Digital transformation is critical in creating future-proof businesses and, what is more,businesses are struggling to adjust their organisations to the customer. I often see organisations investing lots of money but without asking the right questions beforehand – a recipe for future failure. Digital transformation is risky, hits the budget hard, and is inescapable. You have to transform, and if you make the wrong choices, you are investing in something worthless. Knowledge of the Z-model of Change® and the tools and interventions based on the model, will help you to ask the right questions and reduce your risk in digital transformation.
It starts with a vision
The drivers of digital transformation are twofold -- competition and customer expectation. Combined with the technological possibilities[1]of the 21stcentury, this is the start of the platform economy. Due to changing customer expectations, disruptors are influencing more traditional organisations. For instance, Uber influences conventional taxi services, and Tesla influences traditional car manufacturers, by producing software on wheels and self-learning cars that share their data. Disrupters are the reason every organisation needs to think beyond its belief-system. Every CEO needs to know the potential of tech and should dream about his or her organisation’s future opportunities. It starts with a dream.
Then it becomes reality
After pondering the future, it’s time to be realistic. Making the right choices in digital transformation is key because the investment has a high impact on your current organisation. The investment is also very risky, hits the budget hard and will, at times, proceed chaotically. Digital transformation is an investment in the combination of business and technology. It requires solid leadership, a clear vision for the future, and the transformation of your organisation.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast
You will probably conclude that you need different competences in your organisation to create the transformation. Data crushers, process developers, creative minds with IT, and business knowledge are scarce and in high demand. These new and different employees also have to learn to work together with current employees. What will happen when you add them to your current organisation? Will the new employees adapt to the old?
You will likely conclude that employees working in your current organisation will need to change their habits and need to learn to work differently. This will create uncertainty in your organisation and, for many people, coping with uncertainty is difficult. At the same time, uncertainty is a key word in digital transformation.
This makes investing in digital transformation more a cultural issue than a technological issue for the organisation. Recreating an organisational culture is a long process – one that needs full attention and leadership.
Therefore,you have to consider the way you are going to organise that cultural change. Will it be intrapreneurship or entrepreneurship? Will you create a department or a start-up? The board will have plenty to discuss. Creating a Chief Innovation Officer at the highest level can be a good choice or a bad one, depending on the interpretations of the other board members. They might interpret a Chief Innovation Officer as a reason not to innovate in their own department. A mindset that embraces innovation is mostly a change of personal beliefs, even at the highest level.
Leadership for a future culture
Key in digital transformation is the personal beliefs and the leadership at the highest level. Do they know future potential, and do they have a clear vision on that future, as regards the brand of their organisation? Do they have a clearly defined Purpose, Impact and set of Core Values?
Suppose they do have all of the above, then the next question is: how is the culture of our current organisation? If the mindset of the current management is more about maintaining, managing and controlling, then you really have an issue about the agility of your organisation. One possibility is to carry out an organisation cultural assessment, which gives insight into your current culture. Based on the results of this assessment, you need to develop interventions that support the transformation of your organisation.
Let’s be honest…. Do you have all of the above for your organisation? Do you have your future compass, and do you know the DNA of your organisation?
Changing the DNA of your organisation
Only organisations that have a compass for their future, know how to influence their culture, and have leadership in place for their future culture, can successfully transform into a 21stcentury organisation. They can execute their masterplan in which they combine leadership and communication skills, future technological infrastructure and IT processes, business knowledge and human resource management
However, most organisations do not have a compass, do not know the current culture, and do not have a clear plan for digital transformation. And I do understand that board members and management need a framework to create a clear vision. They need a logical model to sharpen their minds and give them the certainty that they are planning their transformation in the best possible way. In fact, they are planning to change the DNA of their organisation and they want to be sure where to cut and paste into their DNA string and what the consequences are.
For those who need this model, there is the Z-model of Change® as a framework for their digital transformation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martijn de Zoete developed the Z-model of Change®, a framework for organizational transformation. According to high level international board consultants, the modelmaps out organization and collaboration dynamics in a genius way and is a wonderful instrument to the world to be able to adjust and grow.His books "The Change Perspective" and "How Change Works" covers transformation management extensively.
Martijn de Zoete is CEO of AnyChange Group.AnyChange Group guides organizations in transformation processes using the Z-model of Change®. AnyChange Group uses tools to measure cultural change, personal and organizational leadership motives and competences. AnyChange Group is changing the DNA of your organization and has sustainable impact.
[1]like big data, artificial intelligence, virtual reality as tools for the platform economy with concepts as Blockchain, and apps like Facebook, Uber and RBNB etcetera.
