Building a Digital Transformation team?
Digital Transformation is not only changing business models but also work styles, job descriptions, and the way organizations operate. As businesses move further into digitalization, the intensity of culture and individual change will only accelerate.
According to Mckinsey:
“Over 70% of digital transformation doesn’t produce any result and the calculated wasted amount in 2018 was over $900 Billion.”
The studies have also concluded that the success and failure of transformation had little to do with Tech and more to do with PEOPLE.
In the years that I have been involved in digital transformation projects, some recurring observations have stood out. I would like to share some of these through the lens of the Work Styles assessment.
First, a quick overview of the Work Styles, to simplify it, let’s define these by color:
🔵Blue — People who prefer a blue work style tend to be skilled in aspects of logic, objectives, and the rationale of a project. In a digital context, they are likely to be the ones who define the problems that a solution seeks to solve.
This is a work style driven by urgency and goals.
Downside: their sense of conviction can sometimes result in them pushing an idea through sheer force of argument.
🟢Green — The Green work style preference is about defining the process and structure of how work gets done coupled with an eye for fine detail. They are likely to concern themselves with the practical and detailed aspects of a digital project. This work style takes careful, deliberate action to deliver quality.
Downside: they can get so fixated on inconsequential details that it slows a project down.
🔴Red — The Red work style is attuned towards interpreting emotion. They are likely to be skilled at interpreting the user experience from the perspective of the user. This work style is driven by relationships and insight into people.
Downside: people being their primary focus, they often overlook the commercial aspects of a solution.
🟡Yellow — People who prefer a yellow work style are particularly engaged in the creation of ideas and solutions. Creativity, innovation, and aesthetic architecture are terms often associated with this work style in a digital project.
Downside: they can sometimes get blindsided by the sexiness of ideas at the expense of practicality.
So, here are the six key observations:
- Most techies I have worked with are Blue/Yellow in their work style orientation. Skilled at seeing what needs to be addressed and diving straight into devising a solution.
This combination is ideal for digital transformation projects provided they have the psychological safety to run experiments, take a calculated risk, and not be penalized for failure. - Tech-savvy users designing solutions for themselves. We forget sometimes that our end-users may not be as conversant in using our solutions as we are. The problem is much higher in companies with a strong culture. A strong culture helps with operational efficiency and making sure everyone is playing their role.
But when it comes to transformation companies with strong culture struggles to see the world beyond them.
As people speak the same language and think the same way, The biggest challenge for transformation in this culture is Confirmation Bias. - At a cerebral, Blue/Yellow level, we understand the problems that we are trying to solve. We understand less about the emotional aspects of the user experience. This can only be achieved through meaningful interaction with our users and observing challenges from their lens before we fully understand what we are trying to address.
A great example of this is C-Level executives directly engaging with customers regularly and not just at 1 touchpoint but being part of all touchpoints (From responding to customer support tickets, reading comments from sales reps, and responding to users on Twitter). Firsthand interaction is a perfect solution to keep the team focused on user requirements and user experience. - Increasingly, the green elements of a digital transformation project are being taken over by, well, tech software. Think of to-do list software like Trello or scheduling software like Calendly.
These tools are managing the green elements at a fraction of the cost and making it easy for not so green folks.
Smart money is flowing into Productivity software market and specialized solution are being designed with the help of AI to make people organized and productive.
5. Digital transformation projects cannot be seen as purely of the ‘tech’ domain.
Tech and non-tech stakeholders need to actively experience each other’s domain to bring a digital transformation to a successful outcome. With this blend coupled with upskilling and reskilling, the organization needs to create a team of “Purple People” to lead digital transformation projects.
6. Digital transformation must start or precede cultural transformation. The organization needs to redefine the acceptance of risk and tolerance of failure. The culture required for transformation is different from that culture that sustains operational efficiency.
The organizations needs to realign to the rewards, success metrics, and appreciation to move to the culture of transformation.
This article is co-authored between Pete Pereira and Yasir Chowdhrey. Our next article will talk about “Rise of Purple People: How to pivot yellow and blue towards Purple”
