HR As Digital Disrupters

Technology is pervasive in everything that we do. We have seen digital disruption change business models and processes. Should HR, as a function, wait to be told what we can or cannot do with technology or should we disrupt our thinking and drive digital transformation within the organization?

When I work with leadership teams, and examine what external trends would impact their business the most, I find that digital and technological trends are identified as having the most significant impact.  Consider the additional fact that when digital disruption impacts an organization, it does not do so gently, but it often hits an organization with the speed and ferocity of a Tsunami. For organizations that are nimble and prepared, they stand a reasonable chance to adapt quickly. For organizations that bask in the glow of their past successes or are unable to react quickly, they may be carried away with the digital carnage.

For this very reason, HR has a critical role to play as digital disruptors in the organization. HR has the power to harness human capital and develop a culture that embraces the VUCA world instead of fighting against it. The paradox in which we live in is, how do we embrace change while we continue to yearn for stability. I do not profess to be a digital guru; however, after working with many organizations, there are three things we can consider doing immediately.

1. Digital Disruption is everyone’s responsibility. Change the mindset that anything to do with digital belongs to IT or marketing. With technology impacting our business the way it does, it is everyone’s responsibility to be a digital disruptor. HR should embrace this opportunity to drive this mindset across the organization. Do not leave it to IT to tell us what collaboration tools we can or cannot use. Start looking at what digital solutions make the most sense to the business. We should ask ourselves, if we were the owner of the business and invested in this technology, how would it improve the business? It’s important to drive digital technology across the business and not just within the function. Do not limit thinking of digital to only the HR function, but widen thinking to how digital will impact other functions and overall business performance. It is also important to embed this type of thinking across the organization. We want to ensure people closest to the customer can think of how to improve customer experience with technology. We want to have sales people explore how we can use technology to increase the top line. Digital disruption is for everyone to build into their mindset.
2. Operate outside-in. It is critical to know what trends are impacting our industry, and also what technological trends might impact other businesses. While we are busy with our day-to-day activities, the importance of staying connected to things outside of our organization is crucial.  With Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter feeds now becoming more easily customizable, there is no longer an excuse for being disconnected with what is happening outside. However, it is not enough to just know what the trends are. The important question we need to consider is what are the implications these trends have on our business and/or function. Once we understand the implications, how does an organization consider them as part of our planning and review processes? If we do this exercise once a year, we may have missed the boat if we need to quickly adjust to disruption.
3. Build and an agile culture that accepts mistakes and is willing to take calculated risks. As HR professionals, we have the opportunity to drive culture within the organization. The question is, are we are reinforcing a culture that supports the new digital environment or is it designed only for the industrial revolution? Organizations that strive for innovation do not expect every initiative to be successful, but they do expect to learn from their mistakes for those that are unsuccessful. They not only invest in projects that have a success probability of 90% or higher, but they are willing to take calculated risks to test and refine their hypothesis. If things go well, we can celebrate as an organization, but if things fail they do not remove the project leaders from the organization. HR helps the organization create an environment that is safe and embraces the necessary traits to be competitive in the new digital era.

If we correlate these three recommendations to our HR Competency model, we can easily see how these recommendations corresponds to three of our HR Competency Domains:

1. Digital Disruption is everyone’s responsibility and is related to the Technology & Media Integrator domain.
2. Operating outside-in is related to the Strategic Positioner domain.
3. Building and an agile culture that accepts mistakes and is willing to take calculated risks is related to the Culture and Change Champion domain.

In summary, the time is now to for HR to embrace digital disruption. If we look at what is available for HR today to help the business go digital, we have many solutions to choose from. I believe that before we adopt any one solution, we need to ensure that we are clear on the purpose of the transformation and clear about the deliverables digital will provide for the business. 

For more information on how RBL can support your organization to build HR capabilities, please contact Darryl Wee here for more information on our various offerings.