When it comes to the impact of technology on how we work, it’s no surprise that so many of us feel nervous about digital change. Even official figures from the Office for National Statistics make for uncomfortable reading – suggesting that 1.5m people in England could lose their jobs to automation. The OECD predicts that almost a third of jobs will experience significant changes to how they are carried out.
Of course, organisations are all at different stages of digital change, not to mention different levels of preparedness. Some are replacing outdated systems with more up-to-date technology, while others are investing heavily in artificial intelligence and overhauling how they interact with customers and employees. But arm workers with enough information and support them to develop their skills, and attitudes change. According to a recent survey by Gallup, 80% of UK workers felt confident that their jobs would not be replaced, but more than half wanted more training and support to embrace the new digital workplace.
In accountancy and finance, recruitment company Hays found that employers are slightly more positive about digital transformation than employees (77% versus 70% respectively), but more than half would be attracted to an employer investing information. ‘Openness about your digital transformation journey will also help engage potential candidates,’ says Karen Young, director of Hays Accountancy and Finance.
Internal marketing
‘People can be naturally resistant to change, so creating a company culture that embraces innovation and improvement is critical when you’re looking at adopting new digital solutions,’ suggests Mark Hill, chief information officer of Frank Recruitment Group. In 2017, the company implemented a new customer relationship management system after experiencing huge growth in business. Putting the people who would be using the system on a day-to-day basis at the centre of the project made all the difference, he says: ‘We started by branding the project and marketing it heavily internally. We sent regular mailshots with updates from the team who were leading the change. Offices had pop-up banners advertising the fact that it was coming, and we held feedback sessions throughout the journey, where we were able to address any concerns and take ideas on board.’
Throughout, they ensured that the implementation team was visible to those who would be using the technology. Hill adds: ‘Once we got to the go-live date, we found that teams right across the business were just as excited as we were to actually get their hands on the product and work with it. The resistance to change that you may ordinarily find during a project like this, just wasn’t there and our implementation was incredibly quick for something so complex. People embraced it, as they’d always been the focus of the project.’
False assumptions
Brad Clish, who works as a ‘virtual CIO’ for Doherty Associates, works with numerous organisations on IT implementations, and believes one of the biggest mistakes they can make is to make assumptions about what people will feel comfortable with. He says: ‘There can be an assumption that people are already familiar with tools that have been around for some time, but while things like moving your telephony system may seem simple to you, if you’re a user unable to transfer a call, these things can be easy to overlook.’
Begin small
This is why it pays to start small, according to Albie Attias, head of business development at IT services company Evaris. ‘Companies that successfully transform through the use of technology usually begin small and work their way up to more considerable advancements,’ he says. ‘This prevents staff from feeling overwhelmed or threatened by the rate of change, which can become a roadblock for innovation.’ A common issue is that workers can often be sceptical of the benefits that new technology can bring, while some may fear for their jobs – so demonstrating how it will help them to be more productive or enable them to focus on more interesting aspects of their role can help, he adds.
Innovation hub
Purple Consultancy is a business that underwent a radical transformation – driven by changing customer demands but also by internal growth. At the end of 2015, founder Alistair Sergeant realised that it needed to move away from traditional IT consulting and focus on the people aspect of transformation and technology. He stripped the firm back to basics, reducing staff numbers from 20 to two, and implemented a change management strategy of his own. With a renewed focus, the company is on track to turn over £3.5m by the end of 2019 and is back up to a staff of 24, working with clients on the cultural issues they face with digital change. ‘We do a lot on staff engagement with change rather than dictating down,’ explains Sergeant. ‘Regardless of your level, you need to buy into that vision. We reward people for new ideas, we have an innovation hub so every member is tasked with coming up with new ideas such as a new product or service. This is just how we run things.’
What many businesses fail to realise, Sergeant adds, is that there is no ‘finishing line’ with transformation. ‘It never stops – it should be embedded into the culture. Also, people forget how far they’ve come, measuring what you’ve achieved in tangible ways rather than constantly looking at the next thing is really important.’ One way to do this, he says, is to include change management goals in employees’ key performance indicators so it becomes part of how they do business.
Avoiding resistance
How change is introduced to the organisation makes a huge difference to how well it is received. If it is imposed from above without asking for feedback, there will always be resistance, says Jeremie Brecheisen, senior managing consultant at Gallup. There can also be a tension between employees who ‘sit back and wait’ for bosses to train them up in new skills and managers who aren’t sure how to coach them. ‘He says that employees often feel the organisation should push their training agenda, rather than them as individuals. In Gallup’s survey, respondents that were helped to build their strengths were more likely to feel supported (80% felt this way), whereas of those who were not getting advice, this percentage was just 30%,’ says Brecheisen. Part of the problem is that managers’ communication often focuses on things employees are doing wrong, rather than building on people’s strengths. ‘This is where the momentum is, yet most workplaces focus on fixing weaknesses,’ he adds.
The human aspect
Whatever the nature of technological change, the delivery of the system or technology itself will always remain secondary to the human aspect. Matthew Ashford, director of knowledge and innovation at consulting firm Gobeyond Partners, says that too often, the focus is on roll-out without appreciating the level of groundwork needed to get everyone on board. ‘This means not focusing on how tech will replace or outperform the human, but how the two might be designed into a solution that is greater than the sum of the two individual parts,’ he says. ‘Generally, picking the right technology is only part of the challenge – the transformation often fails because the stakeholders weren’t engaged, or the change wasn’t explained to people properly.’
On its own, technology will only get you so far. In fact, an often-cited interview with transformation guru and author Michael Gale says only one in eight get it right, and 84% of digital transformation projects fail. Where they succeeded, there was a culture of openness and communication. Brecheisen from Gallup believes success is all down to mindset. He concludes with this advice: ‘A bad mindset can ruin a good system, but a great mindset can power through a bad one.’
Box 1: What can we expect from automation?
Despite headlines suggesting otherwise, it’s unlikely that we’ll see swathes of jobs fully replaced in the next five years. According to consulting firm KPMG, instead we’ll see the ‘atomisation’ of jobs; where jobs are broken down into component tasks and it’s those tasks that are gradually automated. More tasks in some jobs will be automated than in others, and it’s up to organisations to prepare their workforce for the impact this will have. In its latest report on artificial intelligence, Rise of the Humans 3, the company says there are four key ways organisations can do this:
- Understand your data – what are your customer channels? What is the time frame for product development? Which parts of your business will be automated?
- Build a strategy for ‘the workforce of the future’. What roles will you need to meet those future aims and what will those jobs involve? This can be described as ‘workforce shaping’ as the strategy will need to adapt to changing circumstances.
- Define a plan to meet that strategy. Look at short-term and longer-term ambitions and build a workforce plan around them – will there be skills shortages or attrition in certain areas? Where will you need to recruit?
- Build a compelling story. Use your data to illustrate what uncertainties lie in the future and how you will work together to deal with them. This engages your workforce at a time when they may feel under threat.
‘Visionary business leaders are preparing to shape their workforces in ways that enable them to adapt, evolve and succeed amid AI’s ever-increasing impact,’ the report concludes.
Box 2: Getting your culture ‘digital ready’
According to Damian Proctor, head of strategy at digital transformation consultancy Redweb, culture can be one of the main barriers to success in the digital age. ‘In order to stop doing digital and start being digital you need to empower your teams to see the opportunity for growth, rather than digital being viewed as a threat to the existing business,’ he says. He offers four nuggets of advice for creating a supportive digital culture.
1. Create a set of digital values
Every organisation’s take on what that specifically means for them can differ, but a key to building an effective digital culture is agreeing what your organisation’s core digital values are.
2. Review your processes
Digital transformation is about connecting your colleagues as well as your customers. Look for opportunities to trial digital tools and processes that allow ideas to be shared from anywhere in the organisation. Decisions will be required on the journey and this will allow for a more inclusive approach to problem solving.
3. Empower people with training
Start with formal training in new technologies and your adapted processes. Then you can expand to include reverse mentoring with digital native staff, and look to provide resources to enable continuous learning in their own time. You should encourage curiosity and sharing of this newly acquired knowledge both online and offline.
4. Know that it’s not all about digital
Digital culture is not all about digital. In an ‘always-on’ business staff can burn out, leading to a loss in belief that digital is a benefit to them and the organisation. Encourage staff to take breaks from digital to recharge their batteries, creating the time and spaces that promote unplugging and encourage human interaction.
About the author:
Jo Faragher is an award-winning business journalist and editor who writes for Personnel Today, People Management and national newspaper business supplements.
Related resources
More support on business
Read our articles, eBooks, reports and guides on finance transformation
Finance transformation hubFinancial management eBooks