Our reality changed and forever. We live in a digital world, global and hyperconnected, characterized by constant social, economic, political and technological change.
Depending on the type of organization, industry, size, culture and organization, each company faces this challenge of transformation and its difficulties, with a different rhythm, which finally determines the volume and nature of the initiatives it sets in motion to Advance.
For any company, the purpose of this transformation is not static. Is that we are witnessing a time when technology has changed people’s behavior, and how they relate to organizations. Social networks have helped to connect and pollinate behaviors in a global way, but they have also generated a new relationship between company and client, more demanding, symmetrical and balanced. It is this new consumer that modifies to a greater extent the demands, and obliges every organization not only to confront its own challenges, but to those of a competitive environment in which the first one that manages to advance, usually is the one that wins the game.
The real challenge of digital transformation is to impact behaviors and mentalities, being fundamental to achieve this goal, that we can free the organization of false beliefs based on corporate mythology.
In this sense, there are lies and also myths, and although they seem similar their nature is very different. Smart organizations can resist lies by carefully analyzing the available evidence and with enough quality information, lies are easy to detect. Myths on the contrary, have a more subtle nature, and are usually based on half-truths, are not immediately recognised and it is for this reason that even mature and intelligent organizations can fall into the trap.
There are at least 10 myths that relate to a process of digital transformation.
Myth 1: We need a digital strategy
A company functions as a living organism and it is not possible to optimize one of its parts without impacting the rest of the organism. Thinking about how we can develop a digital strategy, and leaving the rest of the business aside in a disconnected way is absurd. We don’t need a digital strategy, we need a corporate strategy.
Today more than ever we have to think carefully about things in order to act quickly, the strategy remains what has always been: the art of acting under the pressure of the hardest conditions.
Myth 2: Technology is the key element of digital transformation.
Technology is necessary but not enough in a process of transformation. To successfully establish this type of process, it is necessary to develop new skills and internal capacities, adopt new forms of work, create new roles, promote a culture of openness to change and continuous improvement in a permanent way. They are examples of key elements of their strategic agenda.
Myth 3: Digital transformation is a fashion that will soon pass
Personally I am tired of the market trend of putting the digital surname to everything, and I think at some point the digital surname will be replaced by another more fashionable. But has the internet gone out of fashion?
Because of the speed in which the world moves, all companies that want to be competitive and projected into the future, must assume the process of transformation as a permanent process, and will have to be part of their DNA.
Myth 4: The focus of transformation must be in the long run
In some industries the changes have been extremely slow, however in other industries such as music, the emergence of new technologies have forever changed the traditional business model we knew.
A process of transformation, does not necessarily have to do with the long or short term, but with impacting the mentalities and behaviors of the Organization in a timely manner. Transformation drives us to rethink the fundamentals of how the Business works: the sources of value creation, the costs, and above all the competition.
To lead a process of successful transformation, we do not need to lengthen the temporal horizon of our thoughts or our actions, but their depth. Far from discussing the things we are going to do in the future, the process of transformation is about the present, to shape the future we want.
Myth 5: I already have a competitive advantage
The life cycle of companies is being shortened very quickly. In 1964 a company listing in the SP500, had an average life of 33 years, however, today the life cycle is less than 20.
The period of time a company can maintain its competitive advantage without being transformed is drastically reduced. Nowadays to compete in the digital economy, it is necessary to generate internal capacities that generate competitive advantages (to be agile, to know the clients better, to have an excellent user experience), to have a competitive advantage is not enough . We need new capabilities to be competitive in the digital economy.
Myth 6: Execution equals alignment
Most managers think that the processes of change fail when there is no correct alignment between the business objectives and the incentives of the collaborators.
This is necessary but not enough, because the reality is that the processes of change fail when it is not achieved that there is good coordination between the different areas involved in the process. It should be remembered that organizations tend to be very adept at cascading targets from high management to the rest of the organization, but they usually fail miserably in making coordination between cross-cutting areas Flow properly.
Myth 7: Good execution is equivalent to being 100% adhered to the original plan
This lies in thinking that a good execution means that I have to strictly follow the original plan. This belief, is very established in Latin American companies, because it is thought that the lack of discipline hinders the execution.
The reality that we face today is that the lack of agility is the biggest obstacle in order to implement a strategy. Corporate rigidity prevents and avoids working teams from developing creative solutions to problems that were not initially identified or addressing important opportunities that arise along the path of the process of change.
Myth 8: Communication is equal to understanding
It is common for companies to think that communicating obsessively is the key to the success of a process of transformation, and although communication plays a fundamental role in the success of any process of change, the reality is that many times the vision and objectives Strategies are not properly understood or are disconnected from the company’s overall strategy, even after spending a lot of time communicating.
A process of successful transformation must convince with logic and with the heart, and both things have to be communicated in very different ways.
Myth 9: A culture of execution is missing
I have heard countless times, saying that the transformation process failed because in the organization a stronger execution culture was lacking. The reality is that culture needs to be seen in a broader sense (mentalities and behaviors) This look helps us to transcend the desire for concrete results (Fund) and helps us to recognize and reward other very important aspects such as the Teamwork, agility and correct values (form).
Myth 10: Transformation leads from above
A good execution within a large and complex organization, necessarily requires multiple decisions and actions at all levels, from the top management to the middle managers, to reach key experts or technicians who can occupy positions Hierarchical. A successful process of transformation is inclusive, and requires more situational leadership (depending on status) and less vertical hierarchy, as the case may be.
In conclusion, traditional organizations have been trained for years to give excellent answers to old questions, but today they are lagging behind because they are unable to respond, and sometimes not even understand, the new situations and the New questions.
Today there is a lot of focus on the strategic agenda of the companies but very little focus on developing a leadership agenda that is consistent with the process of change that is sought to promote.
The processes of digital transformation successful, are those that manage to convince with the heart and with the reason, ie, they take care of the dimension of the core business, but also of the human aspect.
The content poured in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of the counter.
