Let's talk Transformation : The business leaders podcast #129 Digital Transformation Success with Michael Schank
"In Digital transformation the disconnect that exists across teams, frameworks and deliverables is always very clear."
Michael and I discuss this trio and what it means for successful transformation. Digital transformation initiatives often suffer from disconnects across teams, frameworks, and deliverables, and many organisations face complexities arising from disparate people, technologies, and data that have evolved without a unified plan. This confusion inhibits effective collaboration and knowledge sharing among teams, with employees often lacking a comprehensive understanding of the broader organisational landscape.
We discuss Michael’s Process Inventory Framework which ensures that even seemingly non-core processes are accounted for, as they can significantly impact how the organisation operates. By building a complete inventory of processes and validating it across all levels of the organisation, businesses can create a common language and understanding that promotes alignment and drives effective transformation. We discuss measuring the success of digital transformation initiatives as well as managing data driven decision making and the need for accountability & empowerment.
Digital transformation is not just about tech, it is about value and creating value differently. The integration of AI will bring with it other opportunities to integrate processes and data and to create value differently also.
Michael shares his insights and experience from creating and implementing his framework and from working with leaders across the globe.
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- Most organisations have a clear disconnect across teams, frameworks and deliverables and the same patterns: complexity, evolving situations, unforeseen/unplanned outcomes, and a high degree of confusion.
- Teams working in silos have little understanding of what other teams do, inhibiting collaboration and knowledge – there is no unifying thread, which is essential for successful transformation.
- The book focuses on this unifying thread by seeking to establish what the business does and codify it (at both strategic and detail level) in one framework for common understanding and vertical/horizontal alignment purposes.
- The process inventory framework covers every single core and non-core process, starting at the top and working down through the organisational hierarchy to the process level (also increasingly with the help of AI to integrate operational data).
- Employees formally attest to the inventory, working upwards from the bottom of the hierarchy, to create an accurate basis and semantic structure for planning transformations and driving programmes.
- The requisite clarity comes from an exhaustive list of processes, followed by a digital initiative – transformation entails profound change and digital integrates new technologies to fuel efficiency.
- A clear roadmap with an environment analysis (external – trade, economic, competition; and internal – strengths and weaknesses) optimises the change budget and permits precision to flow down through the rest of the programme.
- Data-driven ways of working come with enormous volumes of data and the challenge of data lineage with a lack of traceability and documentation - data must always be in a proper business context.
- Operational leaders can use data analytics to empower people and create workflows, cascading goals down to individual processes from the overriding strategic imperative and providing clear accountability.
- Operational structures can likewise be used to foster accountability and grant autonomy for people to capitalise on their expertise, thereby building a culture to try new things and drive innovation.
- The process inventory framework provides a foundation for building process capability, continuously updating, defining strategy, driving change and managing organisational change and risk.
- Sound risk management ensures resilience and an understanding of critical business processes, including those of third parties (cf. DORA, GRC) based on data models anchored in a business context (processes, risks and controls).
- Breaking down the transformation journey into different stages offers full transparency and an overview for planning/alignment purposes for leaders who cannot know everything that is happening on the ground.
- Confusion, chaos and complexity underlie every organisation and the integration of AI in processes and functions requires a deep understanding of all said processes and functions; digital twins can help with this.
Find out more about Michael and his work here :