Organizational Change Do or Die: How to Digitize in 3 Simple Steps

It’s organizational change do or die time.

Today’s marketplace is fast-paced, competitive, and digital.

Digital disruption regularly overturns markets and fuels business growth.

Companies that can adapt will stand a chance in the years to come…

But those that don’t evolve will have a tough time surviving.

To keep up, businesses must:

• Engage in organizational change
• Lose old business models, tools, and mindsets
• Adopt new digital technology, processes, and cultures

For starters.

Let’s look at why organizational change is a “do or die” scenario.

Organizational Change Do or Die: Why You Must Evolve … Or Else

Whether we like it or not, today’s economy is changing.

Digital technology is digitizing the entire economy from top to bottom.

Here are a few ways that digital technology is transforming today’s business world:

• Digital disruption. Innovative technology disrupts entire industries, marketplaces, and paradigms. This pushes many companies to transform.
• Digital transformation. Digital transformation is also called digitization or digitalization. It refers to and includes many of the other processes listed here, such as digital adoption.
• Digital workflows. Online collaboration, remote working, and other modern workflows help organizations gain a competitive edge.
• Newer workplace cultures. Successful work cultures are innovative, agile, and fast. The right culture will thrive in today’s business world – while the wrong one will fall behind.

Ultimately, all of these changes help businesses stand out, stay ahead, and outperform their competitors.

And when entire industries are transforming – organizations must change or die.

Digitizing Your Change Management Approach in 3 Steps

Here are three steps you can take to digitize your approach to change management.

1. Digital Tools and Technology

The very first step is digital adoption.

Adopting the right digital tools can help with:

• Project management. Project management tools have become a mainstay for any project manager. They are also extremely useful for change managers, improving communication, project efficiency, and organization.
• Process automation. Automation tools can improve any business process, from data entry to online communications. Effective automation tools – such as robotic process automation and digital adoption platforms – can be applied in, for instance, onboarding and training.
• Analysis and insight. Data and analytics can also improve change management processes. They can be used to predict project success, measure progress, offer insight into employee metrics, and much more.
• Employee training. Digital training solutions are essential for employee training efforts. Learning management systems, for instance, have become quite popular. However, digital adoption platforms are even more efficient, because they deliver real-time, in-app guidance.

All of these tools can improve change management in many ways.

They will generate higher returns, get better results, and be more cost-effective.

2. Modern Models and Processes

Next, it is important to adopt modern business practices and processes.

Here are a few approaches that can be applied to change management:

• Agile – Agile thinking is an approach to software development that has been applied to many other business functions. Agile change management, for instance, is more responsive, adaptable, and fluid than traditional change management practices.
• Lean – Lean is a business approach that aims at reducing waste, decreasing development time, and learning from user input. This approach, like agile, has influenced many other business processes, from product development to management.
• Zero-Based Mindset – A zero-based mindset aims at transforming organizational culture from the ground up. By aligning employee mindsets with organizational priorities, they can increase speed and efficiency – even for large enterprises.

Modern business practices such as these are more efficient, effective, and adaptable.

3. Cultures, Hearts, and Minds

As mentioned above, the right culture can dramatically impact your organization.

And, as change managers know, culture also affects the success of change management initiatives.

Here are a few ways to improve the workplace:

• The employee experience. The employee experience affects a variety of employee metrics. Good employee experiences can improve engagement, productivity, performance, and satisfaction, among others.
• Meaningful work. Meaningful, fulfilling work keeps employees engaged and happy. Change initiatives provide excellent opportunities for adding value and meaning to daily duties – through, for instance, digital skills training, restructuring, and workplace improvements.
• A culture built around teamwork. Interdependence is a hallmark of today’s successful company. Effective teams can deliver products more quickly, implement changes more effectively, and more. The result: better results and productivity.
• Speed and agility. Cultures built around speed and agility will, of course, execute projects, react to change, and deliver products more quickly. 
• Digital literacy and data. Naturally, a culture that is focused around data, technology, and digital literacy will be more effective with these tools. Today, every organization should have a culture that prioritizes technology.

There is no single “right” culture for a business.

Instead, as with every other topic covered here, you should design a unique solution.

The best solution will be one that is customized to your own business needs.

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