformed organisation. This investment is vital because transformations often introduce new technologies, processes, and ways of working, for which employees need the capability to adapt and excel in this new environment. Learning can involve a combination of formal training programs, mentoring, online resources, and on-the-job coaching. Ideally, the change you implement has a ripple effect and can initiate further improvements. Introducing new technology can unlock further opportunities, which teams can capitalise on with appropriate learning.

For success, Sunnies & Shades needed comfortable and enthusiastic staff to use new digital tools to enhance the customer experience. Sunnies & Shades knew getting their team on board with their digital transformation was crucial. They set up staff forums and an online portal for feedback on the new systems, ran surveys, and held focus groups to ensure they considered and addressed everyone’s concerns. They also encouraged staff to experiment with the new technology and ran an internal competition to spark innovation. To top it off, they provided comprehensive training and ongoing support to ensure everyone felt comfortable using the new tools. The training acknowledged the value of previous ways of working while highlighting the benefits of the new processes to enable a smooth transition and minimising ambiguity.

Through developing a culture of continuous improvement, organisations can ensure that the changes implemented are not merely temporary fixes but become ingrained in their operations.

Make the Changes Stick

Transformations often involve significant changes to processes, systems, and behaviours. To ensure these changes are not just fleeting initiatives but become deeply embedded in the organisation, they must be reinforced and integrated into the fabric of everyday operations. This integration is essential because without consistent reinforcement, old habits can quickly resurface, and the momentum of the transformation can be lost. Crucially, this requires strong leadership buy-in and role modelling, with leaders actively demonstrating their commitment to the new ways of working.

Make it Part of Everyday Life: Integrate the changes into daily routines and workflows. This change can include updating job descriptions, redesigning workspaces, and incorporating new technologies into standard operating procedures. This integration is essential because it ensures that the new working methods become the norm rather than an exception.
Keep the Communication Flowing: Maintain open and transparent communication channels to inform employees about the transformation’s progress, address concerns, and celebrate successes. Consistent communication is crucial for building trust, maintaining momentum, and ensuring everyone is aligned with the transformation’s goals.
Shout Out Successes: Acknowledge and celebrate both big and small wins throughout the transformation journey to maintain momentum, build confidence, and reinforce positive behaviours. Celebrating successes reinforces the value of the transformation and motivates individuals to continue embracing the change.

For Sunnies & Shades, this meant making the new digital tools and processes a seamless part of their customer and employee experience. They went all-in on their digital makeover. They redesigned their stores with interactive kiosks for customers to try on glasses virtually and updated their staff uniforms to match their new vibe. To keep everyone in the loop, they held regular “sundowner” sessions and used their intranet to provide updates, informally discuss concerns and share success stories. The leadership team actively participated in these sessions to demonstrate their commitment to the transformation and used the new digital tools themselves. They also gave kudos to their “Digital Stars” – staff who nailed the new tech – and shared good customer feedback online.

Organisations can create a lasting legacy for their transformation efforts by planning steps to reinforce and embed the changes.

Track Your Progress

Establishing a robust measurement and monitoring framework is essential to ensuring your transformation is on track and delivering the desired results. This involves setting clear goals, tracking progress, and using data to inform decision-making. Tracking progress is crucial because it allows organisations to measure their efforts’ effectiveness, identify improvement areas, and demonstrate the value of the transformation to stakeholders.

How often do you and your team invest the time to discuss your transformation objectives AND what metrics will indicate both progress and results? While leaders know they should do this, few do. Why? Because it takes time and effort away from the day-to-day. My advice from many transformations is to invest this time upfront; it will make the inevitable conversations about the transformation value more productive.

Set Clear Goals: Define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the transformation to provide a clear roadmap and a benchmark for measuring success. Clear goals provide direction and focus for the transformation, ensuring everyone is working towards the same outcomes.
Regularly Check In and Analyse: Regularly monitor and analyse performance data to assess the transformation’s effectiveness and identify improvement areas. Regular monitoring and analysis allow for adjustments to the transformation strategy and plan, ensuring it remains aligned with the evolving needs of the business.
Harness the Power of Data: Leverage technology to gain a comprehensive understanding of your transformation’s impact. Utilise data analytics platforms and business intelligence tools to track key metrics and visualise progress. This visualisation makes information accessible to stakeholders, facilitating focused discussions and informed decision-making. Ultimately, technology provides valuable insights into the transformation’s effectiveness and identifies areas for optimisation.

For Sunnies & Shades, tracking progress was crucial to understanding the impact of their digital transformation on key metrics like sales, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Sunnies & Shades set clear goals for its transformation, like boosting online sales and growing its loyalty program. They used web analytics, in-store data, and an interactive business intelligence dashboard to keep tabs on their progress. Ready access to this information gave them a complete picture of how they were tracking and helped them spot any trends or areas for improvement in their monthly review meetings.

By diligently tracking progress, organisations can ensure their transformation stays on course and delivers the desired outcomes.

Conclusion

Transformations are not merely about implementing new initiatives; they are about creating lasting change. Organisations can lock in their transformation investments and reap long-term rewards by curating a culture of continuous improvement, embedding changes into daily operations, and diligently tracking progress.

Lessons from Sunnies & Shades – The Sunnies & Shades scenario highlights the importance of a holistic approach to transformation. Sunnies & Shades demonstrates how to successfully navigate the complexities of organisational change and build a sustainable future by actively involving staff, celebrating successes, and continuously adapting to the business’s evolving needs.

Digital Transformation Success: Key Steps and Remember the People

1. Understand Your People: The Heart of Digital Transformation

Before diving headfirst into new software or platforms, take a step back and truly understand your people. It’s crucial to know what they do. Understand what they think the purpose of their work is. Learn what their daily tasks involve. This understanding will help you determine if what they are trying to do is needed. You may find an opportunity to eliminate a process. You might automate it entirely or make the human intervention more valuable.

Empathy is Key: Observe how your employees currently work. Understand their pain points, what they do not want to change, and why. Identify areas where technology can streamline tasks, reduce frustration, and unlock more significant potential.

For example, consider a financial institution implementing a new digital loan processing workflow. Initially, employees resisted the change, fearing it would complicate their tasks. The institution’s leadership conducted interviews. They observed the employees’ daily routines. They discovered that employees struggled with redundant data entry and cumbersome approval processes. The employees’ workload was significantly reduced by introducing an automated system that eliminated these inefficiencies. This change improved job satisfaction. It also sped up the loan approval process. Both the staff and the customers benefited from these improvements.

Purpose and Motivation: Engage with your employees to understand what they think the purpose of their work is. This engagement is not just a conversation, it is an essential tool in building your strategy. It’s a way to involve your staff in the digital transformation process, making them feel more connected and motivated. Knowing their motivations can help align digital transformation efforts with their goals and aspirations.

Tool Preferences: Find out why employees like or dislike their current tools. This insight can guide the selection of new tools that better meet their needs and preferences. To gather this information, consider using surveys or focus groups. Surveys can provide quantitative data on employee satisfaction with current tools. Focus groups can offer deeper qualitative insights by allowing employees to discuss their experiences and preferences in more detail. Be aware of peer pressure and groupthink when collecting data, look for outliers and trends and try to understand the root cause of each.

Concerns and Aspirations: Listen to your employees’ concerns and aspirations. Address their worries about the changes and highlight how the new technology can help them achieve their professional goals. This will make them feel valued and considered, enhancing security and trust in the process.

Collaboration is Crucial: Involve your team in the digital transformation process. Seek their input, address their concerns, and ensure they feel heard and valued throughout the transition. This will make them feel involved and integral to the change, increasing a sense of ownership and commitment.

Training is Essential: Provide comprehensive training. Offer ongoing support to equip your employees. They need skills and confidence to thrive in the new digital environment. Implement varied training methods, such as interactive workshops, online courses, and one-on-one coaching sessions, to cater to different learning needs. This multifaceted approach ensures that all employees feel well-equipped and confident, creating a sense of empowerment and readiness for the change. Equally important is involving key team members in co-developing the training programs. This collaboration ensures that the training addresses real, rather than perceived, needs and incorporates practical insights from those who understand the day-to-day challenges. Ongoing support, including regular check-ins and a dedicated helpdesk, will encourage a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, which is crucial for long-term success.

By prioritising your people and understanding their work, you’ll create a culture of adoption. This will lead to innovation. These efforts drive the success of your digital transformation.

2. Be Clear on What You Want to Change: Laying the Groundwork for Transformation

Before embarking on a digital transformation journey, it is crucial to know exactly what needs to be changed. Understanding why these changes are necessary is equally important. This clarity will ensure you address the right problems with the right solutions, setting the stage for a successful transition.

Identify Where Change is Needed: Conduct a thorough process audit to pinpoint inefficiencies and areas requiring improvement. Understanding these core issues will help determine the necessary changes and ensure they address the real problems.

Articulate What Needs to Change: Before implementation, carefully evaluate potential solutions. Ensure the chosen technology or process changes are the best fit for your organisation’s needs and objectives. Clearly communicate the specific changes required and how they will be implemented. Make sure everyone knows exactly what is being asked of them.

Understand the Impact on People: Understand and explain the impact of these changes on your team, workflows, and overall operations. Be prepared to address any challenges that may arise during the transition. Articulate how addressing these issues will benefit the organisation and improve workflows while enhancing individual roles. This ensures everyone understands the positive impact the changes will have on their work.

Consider the Implications: Fully understand what will be involved in making these changes. Consider the impact on your team, workflows, and overall operations. Be prepared to address any challenges that may arise during the transition period.

Set Clear Objectives: Communicate the specific objectives of any changes and how they will impact individuals within the organisation. For instance, explain how a new digital tool will streamline their daily tasks, reduce manual errors, or enhance their productivity. Clearly defined objectives should resonate at a personal level, making it evident how these changes will benefit them directly.

For example, success may look like a smoother workflow with fewer manual interventions. When employees understand the transformation’s personal advantages, they are more likely to embrace and champion the change and provide feedback on modifications to drive further refinement and improvement.

Be clear on what you want to change and know why it is essential. This ensures you solve the right problem with the right solution. This foundational step is essential before planning and engaging your team in the transition process.

3. Have a Plan: Mapping the Route to Success

Digital transformation requires a well-defined roadmap. A clear plan is essential to ensure a smooth transition and minimise disruption.

Outline Key Milestones: Break down the transformation process into manageable phases with specific goals and deadlines for each stage.

Define Roles and Responsibilities: Identify who is responsible for each aspect of the transformation and ensure everyone understands their role in the process.

Establish Communication Channels: Determine how information will be shared and feedback gathered throughout the transformation journey.

Develop a Training and Support Strategy: Provide resources and support to help employees adapt to the new technology and processes.

Measure Success: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your transformation objectives. Regularly evaluate your progress against these metrics. Create a clear pathway for your team. Actively manage the transformation process. This approach will set your team up for success and minimise potential roadblocks.

In conclusion, navigating digital change requires a strategic approach. It should prioritise understanding your people. It is essential to define clearly what needs to be changed. Having a well-structured plan is also crucial. By focusing on these three core elements, organisations can create a culture of adoption. This approach encourages innovation. It ensures a successful digital transformation. Remember, the heart of any transformation lies in the people who drive it. Engage with your employees, address their concerns, and provide the necessary support to empower them in this journey. With a clear vision and a collaborative effort, digital change can significantly improve efficiency, customer engagement, and overall business success.