The projection of $1.78 trillion for global spending on digital transformation in 2020, goes a long way to show that organizations are taking giant steps. It’s, however, important to note that you may hit a brick wall with your employees if care is not taken.
According to an SAP report, about 70% of business leaders said they’ve experienced appreciable or transformational value in customer satisfaction due to the implementation of digital transformation initiatives. But, being digitally savvy can’t come easy; there are obstacles such as cybersecurity concerns and employees’ resistance.
Many times, we have seen situations where people have aversion to any form of change. Even where employees believe that digital transformation will improve the market relevance of an organization, you still see them resisting the change.
Unfortunately, organizations focus more on technology changes, they give little attention to organizing employees and processes involved in the new tech. It’s usually not easy to change the way people work, and realign them to new roles and responsibilities.
This makes the digital transformation a complete reimaging of an organization’s procedures. It must take into consideration how to also transform the culture and priorities of employees.
Both inertia and ignorance contribute greatly to employees’ resistance to digital transformation; there is the tendency to believe that the old ways of doing things are the best; hence blind eye is turned to the necessity and benefits that can be derived from digital transformation. What you will generally see among your employees can be categorized into mislearning, defense against learning, and resistance to learning.
This is not a surprise, given that your digital transformation initiatives must include learning about new technology, where employees will acquire basic knowledge about tools and how they function. They must also learn how to use the new technology to perform their usual procedures, as well as how to use the opportunity presented by the new technology to carry out new tasks.
Finally, they need to generate new ideas to better understand the customers’ pain points, structure, and influence the global market. All these learning processes are what frighten employees, and their reaction tends towards resistance.
You can’t overemphasize the need for digital transformation; it’s a process you must embark upon for relevance. To ensure your effort does not end in futility due to employees’ resistance, you need to adopt these five measures.
1. Ensure everybody has a learning mindset
The CEO’s mindset is very crucial here, how you lead determines how employees will accept changes. If you put yourself in a learning mode, there are good chances that your employees will key in.
An open mindset towards new skills and ideas is of high essence for the success of the digital transformation. Digital transformation is an ongoing process, it may never come to total completion.
Technologies will keep emerging, and you have to continue integrating the relevant ones. You must not be afraid to discard any idea that is not working; as you go along the learning curve, the probability of mistakes must be enshrined in everybody’s mind, that’s why the learning mindset is essential.
2. Allow employees to undergo training
Wrike report reveals that over 80% of workers are anxious whenever there is a need for the adoption of a new process. This is the basis for their resistance to digital transformation. The only way to overcome this fear of the “unknown” is to give them the required training.
Don’t rush off to the market with your new product or service; an internal launching is a boost to your employees’ confidence, as it will allow them to correct whatever errors they may have made. You may need to outsource some training to experts to get the best for employees.
Outsourcing experts for the training of your employees will help to drastically reduce the digital skills gap. Employees will feel carried along if you conduct regular meetings to discuss and review progress; initiating a feedback session creates room for an open conversation on how to handle setbacks.
3. Powerful collaboration among the C-suite
The task at hand should not be seen as that of the CEO alone; there must be powerful collaboration among the executives. The C-suite must relate with middle-level managers, including those in IT, to chart the best route of promoting the benefits of digital transformation.
When there is a collaboration among the executives, it becomes easier to make employees toe the digital transformation line. Employees will join in if they see their leaders going at the transformation with commitment.
4. Have a digital transformation strategy
A digital transformation strategy is more like the roadmap you need to enhance smooth operations. You won’t want your employees to take random and disjointed decisions that can lead to confusion and frustrations.
A good digital transformation strategy must specify how you want processes to go. What new values do you want for customers, and how do employees benefit from the transformation?
These must be addressed by your digital strategy. Employees need to see that the whole idea is to create a better and more exciting working environment for them.
5. Take a step at a time
Though digital transformation is a holistic venture, you don’t need to embark on all the initiatives at once. Trying to change everything at once will breed confusion, and that will lead to the resistance you are trying to avoid.
That is another area where digital strategy comes into play. You indeed have a long way to go, and maybe the competition already has an edge, if you don’t go it slowly, you may even end losing focus. If your employees are confused, there is no way you can achieve anything.
The ideal thing is to select initial priorities with short to a medium-term returns of investments. Employees will feel they are scoring when they see results, which won’t be possible if you think you can fix everything at once.
Results boost morale, and the quicker, the better. Celebrate and reward employees who have performed well and ensure there is a good channel of communication, and when you need employees to go the extra mile, reach out to them with sincerity of purpose.
