Subscribe
Pete Yates
By
October 11, 2017

Who's Leading your Digital Transformation? Job Titles vs. Characteristics

Who's Leading your Digital Transformation? Job Titles vs Characteristics

Who leads your Digital Transformation effort is more important now than ever.

Lack of vision, clear strategy, ineffective leadership and the ability to attract and retain talent will seriously inhibit any organisation’s digital aspirations. Having the right Leader to champion transformation is critical in bringing those that are less digitally inclined along for the journey, by being a visionary and story teller who can navigate through what is bound to be periods of uncertainty and change. Their role is to lead the business strategy and vision creation, execution and to give guidance, but they must empower their people to deliver on that strategy and vision rather than dictate.

In reality, Transformation 'Job Titles' are largely irrelevant in deciding who should lead transformation efforts on behalf of the organisation.  That said, current trends seem to indicate that the people with the technology remit such as the CTO, CIO or CDO are the key execs leading organisational transformation. So, is the title of the person leading the transformation as important as the characteristics/personality of that leader, such as being transparent, visible, with the ability to model the new behaviours required?  A visionary leader is critical to leading transformational efforts, especially for their ability to quickly gain organisational trust, with the mandate to create, execute and embody the transformation vision and business strategy. 

Thou Shalt Not Reform: The Digital Transformation Commandment Crippling Organisations

Engaging your People, Teams and Talent are critical

The appropriate culture and empowering of teams is key to attracting and retaining your talent, whilst also providing a working environment that supports cross team collaboration.  Leaders must show true empathy and listen to their teams and customers so they are able to identify the root cause of any problem, rather than going straight to a Technology solution. Critical to any transformation is the ability of the Leader to get the organisation excited by their vision and strategy for the transformation – this will help bring teams and people along for the ride.  By creating a clear vision, it will also help your people decide if they actually want to buy in to the transformation.

The Value Switch for Digital Transformation Initiatives

Digital Transformation - a Cultural Shift?

Martin Gill states in his “the race to digital mastery is on” article, “Executive teams will slowly begin to realise that digital transformation is a cultural shift, not a technology problem. It’s no coincidence that many of the most digitally mature firms are smaller, leaner and employ fewer people than their least mature counterparts”. So “Going Digital” really is a change in mind-set (e.g. learn fast, lean, agile, User Experience, HCD etc), supported by engaged people with technology as an enabler.  Hiring and retaining talent within your organisation will be absolutely fundamental to the success or failure of your transformational efforts. Your people must be able to adapt to the new ways of working, be guided by the leadership of the organisation and given the tools and environment to succeed. 

Enterprise Process Modeling: Tackling Digital Transformations

Not more of the same

When hiring, you may have defined the type of person you are looking for, such as smart creatives who willing to positively challenge the status quo or who are open minded and willing to accept change, you don’t want more of the same.  An avenue for identifying suitable talent could be through intern placements or taking a more unique approach to recruitment that showcases your company’s culture.  Essential to retaining your talent is allowing them the freedom and time to innovate, learn or take intelligent risks as well as creating and cultivating a company culture that they want to be a part of (and want others to be a part of).  

Is Your Digital Transformation Working?

But how do you know it’s working? Well, try listening and engaging your team, by gaining valuable feedback on how they feel the transformation is going or you could even involve your influencers at the beginning by sharing your ideas and concepts up front and incorporating their views at that point.

So who leads the transformation effort in your organisation? Is it because of their job title, or their personal characteristics?

Enabling Digital Business Transformation with Enterprise-Wide Process Modelling

Looking for more Digital Transformation Resources?

Framework Primer: Digital Transformation Strategy

Presentation Deck from Flevy.com

Digital Transformation is being embraced by companies across most industries, as the role of technology shifts from being a business enabler to a business driver.

Get Frameworks Now


About the Author

Screenshot 2017-10-09 14.25.59.png

Pete is currently the CTO for a Health system integrator based in Auckland, New Zealand and a passionate tech blogger (livingthetech.com) and writer. He brings a unique experience spanning both enterprise & start-up/SME environments in industries such as health, local and central government, telecommunications, software, media and IT service providers.


The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards

The Largest Leadership-Level Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Event

opex_assembly

business_assembly

Proqis Digital Virtual Conference Series

View our schedule of industry leading free to attend virtual conferences. Each a premier gathering of industry thought leaders and experts sharing key solutions to current challenges.

Download the most comprehensive OpEx Resport in the Industry

The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards Video Presentation

Proqis Events Schedule

Proqis Digital

Welcome to BTOES Insights, the content portal for Business Transformation & Operational Excellence opinions, reports & news.

------------------------------ 

EXCLUSIVE SERIES: BTOES17 VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

Full-length speaking sessions from the Business Transformation & Operational Excellence World Summit, accompanied by featured articles from the Speakers themselves.

WATCH NOW

-------------------------------

Submit an Article

Become a Regular Contributor

BTOES UNIVERSAL GRAPHIC - NO DATE.webp?width=1200&name=BTOES UNIVERSAL GRAPHIC - NO DATE
ACCESS 50 VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
Access all 75 Award Finalist Entires
RESEARCH REPORT 2021/2022
BTOES AWARD - NO DATE
BTOES UNIVERSAL GRAPHIC - NO DATE
Subscribe to Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Insights Now
btoes19.png
png
ATTENDEE - Proqis Digital Event Graphics-2
ATTENDEE - Proqis Digital Event Graphics (2)-1
ATTENDEE - Proqis Digital Event Graphics (1)-1
png

Featured Content

   
Operational Excellence Frameworks and Learning Resources, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation and more introductions

Popular Tags

Speaker Presentation Operational Excellence Business Transformation Business Improvement Insights Article Continuous Improvement Process Management Business Excellence process excellence Process Optimization Process Improvement Award Finalist Case Study Digital Transformation Leadership Change Management Lean Enterprise Excellence Premium Organizational Excellence Lean Enterprise Lean Six Sigma Execution Excellence Capability Excellence Enterprise Architecture New Technologies Changing & Improving Company Culture Agile end-to-end Business Transformation Execution & Sustaining OpEx Projects Culture Transformation Leadership Understanding & Buy-In Lack of/Need for Resources Adapting to Business Trends Changing Customer Demands Failure to Innovate Integrating CI Methodologies Lack of/Need for Skilled Workers Lack of/Need for Support from Employees Maintaining key Priorities Relationships Between Departments BTOES18 RPA & Intelligent Automation Live Process Mining BTOES From Home Cultural Transformation Financial Services Customer Experience Excellence Process Automation Technology Healthcare iBPM Healthcare and Medical Devices Webinar Culture Customer Experience Innovation BTOES Video Presentations Exclusive BTOES HEALTH Strategy Execution Business Challenges Digital Process Automation Report Industry Digital Workplace Transformation Manufacturing Supply Chain Planning Robotic Process Automation (RPA) BPM Automation IT Infrastructure & Cloud Strategies Artificial Intelligence Business Process Management innovation execution AI Lean Manufacturing Oil & Gas Robotic Process Automation IT value creation Agility Business Speaker Article Systems Engineering RPAs Insurance Process Design Digital Speaker's Interview data management Intelligent Automation digital operations Six Sigma Awards thought leaders BTOES Presentation Slides Transformation Cloud Machine Learning Data Analytics Digital Transformation Workplace Banking and Capital Markets Data Finance Professional Services Education IT Infrastructure IT Infrastructure & Cloud Strategies Live Blockchain Interview Solving Cash Flow with AI BTOES White Paper investment banking Analytics Insight BTOES19 Consumer Products & Retail Enterprise Agile Planning Government Operational Excellence Model Project Management Algorithm Automotive and Transportation Banking Business Environment Digital Bank Enterprise architecture as an enabler Hybrid Work Model Primary Measure of succes Relationship Management Sales business expansion revenue growth Adobe Sign Agile Transformation CoE Delivery solution E-Signatures Electricity Global Technology HealthcareTechnologies Innovation in Healthcare Reduce your RPA TCO Transportation Accounts Receivable (AR) Big Data Technology CORE Cloud Technology Cognitive learning Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) Logistics Services Operational Excellence Example Risk Management business process automation transformation journey Covid-19 Data Entry Digital Experience Digital Network Digital Network Assistant (DNA) Digitization Drinks Effective Change Leaders HR Internet Media NPS Net Promoter Score Program Management Portal (PgMP) Sustainability TechXLive The Document is Dead The New Era of Automation Automated Money Movement Banking & Financial Services Biopharmaceutical Blue Room Effect Building Your Future Workforce in Insurance Business Process Governance Capital Market Creative Passion Digital Transformation Workplace Live Digital Workforce Digitalization ERP Transformation Finance Global Operations (FGO) Financial Services Software Frameworks Hoshin Planning Human Capital Lean Culture Natural Gas Infrastructure Natural Language Processing Organizational Change Pharmaceutical Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences Project manager Supply Chain Management Sustainable Growth The Fully Automated Contact Center Transformation Initiatives Workplace Analytics eForms eSignatures 3D Thinking BEAM BFARM BTOES17 Big Data Processing Business Analytics Business Growth Centralized Performance Monitoring System Communication Creativity Digital Technologies Digital Technology Educational Psychologist Energy Management Health Insurance Health Maintenance Organizations Hospitality & Construction Human Centered Design Integrated Decision Approach Integrated Decision Making Intelligent Document Processing Kaizen Medicare Moodset for Excellence Natural Language Processing (NLP) Offering Managers Oil and Gas Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences Photographing Price and Routing Tracking (PART) Process Design Document (PDD) Product Identifier Descriptions (PIDs) Python Quote to Cash (Q2C) Resilience SAP Sales Quota Team Work Telecommunications Text Mining Visually Displayed Work Culture master text analytics virtual resource management