Businesses have no choice but to compete vigorously to take advantage of opportunities enabled by technological infrastructure, both inside and outside the organization.

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Digital transformation is the “talk of the town” as part of organization strategy. Organizations are jumping into the digital bandwagon as all of us get more connected with the support of technology. Unquestionably, the global pandemic has turned life upside down for almost all of us, at professional or personal levels.

Organizations must be more innovative in their business approach to embrace changes and take steps to align talent, culture and structure. Businesses have no choice but to compete vigorously to take advantage of opportunities enabled by technological infrastructure, both inside and outside the organization.

Digital business transformation requires more than technology for an organization to be successful and compete innovatively in this ever-challenging environment. Today, organizations are battling to attract, develop, engage and retain talent. Organizations are reinventing themselves to cater to changing demands and expectations.

The talent has higher expectations of flexibility, collaboration and openness, which have triggered fundamental change throughout the world of employment. Mixing technology and talent perfectly can torch a path to triumph for businesses in today’s world.

Digital talent

The pandemic has accelerated the levels of digitization to help reduce avoidable physical interactions. This has meant finding ways to reinvent work and, in some cases, a partial disruption of jobs and changes in the way workers perform them.

In this context, managing talent virtually emerged as one of the critical needs for organizations, especially for managers and HR practitioners. There is no way to split talent and technology.

Hiring and developing digital talent should be the top priority of HR managers in most organizations. Hiring managers must look for employees who understand the latest technologies and can capitalize on technology to improve business and individual performance.

The responsibility for finding the right talent is no longer only on the shoulders of HR department; stronger collaboration among other departments in the hiring and selection process is crucial. Virtual onboarding must be combined with key employee development questions:

• What are the key obstacles faced in attracting and selecting future digital talent?
• What kind of talent and competence do we need to equip and develop existing talent in organizations?
• What improvements can be made in talent management such as acquisition, development, retention, compensation and benefits, etc.?

Organizational culture

Culture plays an essential role in championing business, especially during crisis and hard times. To align corporate culture with the needs of digital transformation, companies need to look at the current pattern of behavior in the organization from the perspective of “culture of execution.”

Digitalization accelerated speed in business. Shaping a culture of execution is one of the key success factors in building high performing digital business. Therefore, an effective organizational culture will nurture, reward and insist on effective execution of the critical tasks in organizations when embarking on the journey of digital transformation.

Digital business transformation is about strategy-execution. Companies need to define the strategy as culture needed for execution. Culture is the one thing other companies can’t copy quickly; it gives companies a competitive advantage, generates innovation and encourages leading across boundaries. A successful digital business transformation should also take culture into account, as shaping a culture of execution is one of the keys in building a high performing digital business.

How do organizational culture, expectations of behavior, informal communication networks and power distribution encourage the accomplishment of the critical tasks of digital transformation in your organization? Are there existing aspects of the current culture that would hinder the execution of these digital transformation tasks? Are you open and transparent about risk and what is needed to manage it? Are we making informed commitments that we can act upon? Ask yourself these critical questions about your organization’s culture:

• Can the organization’s climate inspire employees to become high performers?
• How can you adapt culture and climate to new business development needs?
• How can you incorporate culture and climate into enterprise systems, processes and daily work behavior?

Organizational structure

Many organizations are struggling to cope with the digital changes due to internal or external environments. The formal organizational arrangements include size and roles of staff, accountabilities, measures, rewards and incentive systems, career planning, physical locations of activities and managers capabilities. Reflect on the following questions regarding organizational structure:

• What is your current organizational structure? Does it align with the current digital business model?
• What adaptation and optimization is required for business processes to match new business development?
• What optimization is required on performance evaluation systems to drive performance?

The article was first published here.

Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash.