Leader

Digital Leaders have to understand the company mission and vision in order to feel inspired and committed to achieve the organizations goals. A real transformation, whether we talk about digital or any other, requires peoples buy in and the belief that they are part of something bigger.

Quote

“Leading digital transformation includes thorough assessment of the work, how we communicate, deliver results and ensure there is holistic approach that is inclusive of all these elements.”

Chitranjan Kesari, Head IT, Kanakia Group

My digital life started, when I left my manufacturing job in 2013 and started working in a company where way back in 2013-2014 teams are talking only for digital, Cloud, online platform and other online applications like customer portal, Real time DMS and little hope for some mobile apps at that time Blackberry like phone is phasing out and smart phones are evolving. A dead life of a blackberry phone is a good opportunity for a CIO to start to think of some Digital technology and mobile application.

As way back in 2011 when we started implementing some cloud based solutions to our manufacturing units, that times market pundits say that this is not going to survive for longer runs. But right now this is a future and all are slowly adopting the same. When Prime Minister Modi entered the picture, new hope cropped up and in a world were digital technology is at the front seat and has fundamentally changed everything we do and now we do it, it is important to take a step back and think about how this is impacting people in the organization.

In this day and age, technology has allowed organizations to be more productive, and with a larger reach than ever before. Organizations are creating on new revenue and value by using digital technologies that have a direct impact on how products and services are impacted and how product and services are delivered, it is delivered In the middle of all these changes we can visibly see a need to up skill people to ensure they are ready for the demands of this evolution and the new ways of working.

With the organizations talents needs constantly changing and job evolving, Employees are expected to have the ability to adapt, develop, implement, and use digital technologies in the workplace, while managing information overload and their work following them 24/7/365. I remember when I am working in a company with multiple global presence required my presence 24/7 and I am always on my smart device to reply to my communication.

Leaders needs to consider not only the massive changes in their business and their customers, but also the changing work force, which expects an environment that is interesting, and purposeful and which allows them to develop themselves providing career flexibility, and new ways of working. We need to rethink how we can create a differentiated employee experience that recognizes innovation to guarantee we continuous reinforce the behaviour we wish to see in the organization, either we can say GIS based attendance, smart KRA, KRA linked with top to bottom approach etc.

Leading a digital transformation includes a thorough assessment of the work, how we communicate, how we deliver results and how we ensure there is holistic approach that is inclusive of all these elements. So to ensure the organization’s culture complements its digital evolution there are some aspects which leaders should keep in mind in order to be successful, and this is, that no matter how complex it may be, change needs to be led from the front in order to create confidence among all employees. This also means that leaders need to change their mind set and allow people to be resourceful, be creative and also to make mistakes and learn fast from them.

We need to also be mindful that roles have evolved and the skills and competencies we may have needed in the past may no longer be relevant today. We have to change our mind set from legacy to digital and we have to recruit, we have to increase the level of digital preparedness hand by hand in all functional areas, like ERP, CRM and some cloud based technology etc. It will also require the realignment of the organizational structure to ensure we integrate values and business goals with digital strategy, to improve the customer experience, increase communication and operational efficiencies.

Among all this changes, we have to understand our company mission and vision (Digital First) in order to feel inspired and committed to achieve the organizations goals. A real transformation, whether we talk about digital or any other, requires peoples buy in and the belief that they are part of something bigger.

As leaders of today, we need to realise that no matter how much is invested in the start-of the art technology, facilities, products or services, unless there is real change in the organization cultures and its peoples. A genuine transformation will not be successful and we will run the risk of not remaining current in today’s environment therefore become obsolete.

Source – http://www.enterpriseitworld.com/learning-from-a-digital-journey-of-a-cio/