“Effective leadership is an absolute requirement for a successful digital transformation.”
Although everyone I know would agree with this statement, not everyone agrees on what effective leadership looks like -- and how to ensure that your digital transformation is spearheaded by someone who can not only get the transformation accomplished but is set up for success.
I remember working with a CEO who was new to the organization. He had a great vision for growing the company over the next three years. His leadership team was all in on the strategy as well. But he had a significant challenge: No one else in the organization believed in that vision because they felt it came from an ivory tower.
As leaders, we have to be conscious of bringing the entire organization -- not just the C-suite -- along on this change. There’s no doubt that this leadership role is critical and highly directive. Leaders need to set the direction, define the strategy, secure investment, build C-suite commitment and ensure alignment with other parts of the organization. They also must make decisions on new technologies, organize and upskill teams, and ensure data security -- all while staying hyper-focused on creating a superior customer experience.
And while these focus areas are enough to fill an executive schedule 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I’d argue that some of the most important components of effective digital leadership are often overlooked to the detriment of the digital transformation and the organization as a whole. There’s just no question: Building a new digital culture is necessary to enable a digital strategy.
You probably remember Peter Drucker’s famous saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s absolutely correct.
Two questions I often ask digital leaders have responses that are quite telling:
1. How much time do you allocate to focus on culture-building?
2. Who owns the cultural piece of your digital strategy?
Both questions are often met with blank stares and frustrated shoulder shrugs. Most digital leaders leave digital culture to blind luck and have no set strategy for building the culture needed to succeed. This is somewhat ironic, as study after study on the topic of digital transformation cites culture as one of the primary reasons for failed digital initiatives.
To succeed with your digital transformation, members of leadership need to build new digital ways of working that become part of the corporate DNA and are embraced by every member of your team. These digital mindsets and behaviors are summed up in what we at Salesforce refer to as “trailblazer capabilities”:
• Customer obsession: Instead of basing decisions on internal processes, people are customer-oriented. They base technology and process decisions on what creates the most customer value.
• Accelerated execution: People create value through new technology by being oriented toward speed, innovation, continued improvement and agility.
• High-performance teams: Collaboration in a high-trust, high-accountability environment is the hallmark of the most effective teams. Teams that operate in such environments surface and solve problems more quickly, take risks to find new solutions more frequently and execute more rapidly and predictably.
So what can leaders do to build these cultural capabilities? Here are a few actions that leaders might consider:
Engage In Deliberate Action To Drive Alignment
Leaders can send clear messages about new organizational values, priorities and desired behaviors through deliberate engagement -- both written and verbal -- to the employee base. For example, one executive we worked with had a customer meeting with his company’s development teams and provided feedback on products they were building. The customer described the impact that other products had on his company and his role as a company leader. After that conversation, the development team understood that customer benefits would come first.
Influence The Opinion Leaders
Leaders don’t need to influence everyone to embrace new mindsets and work in new ways. Instead, they should identify and work closely with the most socially connected individuals in their organizations. By actively working with these influencers, leaders can likely cut the time it takes for an organization to adopt new ideas. Include opinion leaders in planning meetings, initiative design and communications cascades.
Invest In Skills
If you want people to work in new ways, they’ll need more than motivation -- they’ll also need the skills. And it’s not just about technical skills; it’s about building new cultural capabilities. These often require interpersonal skills such as communication or emotional intelligence skills, and sometimes employees require upskilling to engage properly on those fronts. Once they’re established, a new culture can blossom.
Organize For Success
By analyzing an organization dispassionately to determine the best possible setup for a new digital model, leaders can arrange their teams for more successful interactions both internally and with customers. We are often called in to help organizations set up new digital operating models that break down silos between IT and the rest of the business, allowing better collaboration, experimentation and speed to market. I’ve learned that a change in reporting structures to align incentives with the right behaviors can make a world of difference.
Create Transparency
People need insight into what is happening and a clear context for why something is happening to be fully engaged and embrace change. Leaders should be open with their strategy decision making and ensure clear communication channels and feedback loops are implemented to build broad understanding and alignment of activities across their organizations.
I’ve seen leaders who deliberately focus on fostering a digital culture and a technical transformation reap exceptional benefits from their dual approach. I encourage every leader contemplating a digital transformation to think not just about the technology change but also the culture change. What will you do next to show you’re serious about building the culture that will successfully drive the next chapter in your digital transformation? Let me know in the comments section below.
