Achieving digital transformation in your organization requires a lot of work and effort, but there are some steps you can take to make the process smoother and more manageable. For example, by developing an overarching digital transformation strategy with specific goals, you’ll be able to more effectively manage change management and provide guidance throughout the process. Here are ten tips to help you do just that!
1) Set a Clear Goal
Before you get started on a digital transformation strategy, be sure to have a simple goal in mind. What do you want to achieve with your project? To change how customers interact with your business? To improve employee productivity? Perhaps it’s something else entirely—but if you don’t know what you want to accomplish, it will be difficult to get from point A to point B. Setting a logical goal from the beginning is one of many best practices for digital transformation management.
2) Create Roles and Responsibilities
Before beginning your digital transformation or change management strategy, you’ll need to have a clear picture of what roles it needs to bring life to it. At a minimum, at least one C-level executive will need to take ownership of your strategy, but you’ll likely also want team members who handle ideation, planning, execution and measurement. When you have these responsibilities clearly defined—both internally and across teams—you can create a digital transformation plan that leverages everyone’s strengths.
3) Communicate Digital Goals
You can’t successfully manage a digital transformation strategy or your company’s change management plan without clearly communicating digital goals. After all, you’re asking employees to embrace a new way of doing things—and that won’t happen unless they know what that means in terms of time, money, products, etc.
Not sure where to start? Try creating a digital vision statement that explains how technology will benefit workers in different departments. Then, use that vision as a touchpoint when talking about these changes with team members and customers alike.
If you really want your message to ring true, keep it consistent throughout your organization: Have senior leadership spread digital goals through speeches and emails so everyone knows what’s expected of them—and how their work fits into your company’s bigger picture.
4) Follow the Upward Spiral
The upward spiral is a great way to make sure you never get lost when managing change in your organization. It’s also a powerful digital transformation strategy in its own right. With upward spirals, your management or leadership team sets a goal, you look at what needs to be done to achieve that goal, and then you break down those items into tasks—all while keeping a focus on big-picture goals. The process continues in an upward direction until all of your individual tasks lead up to achieving your initial goal. When executed well, it can help both manage change and drive success in almost any environment!
5) Address Security Concerns First
No matter how good your product is, you’ll fail if your customers don’t trust you. Consider addressing security concerns before launching new technology into production or introducing anything new to your company—especially in healthcare, where data breaches are becoming increasingly common. Think through potential concerns with other departments inside your organization, create a transparent security policy, let employees know what you’re doing to make sure they feel safe using new tech. Your customers will appreciate it—and so will their bosses.
6) Start Small to Get Big Results
Big changes are hard to make, but minor changes can benefit you when making big changes. Try cutting out one thing at a time until you’re comfortable with change. It doesn’t have to be something major; start by taking out junk food or seeing what happens if you stop reading news articles on your phone for an hour. Once you get used to it, more change will seem like less of a burden!
7) Use Metrics That Matter Most
In times of change, you need to have a clear picture of where your organization is heading. It’s important to measure progress so that you can alter course if needed. Unfortunately, there are countless metrics out there—and most people end up tracking only a small percentage of them in any detail. Do yourself a favor: Pick one or two metrics that matter most and track them religiously throughout your transformation efforts; use these key metrics as an indicator of how things are going. Then, once your transformation effort winds down, save time by maintaining detailed reporting on just those numbers. That way, when it comes time to launch another initiative or take steps toward digital transformation management, you won’t have to waste time building precious reports from scratch each time around.
8) Involve Employees In Decision Making
Just because a business strategy or goal comes from top-down doesn’t mean that employees shouldn’t get involved in its development. If you want to manage digital transformation successfully and change management, you need to get support from your employees. It’s not enough to announce what needs to happen;Involve people from all departments regularly and give them an opportunity to share their perspectives and concerns. You also need support: People who feel like they aren’t part of decision making won’t get motivated when it comes time for implementation. Communicate often: Digital transformation is about more than just technology; it is about changing how an organization thinks about workflows, processes, and priorities.
9) Develop Your Own Digital Vision
This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s often a good idea to start by developing your own digital vision—that is, a sense of what you personally would like to achieve through transformation. What do you hope to accomplish? A digital transformation can be a great time to pursue personal goals. For example, maybe you’d like more flexibility at work or an opportunity to learn new skills. Once you have your own personal vision in mind, it will be easier to help others develop theirs. You’ll know which aspects of change are most important to them, and you won’t waste time addressing concerns that don’t resonate with their needs. Plus, once they see how passionate you are about digital transformation, they might follow suit!
10) Keep It Going with Digital Engagement Strategies
Digital engagement is a great way to manage digital transformation and change management. And a new study shows that creating a strong relationship with employees is at least as important as formal training programs. We all know that digital transformation comes with change management, but if your goal is to keep things going smoothly after you’ve implemented new strategies, then it may be worth considering how to create a culture of learning.
- Focus on delivering an engaging content strategy: To get any traction in what we call the business of relationships, you need to deliver an engaging experience that encourages users to return regularly and willingly share their information.
- Employ intuitive interactions: These help users respond quickly and avoid frustration while providing more data than long-form forms can.
- Learn about brand safety: It’s not just critical—it could save your organization from a PR nightmare when misinformation damages its reputation in search results or video clips surface online.
- Plan with digital engagement strategies that incorporate change management measures, like content planning, intuitive interactions, and brand safety.
The better prepared you are to keep users engaged, the more likely you are to get them talking positively about your organization, even if change happens.
Digital Transformation Changes Everything
Digital transformation is here to stay. Companies who are not already leveraging these opportunities, or are moving too slowly, risk being left behind. This will have a massive impact on how you do business, where you can find customers, what they expect from your brand, and even who your employees are. Are you ready? No matter what industry or size of a company, these are some key steps that every business needs to follow in order to be successful.
Are you ready to digitally transform your business and don’t know where to start? I offer a variety of services to small businesses, such as web design, web hosting, and content management. Contact me today for a free consultation!