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A successful digital transformation effort is potentially the most disruptive change your organization will ever experience. Do you have the right set of employees to navigate the changes and execute your vision? A recent survey from Harvard Business Review found that companies are increasingly valuing soft skills over technical skills in their digital team members, even when a heavily digital transition is at stake.
Once you have the hard tech skills to build the foundation—the IT professionals, digital officers, data analysts, and engineers—you’ll need the right mixture of employees versed in business process improvement, communication, and team-building to round out the ideal team.
Key Roles You Need for Your Digital Transformation
These employees will bring the much-needed people skills that you’ll need to realize your digital transformation goals for your organization:
Change management leader
The ideal person should be experienced and adept in implementing organizational change management initiatives. He or she should have superior communication, time management and soft skills needed to gain employees’ trust and lead them through the process, says the Enterprisers Project. This leader needs to focus on communicating to employees about:
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Why the changes are happening
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What they will entail, and
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How employees’ workdays, and the business overall, will improve as a result of the changes.
Finance guru
This individual will present the financial case for business transformation and be prepared to analyze the ROI on an ongoing basis. The finance person should meet with the other digital team specialists on an ongoing basis in order to assess whether projects are meeting their expected targets, as well as whether to adjust or cut funding based on current performance.
The project manager
The project manager oversees a particular digital transformation project from start to finish, tracking deliverables, monitoring the timelines and flow of the project, and setting goals. Try tapping a different staffer each time, depending on whose skill set is uniquely suited for the project. This allows you to better capitalize on your existing talent and also improve buy-in and understanding of the entire project.
Sales and marketing experts
Bringing in seasoned representatives from the sales and marketing team can help you understand the need to roll out positive customer experiences as soon as possible for better customer service. These team members have interpersonal skills, direct insight into your customers’ pain points and can offer a wealth of ideas for business process improvements.
Legal and compliance representatives
It might sound like a bit of a downer, but each digital transformation effort needs to be in line with industry regulations. Having someone on the team to weigh in on any relevant tax and legal implications can help you avoid problems down the road.
The strategic officer
This person will be in charge of tying the goals and performance to the strategic outcomes at every opportunity. Since your strategic goals are the hallmark of any digital transformation initiative, this person can consistently assess the opportunities and value of each project and determine if it aligns with the overall strategy.
Takeaway
The digital success of your organization hinges on some of the softer elements—such as your people and your culture. When you’re building your digital transformation lineup, make sure you’re looking beyond the typical technical skillset to create a more well-rounded team with problem solving skills and emotional intelligence that can tackle the human side of your digital transformation initiative.