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Can you answer this culture question? The question was asked by a member of our Turbocharge Your Transformation membership academy. To protect her identify, let’s call her Lucy. She is launching a new digital product.
Understanding the culture within an organization will help you accelerate implementation of strategy, deliver change and digital transformation. When you have a good grasp of the culture, you can leverage that knowledge to navigate the environment more effectively and achieve desired outcomes.
Traditionally, business planning used to be a specialized function that focused primarily on financial projections, market analysis, and operational strategies. However, the increasingly complex and dynamic business environment demands a broader perspective and a more holistic approach to planning. Here are 3 things that will turbocharge your project and business planning.
Lisa Carlin’s 3 quick tips for designing strategic programs with impact. Implement your business, cultural and digital transformation programs with influence and momentum.
Do you have the multidisciplinary skills to implement a business or digital transformation? by Lisa Carlin. Read more to know what is the proven approach to implement a business or digital transformation that will not just survive, but thrive, now and into the future.
Lisa Carlin’s top 10 tips in using AI for OD – including learnings from several OD Hive mastermind discussion groups in March 2023.
Critical capabilities and skills for digital transformation by Lisa Carlin and Dr Norman Chorn. Read more if you’re wondering how to de-risk and accelerate your own digital transformation and growth journey. This is the final 2021 edition of the Unicorn Zone.
In this last article for 2022, I’ve collaborated with one of our FutureBuilders co-founders, my colleague Dr Norman Chorn. We provide guidance on the critical capabilities and skills for digital transformation. Read more if you’re wondering how best to de-risk and accelerate your own digital transformation and growth journey.
HOW HAVE CAPABILITIES AND SKILLS CHANGED?
The term ‘digital transformation’ is almost a mantra these days. It has become a key theme for both established enterprises and digital native startups. But in essence, digital transformation has been around for decades. So, what capabilities and skills have actually changed, and what is needed for success?
The challenge is to think ‘digitally’ in order to find better ways of increasing efficiency and effectiveness. For start-ups and scale-ups, the focus is to transform an idea into a new scalable value proposition (business model) that is capable of hyper-growth.
For incumbents, the pressure is to reinvent the business digitally in order to avoid extinction or replacement.
The purpose of digital transformation can include improved collaboration, new ways to address customer pain points, step changes in productivity through automating workflows and new work practices, and connecting players to form new ecosystems.
All this requires new skills and behaviours.
However, organisations have been transforming digitally since computers starting becoming mainstream in businesses in the 1980s. One of our previous projects in 2001 was the transformation of a large, traditional organisation into the “information age”. At the time, there was significant interest in the transformation of organisations through digital means – it was just called something different.
So, let’s take a look at what has changed in the last 2 decades since the dot com crash of 2001, what has remained the same, and what are the implications for successful transformations.
THE ENVIRONMENT, HOW WE WORK, TECHNOLOGY AND VALUE PROPOSITIONS HAVE ALL CHANGED
Over the past two decades, there are four key differences that affect the implementation of successful transformations:
- The business environment provides a different context in which we operate. The “new normal” is faster and more complex, described by the acronym “VUCA”. If you haven’t heard this term, google it, you are living under a rock!
- Technology has advanced across every category. The current proliferation of developer tools and platforms are set to continue to automate common tasks, improve collaboration and reduce development time.
- The way humans work has also changed. New tools and methodologies have been invented to further speed up innovation cycles and improve collaboration. Along with these changes comes new jargon — when did Google even become a verb? Project management methodologies have morphed from Waterfall to Agile “sprints” and accelerated execution cycles.
- New genres of value propositions (business models) have been invented, enabled by these new technologies and tools. For example, omni-channel models; B2C digital marketplaces (eg Amazon, Tinder); business models based on network effects (eg Trip Advisor) with valuable data being created by users to make these models very sticky; and publishing businesses (particularly based on social media platforms).
Despite all of this, some things remain unchanged.
CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES ARE THE SAME
The 5 core organisational capabilities for successful digital transformation remain the same. These are:
- A clear cohesive strategy guides the decisions, resource allocations and initiatives to achieve the digital transformation.
- A purposeful leadership team motivates and engages people in the change.
- The deployment of people ensures the right people are in the right places and can move flexibly to deliver the change.
- A nimble governance framework sets the appropriate project execution architecture.
- Sound commercial nous optimises decisions on business cases and throughout the implementation.
It is clear that new skills sets are needed in individuals to achieve these organisational capabilities critically important for digital transformation.
NEW SKILLS ARE NEEDED FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Groundbreaking research has identified 8 categories of skills that are required to successfully implement digital transformation. As shown in the Skills Base Digital Transformation Skills Taxonomy to the right, these skills categories include technical and behavioural skills, as both are critical to successful digital transformation.
The skills required for each of the 5 organisational capabilities described above have radically shifted over 2 decades. The table below summarises each of the 5 organisational business capabilities and the relevant skills categories. There are over 400 skills in the taxonomy.
For example, sound commercial nous requires new skills across ALL categories. Even a basic level of IT skills are required for non-technical business managers who are leading digital transformation. A case in point is cyber security, which is now a significant threat for all technology development.
KEY IMPLICATIONS OF THIS ANALYSIS
There are some important implications of this analysis of capabilities and skills required for successful digital transformation.
We sometimes see instances where the excitement and focus on the new technology has masked the understanding and need for the core organisational capabilities and associated skills required for digital transformation. This leads to several shortcomings for the transformation process, including:
- The business does not acquire or develop the core organisational capabilities and skills needed, and the digital transformation fails although the new technology and value proposition are sound.
- The new language and jargon surrounding the new technologies serve to exclude some older people, or those unfamiliar with the new technology. In this way, valuable and experienced individuals are not considered for roles.
- There is sometimes more focus on the technology than the people: staff, customers, users. Techniques such as design thinking and human centred design help address this.
However, there is a bright side to this as well:
- Once organisations understand the need for the core capabilities, the use the skills matrix can identify the specific skills required. This can improve the suitable deployment of people through the business.
- A number of the skills can be easily learned by competent and experienced people.
- There is an enduring need for skills in strategy, leadership, change management and commercial acumen. These are all part of the ingredients for a successful digital transformation.
We believe that the success of digital transformation can be enhanced by identifying the appropriate skills related to the core organisational competencies, and never losing sight of the non-technical behavioural skills required.
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If you’re curious about the OD Hive, please click here and register for the waitlist. I will invite you to a trial session as soon as there is a spot available for you in your time zone. See my newly launched page, the OD Hive.
We provide a forum for warm, inspiring conversations that generate useful ideas, and a deepening of skills, relationships and mutual appreciation. We give members the confidence that they are on top of the latest in their field, can cut through the noise out there, and can apply the insights in practice. Members are organizational development (OD) practitioners and transformation specialists who are interested in change, digital transformation and business innovation.
I promise if you register here, you’ll get to meet some fabulous people.
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If you’re interested in digital transformation, organizational development, strategy execution, subscribe to this update here
See the OD Hive
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About Lisa Carlin
As a strategy execution specialist and scaleup mentor, Lisa works with ambitious digital leaders to turbo-charge their business, cultural and digital transformation. Lisa is Co-Founder and Director of FutureBuilders Group of organisational development specialists, and volunteers as Chair of the University of Cape Town Australia Trust. Her early career was with Accenture (South Africa) and McKinsey (USA).
What is the purpose of having a company purpose? This is the second edition of a monthly newsletter by Lisa Carlin. The newsletter is called the Unicorn Zone, and it is about digital business transformation, culture and workplace technology.
What’s the purpose of having a Company Purpose?
Is company purpose a useless management fad?
I’m sceptical of management fads and jargon, as so many “new” ideas and terminology are mostly re-packaged old ideas. Remember those Vision statements that have been around for decades? Is Company Purpose just the re-packaging of a “Vision”?
The fact is, whether they are explicitly aware or not, people have a personal purpose, which is why we bother to get out of bed in the morning. If you aren’t sure about your own purpose, read my previous newsletter on the 9 steps to developing your personal purpose. Recent McKinsey research found that about 70 percent of people say they define their purpose through work (Naina Dhingra, McKinsey 2021). This means that more people will be drawn to your company if they identify with its purpose.
Since Covid, we have seen the great resignation, the “Great Attrition”, skills shortage. With this comes the importance of inspiring our people, so that they love our company culture so much that don’t want to leave our organisation.
So yes, your Purpose statement is a more contemporary term for a Vision statement. It also needs to be more powerful, more inspiring, and more meaningful in our current operating environment. They are then an important part of your commercial toolkit for hypergrowth.
Once you have defined your purpose statement it will guide everything you do:
…….Purpose will help you refine your strategy.
……Purpose aligns teams to pull in the same direction.
…….Purpose strengthens culture.
……..Purpose energizes your people.
………Purpose inspires customers.
Your purpose makes the world want you to win.
If you’re developing your purpose statement, take a look at the purpose statements from companies in your industry. Here are some examples, mostly from workplace tech and HR companies. Spot the odd one out! Let me know what you think of these statements in the comments. Would they be meaningful to you if you worked in the business? Would they inspire you as a customer? Which one inspires you best?
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I talked about purpose during my recent seminar at the Spark Festival. View the YouTube recording:
Contact me if you want to hold a #designthinking workshop with your team to develop your purpose.
***
If you’re curious about the OD Hive, please click here and register for the waitlist. I will invite you to a trial session as soon as there is a spot available for you in your time zone. See my newly launched page, the OD Hive.
We provide a forum for warm, inspiring conversations that generate useful ideas, and a deepening of skills, relationships and mutual appreciation. We give members the confidence that they are on top of the latest in their field, can cut through the noise out there, and can apply the insights in practice. Members are organizational development (OD) practitioners and transformation specialists who are interested in change, digital transformation and business innovation.
I promise if you register here, you’ll get to meet some fabulous people.
—
If you’re interested in digital transformation, organizational development, hr tech, subscribe to this update here
See my newly launched page, the OD Hive
__________
About Lisa Carlin
As a scaleup mentor, Lisa works with ambitious digital leaders to turbo-charge their business, cultural and digital transformation. Those working with Lisa have an independent sounding board and expert advice so they have absolute confidence they WILL ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL. Lisa is Co-Founder and Director of FutureBuilders Group of organisational development specialists, Chair of the University of Cape Town Australia Trust, and on the Advisory Board of Rebelliuz, the Tiktok for jobs. Lisa runs an Organizational Development Community exploring leading edge ideas in digital transformation, culture change and business innovation. Her early career was with Accenture (South Africa) and McKinsey (USA).
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9 questions to discover your personal purpose is the first edition of a monthly newsletter by Lisa Carlin. The newsletter is called the Unicorn Zone, and it is about hyper-growth, culture and workplace technology.
Getting to the Unicorn Zone. I write about hyper-growth, culture and workplace technology.
This first edition is about personal purpose, as that is where it all starts. There are 9 questions for you to discover your personal purpose. And I explain my own purpose, my “why”, as an example.
If you’re a Founder/CEO of a startup/scaleup, your purpose and story can sharpen your focus. It will also bring more of yourself into the purpose, culture and ethos of your business.
If you’re working within a business, being clear on your own purpose will help you answer the question that people have been increasingly asking since the pandemic: am I working in the right place? Am I contributing in the right way? Is this how I want to spend my time, and if not, what could be better for me?
If you don’t believe purpose is important, see Simon Sinek’s “Power of Why” TED Talk (almost 60m views).
So, to understand your own purpose, sit down in a quiet spot and write down answers to these questions below, which will help you reach more clarity on your own “why”.
It may help you to read my story and purpose, and give you some ideas. There are no rules, as long as it is authentic to you. If you have trouble answering some questions, ask someone who knows you well to give you some suggestions. Even if they are wrong, it will help you discover what is right.
Besides triggering some ideas, I also offer my story below, so you can understand what my newsletter will be about going forward.
My story
My background growing up in the ugly apartheid era in South Africa has deeply influenced what I do. When I was a teenager, I have a clear memory of meeting a younger black girl. Her mother worked for our family and lived with us, which meant she was being raised by her grandparents in a village.
She said to me as a statement of fact, without malice or blame: “Lisa, you’re white, you’re born with a bank account”. The realization of how wrong the whole system was hit me in that moment. That by accident of birth, I was able to access opportunities that were not available to her. She had no voice in her own life.
I felt guilty and powerless. I had no voice in the system.
After that I joined a social cross-cultural group aimed to develop relationships and social awareness. It was later banned by the regime. Again no voice.
I continue today to strive to make a difference, both to workplaces and education, giving people a voice. Personal growth and education are the way out of poverty to financial independence.
I taught myself to code in BASIC when I was 16 and have been hooked on technology ever since. Workplace technology is particularly fascinating to me as it can make huge improvements to people’s lives at work. Technology gives people a voice.
My work focus
I work mainly with disruptive digital workplace technology – where the focus is on people and productivity improvements at scale. I take a human-centred approach to everything: thinking about customers, employees, business partners, investors and the community.
I’m grounded in making commercial business decisions, as I you can’t make any improvements without productivity and economic growth.
3 key themes
This leads me to 3 themes in my work:
- hyper-growth of your business: developing business models with enduring advantage such as network effects, structuring for global growth, PMF, GTM and CX
- culture: fostering a work culture where people can perform at their best, and considering how to get things done in your culture at scale
- Workplace technology – building B2B SaaS businesses and digital transformation in enterprises
My purpose statement:
My purpose is GROWTH: business growth, growth of self and others, growth of community.
I encourage you to share your personal purpose in the comments, and share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues.
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Invitation
I’m pleased to be presenting at the Spark Festival of Tech and innovation starting in October. There are more than 120 interesting events you can attend at little or no cost.
If you’re interested in generating hyper-growth for your #b2bsaas business, please join my interactive Zoom seminar “Unicornize your Business Model“.
19 October 12pm Sydney time AEDT. Click here to register.
#SparkFestAU2022 #SparkFestAU #unicorns #tech #growth
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If you’re curious about the OD Hive, please click here and register for the waitlist. I will invite you to a trial session as soon as there is a spot available for you in your time zone. See my newly launched page, the OD Hive.
We provide a forum for warm, inspiring conversations that generate useful ideas, and a deepening of skills, relationships and mutual appreciation. We give members the confidence that they are on top of the latest in their field, can cut through the noise out there, and can apply the insights in practice. Members are organizational development (OD) practitioners and transformation specialists who are interested in change, digital transformation and business innovation.
I promise if you register here, you’ll get to meet some fabulous people.
—
If you’re interested in digital transformation, organizational development, hr tech, subscribe to this update here
See my newly launched page, the OD Hive
__________
About Lisa Carlin
As a scaleup mentor, Lisa works with ambitious digital leaders to turbo-charge their business, cultural and digital transformation. Those working with Lisa have an independent sounding board and expert advice so they have absolute confidence they WILL ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL. Lisa is Co-Founder and Director of FutureBuilders Group of organisational development specialists, Chair of the University of Cape Town Australia Trust, and on the Advisory Board of Rebelliuz, the Tiktok for jobs. Lisa runs an Organizational Development Community exploring leading edge ideas in digital transformation, culture change and business innovation. Her early career was with Accenture (South Africa) and McKinsey (USA).
