Digitalisation is causing a veritable tsunami in our working habits! Driven by technological innovation, it has been described as a 4-way process.e industrial revolution. Companies have to adapt to this, for their very survival depends on it. It's a question of survival, because globalisation demands not only innovation, but also the agility to seize opportunities as soon as they arise. The health crisis has accelerated the effects of this, forcing managers to adhere more than ever to best practice when it comes to digitalisation. Marie Desplats, a consultant in managerial innovation, talks to us about this.
One of the first changes imposed by digitalisation concerns the physical boundaries of the company. These are gradually being called into question, with teleworking being the first step in this transformation. For employees who have lost their bearings, this is a difficult period to go through, often painful because it creates anxiety. That's why digital transformation can only succeed if it is supported by managers. There is, however, one prerequisite: the posture needs to be adjusted in line with practices that are constantly evolving at the same time as the digital transformation. Management and digitisation are evolving simultaneously. The health crisis has deeply entrenched new ones, and here are seven of them:
1. Instill digital culture
The manager is on the front line, listening to and calming the protests, doubts and reluctance of the teams and facilitating communication. More than ever, employees are looking for meaning, and the manager is the one who explains why, who gives meaning to the transformation and who helps everyone to feel involved and committed.
2. Giving people autonomy and moving towards self-organisation
In a context where the boundaries of work are becoming increasingly blurred, managers are becoming community leaders. Above all, they must unite people on the basis of trust, transparency and agility.
3. Developing collaborative working
Digital tools enable companies to transform themselves into veritable collaborative laboratories. But they are not enough on their own. It is the manager who contributes to the emergence of collective intelligence, through the sharing of knowledge and skills and teamwork, while valuing individual and collective initiatives with fairness and transparency.
4. Putting the Employee eXperience (EX) at the heart of management
If team members are seen as the manager's "customers", then the manager must treat them accordingly. He or she takes into account feedback, whether it concerns human relations, teamwork or the technical quality of the equipment and tools made available for work. To carry out this task of analysing and dealing with malfunctions, the manager does not create any hierarchy between the professions of the teams he or she supports, and makes sure to show the company's involvement through concrete material evidence.
5. Management and digitisation: test and learn
It's up to the manager to encourage experimentation, with its share of trial, error and adjustments, to gradually increase everyone's skills. This may require them to step out of their comfort zone, but they will soon realise that this is a necessary step in today's environment.
6. Adopt bimodal management
According to Gartner, bimodal IT is "the practice of managing two separate and coherent modes of IT". By way of analogy, Paul Heilbronner, HR Director at Tofane Global, suggests applying the term bimodal to management. His argument is based on the fact that, within a company, two approaches coexist: that of the digital nativesThis is the case for the younger generation, who have been familiar with new technologies since childhood, and for employees for whom the Internet only became a daily reality two decades ago. To reconcile these different relationships to technology, management needs to encourage "pairing" by retaining the best of each generational culture. This is a great opportunity to share knowledge and know-how in a spirit of openness.
7. Creating a happy atmosphere within the team
What if managers made fun at work a performance driver? According to research conducted by Michael J. Tews, a professor at Penn State University in the United States, employees working in 'fun' work environments are more inclined to try new things and less stressed about making mistakes.
There's no doubt about it: the revolution in the world of work is underway. Even if it's still hard to measure the effects, new technologies have real potential to improve the day-to-day lives of employees. Once they have been assimilated, they will enable tasks to be better organised and, consequently, save that precious time that everyone is constantly chasing after, but this is not yet the case. Management and digitisation have their share of challenges and opportunities, but they have to be reconciled. Most managers have understood this, even if there are still a few holdouts. In the same vein, why not take advantage of this context of digital appropriation to rely on theappreciative inquiry and work with your teams to imagine the kind of management you want and expect in this new digital environment? We'll talk about it next time!
