Digital Transformation: Swapping Your Old Work Culture For New Age Technology

Staying relevant in a market that is continuously growing and changing, is the single most difficult task for most new companies out there. And in an age where a majority of the companies are getting digitized, sticking to traditional approaches might just become the reason why your company doesn’t make it too far. Digital transformation is your answer to problems related to your company’s speed of service, maintaining a good relationship with your clients and your overhead costs. And these are but a fraction of the issues that can be taken care of. There’s a lot more that can be done, much to explore and learn.

So now, you read this and decide to jump on the bandwagon immediately. Great!

Hold on though, what’s going on here? Your employees don’t seem to share the same enthusiasm and excitement at the prospect of bringing in all these new changes!

The problem is, choosing to go through a digital transformation alone is not going to cut it. Your company needs to change its entire outlook, and this is where inculcating a completely new digital culture comes into play. It is by no means an easy task. When a company has been running a certain way for quite a while, people get used to the values and the work environment. Having reached a level of comfort, most people start adopting the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” motto. Making them understand the future implications of such an attitude is important, and should be first on the list of things to do when trying to change your office culture.

Here are a few things that should be kept in mind:

• First The Management, Then The Employees:

Employees will start warming up to the idea of a digital transformation only when they have the management to set an example for them. If your managers are disgruntled, it will inevitably reflect on their subordinates.

Talk to your team of managers. Explain to them why these changes are not only important but absolutely necessary to stay relevant. Take a leaf out of the booklets of your biggest and most well-established competitors. Chances are, you’ll find that they have been making use of the latest of innovations to drive their business ahead.

• Avoid Big Changes In The Beginning:

As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. These changes are something that needs to be eased into, otherwise, they’ll serve no purpose and simply overwhelm everyone involved.

Accept that the process of digital transformation will be slow and keep working at it. Now that you’ve established that there’s no escaping these changes, hold discussions and come to a consensus on the approach that’s most suitable for your company. Just because a method worked for someone, does not mean it’ll work for you too. You’ll need to consider what your employees will be the most comfortable with.

• Create An Open Environment:

Even if your company follows a strict hierarchy, try giving your employees the chance to open up about their ideas. Insights from every corner should be made welcome. The more your employees are able to open up about their ideas, the more areas you can cover that can be enhanced with the use of digital mediums. All major stakeholders should also be given a chance to share their inputs.

Talk to your employees. Encourage them to think creatively and express their thoughts on the requirement of digitization, and the key areas at the office that can benefit from new digital systems. Who knows, maybe you’ll find that your employees are actually a lot more tech-savvy than they’re letting on.

• Invest In Proper Training:

Your employees’ ability to adapt to the changes and the quickness with which they’re able to learn to utilize technology to their advantage needs to be measured. Depending on their limitations, training sessions should be provided to help them get better acquainted with the technology that they’ll be dealing with most frequently.

It is important that enough time is spent on addressing queries. Even if each person cannot be taken care of individually, an overall satisfaction with the session is imperative. Every time a new change is made, a quick session on updates should also be included.

• Ask For Regular Feedback:

Once your new systems are up and running, give your employees some time to get used to it, after which you can ask them how the new changes have been affecting their work. Note their efficiency, as compared to what it was before. Has the change been for the better? If not, you’ll need further investigation to pinpoint the areas that have been giving your employees the most trouble.

Regular feedback can help monitor the working of the systems. If a problem arises, authorities can be notified immediately so they can start working on a solution.

• Encourage By Rewarding:

Let’s be honest here, the quickest way to make people accept something new is by giving them the right incentive. And what could be a better incentive than appreciation in the form of rewards!

Monitor your people and cherry pick the ones who have really taken to this cultural shift in the best possible way. Also, note the ones who have shown the most improvement. They’ll be the ones who weren’t as well acquainted with the idea of digital transformation as the rest but worked the hardest to incorporate it into their work lives. Rewarding them will encourage others to follow suit.

It isn’t always easy to find the right balance between your existing work culture and the new-age ideas that have become almost a necessity now. However, companies that are able to work through all this have a higher chance of looking at long-term success.