It’s all about people
The success of a digital transformation project has traditionally been measured against a strict checklist of operational and financial metrics. However, the way businesses measure ‘success’ often misses out the most important consideration of all… people.
As technology advances ever quicker, it becomes much harder to measure success and efficiency. This is because goalposts are constantly moving. Rather than simply focussing on deploying the latest trend to keep ahead of the digital curve, business leaders should focus on how they can make change stick. For example, ensuring employees aren’t excluded and have the right knowledge and training to adjust to the change.
To truly gauge the success of a transformation project or programme, people need to be considered. As a result, businesses should modernise and update how they measure the effectiveness of their engagement and adoption.
1. Personalised approach to feedback
Data collection is essential for evaluating any project and is particularly useful when understanding engagement and training rates, employee adoption and the usage of new tools. This allows business leaders to explore potential knowledge gaps, pinch points or possible resistance to change.
To collect this data, consider scheduling meetings with team members to gather feedback regularly throughout the project. Project leaders can compare a baseline survey at the start of a project with a closure survey to determine whether the project has achieved positive impacts.
2. Understand that change is personal
People react to change differently, and understanding this means that managers are able to spot pinch points early on.
Anxiety around change is common. However, this might manifest itself as resistance. If managers identify someone as at risk of feeling excluded or viewing the project negatively, they should invest extra time and support to ease that person’s concerns. A change readiness assessment can identify early risks and personalise capability needs, and through conducting regular sentiment and engagement assessments, managers can easily navigate and avoid resistance through improved communications and leadership.
3. Broadening the definition of change
Leaders must put people at the heart of transformation and shift how they measure success to ensure long-lasting change. When they broaden the definition of change to include employee-focused considerations, they reduce the pressure to constantly stay ahead of the digital curve.
Expanding KPIs to include cultural milestones rather than focusing solely on traditional operational or financial performance metrics is an easy first step. Business leaders can put this in place to avoid technological burnout in the workplace.
To stay agile and competitive in the tech race, business leaders must recognise that success is about more than rapidly adopting every new technology. Instead, a slower and more considered approach to a digital transformation, prioritising people within the business will boost team morale, productivity and ensure change for good.