Take employees with you on the digital journey

New ways of thinking and acting within the framework of digital transformations do not arise simply from the fact that a process plan is created and delegated bottom-down according to a scheme. The first step is to take stock step by step and focus on the employees. If the employees are emotionally on board, an essential foundation stone is laid in the process, because only with motivated employees can the introduction of new processes be successful.

Even company directors and those responsible for digitization should make preparations before sending their employees on the digital journey. Are there workflows that have to be adapted organizationally because they originated in analogue time? How does the cooperation between the individual departments work, are the processes fit for a new format? What about existing routines, are they still effective or should they be given a new polish?

Employees themselves are often the first to be concerned. How can the company deal with this? The employees can discuss your scepticism, your questions or suggestions with the division and department heads in advance. It is advisable to outline any reservations that may arise and remove the content or proactively prepare the answers, perhaps even distribute them as information material.

All employees find the topic of digitization exciting? Yes and no. We find many of the topics that accompany digitization interesting and arouse our curiosity. But the fear of failing in our everyday work because we cannot understand new things quickly enough and put them into practice is something that no one can take lightly.

It is therefore advisable to take any concerns employees may have about upcoming changes seriously. Here, well-prepared communication measures can be helpful to rebut these fears and to give the employees planning security and to take them with them instead of losing them.

Digitization initiatives that are in the planning stage should be prepared through focus groups so that organisational change is not only strategically planned but also well prepared for employees.

It is in the nature of people that we burn for issues in which we are involved from the outset. So the employees of every company that will implement digital transformations should also include them from the outset in order to gain their commitment before the rollout.

"Digital innovations can only be introduced with employees. Those who are fully involved themselves will want to fill new processes with life and implement them quickly. In times of an empty job market, a healthy company approach – not a top-down approach – in which large catalogues of measures look like surprise eggs, is highly recommended. The art is to motivate employees in such a way that they feel involved and support the measures with conviction. Companies that manage to do this are at the forefront of digital transformation." Andreas Wartenberg, Managing Director of Hager Unternehmensberatung and an expert on the subject of digitization, sums up.

Authors:

Andreas Wartenberg has been an executive search consultant for more than 25 years, filling management positions in the technology sector and other industries. Mr. Wartenberg set up and led national and international teams before joining Hager Unternehmensberatung as a Managing Director in 2008. He is a leading topic expert in the DACH region in regard to all aspects of technology management and digitalization within all type of corporations. Since early 2015 the Hager Unternehmensberatung has become a partner of Horton International. Andreas Wartenberg is currently Chairman of the Board at Horton Group International.