{"id":14859,"date":"2023-03-23T12:19:41","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T12:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faisalhoque.com\/?p=14859"},"modified":"2023-03-23T12:19:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T12:19:41","slug":"without-the-right-culture-your-digital-transformation-efforts-will-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.frameroinfotech.com\/fh\/without-the-right-culture-your-digital-transformation-efforts-will-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Without The Right Culture, Your Digital Transformation Efforts Will Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Larry English<\/a><\/h4>\n

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What companies get wrong is that true digital transformation isn\u2019t about the technology itself, but rather the mindset of an organization and its leaders, argues award-winning technology entrepreneur and author Faisal Hoque in his new No. 1 Wall Street Journal<\/em> bestselling book, REINVENT: Navigating Business Transformation in a Hyperdigital Era<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In an era of rapid technological advancements, digital investments are a do-or-die proposition for organizations across all industries. But according to a McKinsey survey<\/a>, most businesses see less than one-third of the results expected from digital transformation efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom top to bottom, organizations will be compelled to change entire mindsets, attitudes, and assumptions about how they operate, how they can grow, and even about the very reason for their existence,\u201d Hoque writes. \u201cChange, as driven by technology, is as much an adjustment of mindset as it is a new set of tools that everyone must learn how to use.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Is Digital Transformation?<\/h2>\n

True digital transformation isn\u2019t a plug-and-play tech investment; rather, it\u2019s when companies use technology to drive and evolve every aspect of the organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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It\u2019s a question of Netflix versus Blockbuster, Hoque says in an interview. Netflix digitally transformed, Blockbuster did not. We all know who wins in this story.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s mail-order video rentals disrupted the traditional video rental industry. Since then, Netflix has consistently incorporated new technologies to disrupt industries in its orbit, including TV broadcast and production studios. Today, the entertainment company doesn\u2019t just rent videos; it produces tons of its own content, streamed directly to customers, and collects and uses customer data to inform every aspect of its business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Cultural Elements of a Digital Transformation<\/h2>\n

Research has shown that investing in technology is not enough<\/a> to cause meaningful change\u2014the magic happens when cultural and technical change align with business strategy, which can result in a significant increase in business revenues.<\/p>\n

Hoque says the following are critical elements of a culture supporting true digital transformation:<\/p>\n

No more command-and-control leadership<\/strong>. The old-school model of leadership, where leaders hand down directives, will sink any digital transformation effort from the outset, Hoque says. Instead, he suggests, leaders need to be open to the possibilities of digital transformation and willing to embrace continuous change\u2014and help employees feel comfortable with change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf your next leader isn\u2019t good with technology, you\u2019ll fail,\u201d Hoque says. \u201cBut you\u2019ll also fail if your next CEO doesn\u2019t have those classic soft skills, including empathy and awareness. Leaders need a deep awareness of how things are shifting internally and externally and how that impacts the people experiencing the constant changes to their work environment. They need to lead by inspiring and influencing versus the classic command-and-control mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comfort with failure. <\/strong>Failure and innovation go hand-in-hand\u2014there\u2019s no escaping it. Leaders need to foster a work environment where it\u2019s acceptable to mess up, Hoque advises. You must be willing to experiment, fail and try again.<\/p>\n

By accepting failure as a part of the digital transformation process, you and your team will be more open to coming up with a range of ideas, what Hoque calls an innovation portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all of your ideas are going to stick on the wall, so you have to come up with an innovation portfolio just like you would an investment portfolio,\u201d he says. \u201cMany of the greatest innovations in history are byproducts of a path a company was on and then had to come up with something else. Having an innovation portfolio means you can calibrate what\u2019s working and not working based on how the market and your organization responds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diverse viewpoints welcome. <\/strong>Digital transformation requires a vision for how technology can transform an organization\u2014and that vision should be built and shared by leaders and employees alike, Hoque says.<\/p>\n

Leaders must foster a culture where employees have opportunities to weigh in on business initiatives, voice concerns and share ideas freely and openly; this requires an atmosphere of collaboration and trust. After all, it\u2019s your people who are going to be making the digital transformation vision into a reality, so getting them onboard and excited about the possibilities will help increase your odds of success.<\/p>\n

Cultivation of trusted partnerships. <\/strong>For most companies, there is simply no way for internal resources to keep up with the dizzying pace of technological change. Instead, leaders must be willing to cultivate external sources of knowledge, ideas and expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a leader, it\u2019s not your job to understand every single technology coming on the market. It\u2019s your job to build a collaborative resource pool to help you understand the possibilities and how to leverage them for your goals,\u201d Hoque says, adding that universities and consulting firms are good places to start.<\/p>\n

Take Nike\u2019s initial foray into digital reinvention. In 2012, Nike launched FuelBand, a groundbreaking wearable device. FuelBand was initially considered a trailblazer, but its success didn\u2019t last long. It ultimately failed in part because Nike couldn\u2019t compete with the Googles and Apples of the world in attracting tech talent, and it didn\u2019t know how to leverage the treasure trove of data from FuelBand users.<\/p>\n

Tech Is The Answer\u2014But Not The Whole Answer<\/h2>\n

Perhaps the No. 1 mistake companies make along their digital transformation journeys is to view technology as the ultimate solution, Hoque says, rather than a tool to strategically embed into the very fabric of the organization.<\/p>\n

In other words, technology is critical to an organization\u2019s continued success, but it\u2019s only part of the story. As Hoque writes in REINVENT,<\/em> \u201cTransforming your business digitally also carries a meaningful culture change\u2014by necessity. Any work setting whose culture doesn\u2019t evolve toward one characterized by collaboration, flexibility, and comfort with experimentation and occasional failure won\u2019t be in sync with a digital environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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