Every industry is going through a rapid digital transformation in this digital era. As an innovation architect, my primary role is to work with premium customers to make their enterprises intelligent with help of SAP innovation technologies. I usually conduct digital transformation workshops for customers to understand their process pain points and come up with recommended innovation roadmap to improve top-line and bottom-line growth. Few frameworks that I use are Business model innovation, Value innovation etc. There are multiple frameworks available to approach customer problems in a structured way and it purely depends on case to case basis.
When I sit down and think about digital transformation for employees, there are not much available. As a business professional, whenever a new technology and a corresponding business model emerges, onus is on us to keep ourselves updated to stay relevant to market. There are lot of new technologies coming to fore that addresses the customer’s pressing problem as ever before. When I follow the successful professionals who perform consistently in this transformation space, I identified the common behaviour. It is not skill or talent or ability. It is a mindset and to be precise, a growth mindset.
A growth mindset really is about lifelong learning and a belief in your ability to grow and develop. Creating a growth mindset helps you to understand no matter what your talent level is right now, you can work to learn and achieve more.
I have come up with a simple framework for Growth mindset to actively track where you are and how you want to proceed.
I use this framework to leverage my skills with organisational and market demand. Timeframe for horizons can be setup by individuals. Usually I set timeframe for Horizon-1as 3-6 months, Horizon-2 as 6-12 months and Horizon-3 as 12-24 months. It varies between individuals based on their current workload and their vision.
Continuous learning: Be an expert in your current technology/domain and align with organisational goals. Always keep an eye on market size and penetration for your technology to make sure that you stay relevant in the market
Adjacent learning: Learning about new business models that current technology can serve for customers. Your adjacent skill should help unlocking the new business models for customer by achieving competitive advantage (Red ocean)
Example: Let's take Automotive industry. There is a drive towards electrification of vehicles. So, you need a charging point in highway/mall to charge the battery. Sensor embedded in vehicle can provide real-time information about the battery health and share the relevant information with Utility provider who can reach out to you for Battery replacement or servicing. This introduces new business models such as data monetisation. As a vehicle owner, you are provided with different services based on vehicle usage.
Transformative learning: Learn technology and come up with new business models that creates uncontested market space. You can make the competition irrelevant by the demand(Blue Ocean). Market and technology may be very nascent at this stage that may get matured over next 2-3 years
Example: Quantum computing and quantum machine learning is on nascent stage. But it could transform medicine, break encryption and revolutionise communications and artificial intelligence. Learning the technology completely and creating applications using Quantum technology may create uncontested market space.
I would suggest you to update this framework on horizons based on your skillsets to evaluate where you stand now and what you want to achieve in next 3-5 years. Formulating framework alone is not going to help. Have a periodic review to update the framework and move towards success
Take a moment to think about how committed you are in creating a growth mindset!! You will face challenges and have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Are you prepared to take this on to stretch your abilities and knowledge, to enhance your performance, and achieve more in your professional and personal life?