When it comes to organization development and change, it’s critical to focus on the future of work and business.
In the digital age, digital transformation is a requirement.
If you don’t transform, your organization will have a hard time keeping up with the global digital economy.
To put it bluntly – evolve or go extinct.
But there are other reasons to design for the future:
- Early adopters of technology will improve efficiency across the organizations
- Employees will be happier, more skilled, and more productive
- The customer experience will improve
- The business itself will be more adaptable and profitable
Below, we will look at 10 tips to help you design your organization for the future economy – 5 do’s and 5 don’ts.
- Early adopters of technology will improve efficiency across the organizations
- Employees will be happier, more skilled, and more productive
- The customer experience will improve
- The business itself will be more adaptable and profitable
Organizational Development and Change: How to Design for the Future
What does digital transformation entail?
According to IDG, “digital-first businesses” use technology to create better customer experiences, improve process efficiency, and drive new revenue.
Prophet says that most digital transformation efforts focus on modernizing customer touchpoints and enabling infrastructure.
However, as McKinsey points out, culture is a critical element in digital transformation – it can either accelerate growth, or hinder it.
Below, we will look at some of these points in greater detail.
Let’s start by examining some best practices when it comes to organizational development, change, and the future of work.
5 Must-Follow Best Practices
Here are 5 tracks to pursue when designing your organization for the digital era.
1. Staying fast, agile, and lean
Agile business methods are responsive, collaborative, and adaptable.
And in today’s fast-changing world, these traits are essential.
Agile change management, lean business processes, and other data-driven change management approaches can greatly enhance your change programs.
2. Closing the skills gap
Today’s digital skills gap has become a top concern for CEOs and forward-thinking businesses.
After all, under-skilled workers aren’t producing at their full capacity.
This is why many businesses implement training plans, digital adoption platforms, and other upskilling solutions.
3. Implementing structured change management
To be effective, change management must be systematic, methodical, and structured.
The right change management approach should be based on change models, strategic communication, data, and effective management approaches.
4. Putting customers first
In today’s economy, customers have become more powerful than ever.
And customer demands are continually evolving.
Digital transformation and organizational change should put the end user at the heart of everything they do.
A strong emphasis on the customer experience will generate more loyalty, more support, and higher customer value.
5. Evolving your change management function
Enterprise change management is your business’s change management function.
The more advanced this department, the better your change projects will be.
Improving your change management function will produce a number of benefits, including:
- Better project outcomes
- Lower project costs
- Improved organizational adaptability
To name just a few.
5 Pitfalls to Avoid
Digital transformation is not without its obstacles – below we will look at 5 pitfalls to watch out for.
1. Neglecting the employee experience
Employees are human – and they run organizations.
Managing the employee experience effectively can:
- Improve worker satisfaction
- Keep workers engaged and productive
- Increase employee retention
- Attract higher quality workers
Among other things.
2. Relying too much on technology
Technology drives many changes in today’s business world.
But technology should not be the center of your strategy.
If tools become the focus of digital change efforts, then it is easy to forget about humans, innovation, strategy, and so forth.
Technology can be a strategic differentiator – but don’t focus on it at the expense of other business elements.
3. Putting process before progress
Modern business processes, such as lean and agile, are modern, efficient, and effective.
However, being innovative means putting progress before process – not the other way around.
It is no use adhering to a process if it doesn’t fit the situation.
Stay innovative by continually adapting your processes to the situation at hand.
When you think a different approach may get better results, test it out.
4. Analysis paralysis
Today, we are inundated with information.
On the one hand, this is extremely useful. It is easy to learn about any topic you wish – organizational change, change management, digital transformation, and so on.
On the other hand, information overload can also cause analysis paralysis.
That is, at a certain point, people avoid making decisions for fear of making the wrong one.
The longer you delay, however, the worse off you are.
After all, you can always adjust your approach as you move forward.
5. Deploying technology – without fully adopting it
Software ROI depends on user productivity.
Simply deploying a new tool is not enough.
You must help users learn that software and become productive.
For enterprises, effective employee training is critical – it directly impacts performance and productivity.
In short, don’t just deploy software and digital tools.
Adopt digital technology through effective orientation, onboarding, and training.
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WalkMe Team
WalkMe spearheaded the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) for associations to use the maximum capacity of their advanced resources. Utilizing man-made consciousness, AI, and context-oriented direction, WalkMe adds a powerful UI layer to raise the computerized proficiency, everything being equal.