An 18-month long digital transformation project was in its final days, and we were all getting ready for the victory lap to celebrate success. It hadn’t been easy to design, orchestrate, and implement all of the details to get everyone on board with a new platform that streamlined everyone’s work in the manufacturing facility. The plan that worked well on whiteboards was on its way to full rollout—eliminating the need for paper files completely.
The week before we were scheduled to hit the switch on the system, I stopped by to see Pete, a 30-year veteran of the company who ran plant operations with a level of expertise that was inspiring. He’d been a core member of the digital transformation planning team and was key to the design of the project. I thought we’d do a final high five before the rollout.
I looked over his shoulder and saw something peeking out of a drawer.
Blueprints – Physical, paper blueprints. The ones that were supposed to be replaced with the digital system.
“Pete, are those blueprints?”
“Yes, not sure the digital system will handle plant turnarounds to standard.”
Clearly, we had an important workflow to finish before we rolled out. We delayed the launch, focused on plant turnarounds, and made sure we had true buy-in from our key stakeholders before rushing to implementation.
We had to get to the point where Pete would let go of his blueprints.
It was an important lesson in digital transformation that laid the foundation for my core belief: For digital transformation to really work, we have to focus on the people.
Happy Ears and Other Blind Spots
In the flurry of excitement to design a shared platform, we had done all of the requisite user meetings, and collaborative spec design sessions. But in looking back at how we approached it 10 years ago versus how we do it today, we were more about pushing technology than uncovering the value drivers for the people who would be using the system. Our conversations were mostly focused on the mechanics of the transformation. We didn’t want to miss deadlines we’d charted out in our initial plan, so we inadvertently swept resistance under the rug and listened with “happy ears” when there were objections.
What I’ve learned since is that any transformation requires what I call Hearts and Minds Commitment versus Lip Service Commitment by the key people who need to adopt new technology. To get to that, we need to listen deeply. Have tough conversations. Address the deeper needs, not simply push a solution.
Those realizations inspired the Harvard Business Review article I just published:
4 Principles to Guide Your Digital Transformation with these four rules of thumb:
- Digital transformation is not the same as innovation
- You need to enlist the enthusiasts
- Start with a keystone change
- Leverage digital transformation to reimagine the enterprise
Read the full article here.
