Sam Button, Head of Growth, Roar Media
The past 18 months have further instilled the importance of being agile, the most resilient companies are the ones who pivoted at speed to ensure consistent delivery of services to their staff in order to perform their daily tasks. However, creating a culture of agility is not easy
The pandemic highlighted not only the importance of interdepartmental communication but real-time connections with colleagues around the world, meaning the foundation needs to be frictionless; which can only be achieved through cloud-based technology. Technology also permits pivots & adaptability with flexible orgnaisational structures and processes powered by HR to enable leadership to quickly ensure alignment across departments & work cohesively for the benefit of the company.
Cultivating this culture is only achievable through consistent internal communication & access to training and resources for personal development. Upskilling employees is vital to ensuring innovation is lasting and employees feel engaged and empowered to participate in business transformation. HR plays a major role in facilitating & monitoring change and performance around adaptation/innovation, establishing key metrics to track individual & performance is key to inputting strategies, resources, and support in place for a smooth transition.
Emerging Technology
One element which can be initially met with apprehension is technology. Uninformed reactions of anxiety at the implications technology might have on an individual’s value within the company are common. However, these can be easily negated with the correct education & transparency of the organisations overall strategy. In these cases, it is important to show empathy, be consistent with messaging & lean on peer support, empowerment & engagement. This can only be achieved through consistent messaging throughout & by having the correct processes in place to train & support your employees. Cultivating a culture of innovation can be difficult but is necessary when looking to innovate at speed.
Future of Work
Having these parameters in place is the only way you can be prepared for the future of work. With the landscape ever changing & new technologies being introduced & adopted by others to gain a competitive advantage, it is vital that you have a workforce who are able to adapt quickly & learn new skills, it is important to instil the agile mindset throughout.
Data collected through HR can also highlight areas which require improvement and can reveal where technology can support organisational enhancements. Insights gathered through employee surveys can provide direction for strategic decisions which enable furhter innovation. HR have an important role of giving employees a voice, as well as hiring and cultivating great minds to see opportunities for innovation before your competitors.
Digital Workplace
Organisational agility and adaptability for the past year has been completely underpinned by the digital workplace, without this companies would have completley failed to function due to lack of communication & understanding internally. Of the millions spent on digital transformation due to the pandemic, this area proved to be key. Through enhanced collaboration software, video conferencing, automation & cyber security, IT departments were able to power the organisation remotely & have all employees capable of doing their role efficiently throughout the pandemic.
The digital workplace is also a wonderful tool for HR departments to share company updates and ensure everyone feels a part of the organisation, being involved in future plans as well as current successes. Employee engagement has never been more important & delivering excellent internal digital experiences is key to this. Having employees engaged and proud to be part of your organisation leads to loyalty & increased motivation, helping unlock the productive potential of each employee.
Productive Potential
Employees are the lynchpin for successful transformation & digital transformation is constantly required to enhance companies through innovation. HR departments have to ensure that employees are quickly adapting to new circumstances, they also have to maintain agile teams & processes and ensure strategic decisions are made using internal HR data. Furthermore, seamless operation of HR processes speeds up the success of implementing these initiatives. HR plays a dual role within this process as they need to drive their own HR transformation in order to fully support the digital transformation forthe rest of the organisation.
This can only be achieved through synergy between digital teams & HR, constant internal communications to empower employees to drive transformation initiatives within their teams, the use of employee data for strategic decisions & through levereaging efficient processes & agile structures. All elements need to be cohesive to unlock the productive potential of your workforce, you need the right technology to empower both the HR department and the wider orgnaisation. HR underpins all talent, communication and development, essentially they are the ones ensuring your company is ready for the future of work by having the correct people and processes in place to ensure lasting transformation & a culture of continuous improvement & innovation through the efficent adoption of emerging technologies.
Without these levers in place, digital transformation would fall apart as the technology wouldn’t be managed or used effectively. Spending millions on new technologies can only be prosperous with all employees onboard & engaged, this can only be achieved through the function of HR, hiring & training leaders, establishing the correct messaging & culture, building agile teams and processes and harnessing the power of HR data to make informed strategic decisisons.
Online Session on Unlocking Productive Potential featuring Arcadis, Umicore, Mondelēz International and supported by Personio.
Given the importance of HR within Digital Transformation, we are delighted to host an online event dedicated to the importance of HR transformation & function to support successful digital transformation. The event is free to attend & all those registered will receive access to the event online on Wednesday 23rd June, in addition to access on-demand.