At one point, I was sent to a one-week-long workshop along with different participants from other countries. It was an interesting workshop as it started with us learning the host country’s culture, and the history behind how the company incepted. Before the workshop, we were given many assignments and case studies to evaluate the home country’s performance and determine what we wanted to achieve from the workshop.
Initially, I have no visibility on the overall learning outcome of the program except being told it is a development program. Before attending the workshop, I was given a list of contents to choose from and what I like to achieve from the workshop. I chose something that I do not know of, and I was fortunate that they managed to cover all the modules I opted for.
It was by chance that they included the design thinking module in the workshop. Among other modules, I found the design thinking module to be the most interesting session.
It was then I learn how to conceptualise the proof of value through the process of resolving complex problems. I learn how to identify a problem, ideate with an innovative solution, and thereafter prototype it and test it to endorse the idea. It is an ideological and systematic process to solve complex issues for businesses, customers, and even the organisation.
Unfortunately, upon returning after the program, I did not have the opportunity to use and apply it then.
Maturity took the stage
After a year, the regional office hosted another workshop having leaders from other regional countries participating in the workshop. During the workshop, as usual, as country representatives, we were given a slot to present our country performances.
The mature countries took the stage and presented themselves eloquently and confidently as to how they managed to scale their business in a competitive and complex environment. Throughout the session, we were placed to sit together based on maturity level so that we could learn at the same pace. I was a bit uneasy as our country’s maturity level was lagging way behind other countries. We were at the lowest level, but I managed to conceal my feeling.
I realised I must do something to scale up the country’s capabilities. Our country’s performance was once the top two countries in the region many years ago. I was a bit determined and upon returning, I took the initiative to propose a strategy to scale our digital solutions to my business leader.
The digital journey started
My business unit leader supported me, and we presented my strategy to the country head. However, the country head did not give me a nod as to whether we could proceed with our strategy to bring up the country’s maturity level.
We decided we should proceed anyway and plan to present it to the country head with the proof of value at a later stage. I started to design my strategy and outline the execution plan. The next stage was convincing the other business unit leaders to support my idea and strategy. I received their support and they even nominated representatives from their business unit to support my initiative.
All the business unit leaders joined my first workshop, they delivered their speeches with the fullest support for the initiative. The business leaders wanted transformation, they wanted a competitive and comprehensive digital solution that can scale and take on to the market. They left the room, and I started facilitating the workshop with all the participants.
The team was excited, and they shared their ideas about what they can offer. The team understands the evolution and knows that digitalisation is disrupting the market. They understand that they need to be competitive and strive to meet the market demand. They are keen to collaboratively leverage each other expertise. They recognise they needed help from strategic partners, and they are committed to having a solution to go to the market. They were so hyped with the plan that they even branded themselves as the “Digital Innovation Team”.
They decided to meet bi-weekly basis for progress updates. They did their research and came up with their strategic ideas, solutions, and a brief roadmap. They even initiated some synergy with strategic partners so that they can come up with an innovative solution collaboratively.
What went wrong?
It was a bi-weekly affair for me to facilitate everyone coming together to brainstorm ideas and presented their thoughts and facilitate them towards the next action. It went on for at least six months, unfortunately, the momentum started to deteriorate, as many started to spin off to other priorities.
We can’t see a viable development after six months. The energy and momentum of the team started to deteriorate. During the sixth-month review, the leadership team needs to decide whether to continue the activity or pull the plug. After some discussion and reviews, we realised it was not the business unit’s priority, hence, we decided to pull the plug.
What happened during the six months? Are there challenges during the strategic planning phase? What contributed to the failure? Let me outline the top three key critical issues that contribute to the failure.
- Lack of shared direction. In the first stage, we do not have the entire buy-in from the top as we are not on the same page as the country head. It was also not the country head and organisation’s priorities and agenda for the fiscal year. Furthermore, my business leader did not include that strategy for that fiscal year, hence priorities were deferred then.
- The internal bureaucracy. Like it or not, it is also a showstopper. The internal bureaucracy was a real challenge as we must overcome some commitments from the team. The lack of autonomy and empowerment, the complex structures and layers of processes were a showstopper as they caused unnecessary barriers for them to come up with an innovation. This has also slowdown decision-making during the strategic planning stage. For instance, one of the business unit leaders was unable to progress as he has a multi-layered hierarchical structure that hampered his decision-making.
- Change – the fundamental of digital transformation is all about People. The right formula is to have the entire organisation’s buy-in and acceptance at all levels. The organisation needs to overcome the internal bureaucracy and resistance to change. It’s a long journey hence, changing mindset is imperative. During the journey, the momentum started to decline as we started to see people missing from meetings, and datelines, avoiding assignments, and bickering taking control over the entire activities.
What can be done better
Digital Transformation is the trend, and it is radically changing the business world. Digital Transformation involves a major shift from the legacy business model to a new way of working. It involves the organisation’s culture and may change the way and approach how the organisation operates. Hence, one must start the journey on the right track. Therefore, to start the journey, get the
- Management buy-in. I have written many times, management buy-in is the most crucial agenda for digital transformation and organisational change. It involves the entire business ecosystem. Therefore, the top leader must be convinced and committed to evolving, and they must make it part of the organisation’s strategy and agenda.
- Acceptance at all levels – very common internal bureaucracy may cause resistance to change. While many understand and anticipate the wave of change, however, accelerating change requires everyone in the organisation to adapt to the new way of working.
That drew me to the point of how many organisations successfully execute change. The typical practices, organisations will start to initiate awareness programs and initiate training for the employees. It’s not wrong as training is all about employees upskilling and reskilling their soft skills or hard skills and know-how.
However, to get acceptance from all levels into digital transformation, the organisation needs to change everyone’s mindset. Change can’t happen with one-time training. Ideally, the organisation needs to embed it with coaching as coaching will handheld one to apply the skills to achieve the specific goal, especially developing one towards a growth mindset so that they are ready to transform themselves.
- Becoming a Day One organisation – I like to cite how Amazon does it. Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to his shareholders to differentiate day one and day two companies. Day one is like a new start-up, they are motivated for growth, engaged, agile, and perhaps addicted to making a difference. On the other hand, a day two organisation as Jeff Bezos quoted “Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by an excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day One in Amazon.”
Once the above three key critical areas take place, the other component of the digital transformation journey such as the technology, the process, the data, and the strategic partners will follow through.
At the end of the day, digital transformation is all about the people driving change for the organisation. They are the ones who will help to make the digital strategies and planning work. The organisation needs a digital mindset driver who can lead the digital journey, overcoming resistance to change, cultivating the organisation’s culture to think digital, and govern the long digital journey. Therefore, it is imperative to start a digital transformation journey on the right track.
