Disrupting with Digital June 2017 event recap: Talking organizational change.

Lee Dale — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 22:32:48 +0000

Transcript

Lauren Ledwell:

It’s really important in the beginning to figure out who can help you with your transformation goals and your organization. And so how do you find those early adopters, those keeners?

Shelisa Bainbridge:

You have to be able to say, “Okay, here is why.” And this is the piece that leadership tends to not do well at. They don’t do well at explaining the why. Again, they’re coming from more of a KPI perspective, and that stuff will just happen if you put some talent in the room, and then you create a plan.

Lauren Ledwell:

We’re all like, “Yay, we did it, we launched something!” And then we just moved on to the next thing. You can’t just launch something to market and expect that it’s going to survive and be a good client experience right off the bat. We’ve had to take a step back and say, “Okay, what can we learn from this launch, how can we do things better? How can we keep the team around that was actually working on that project?” Keep them there, after something has launched to market to ensure that they’re there to actually do the work around continuous improvement and following up.

Erika Bailey:

And you have to deal with people’s anxiety about having customers in the room. In every co-creation I’ve ever been apart of, customers are just so happy to be asked, they’re just so happy to be there co-creating with you.

Digital transformation can be daunting at times. It’s a path that has the power to accelerate organizational capabilities and radically improve customer experience, but it can often seem like it requires a monumental shift in capabilities and culture to achieve. That’s a lot of pressure for any individual, team, or organization to overcome, but the reality is there are much less daunting paths you can take to get there.

On June 20, Say Yeah partnered with Eighty-Eight and HoHoTO to kickoff the Disrupting with Digital event series to relieve some of that pressure and help get you started on the path to transformation.

The first event of the series, Disrupting with digital: talking organizational change sold out, welcoming individuals with a variety of expertise from across numerous organizations, organizational structures, and businesses with varying degrees of digital literacy and capability.

Speakers and attendees with brand and service provider expertise shared their experiences leading transformation initiative across the organizations they work for.

From frittatas to foresight

Guests started the morning networking while enjoying coffee, frittatas, and more delectable treats. Then the floor was open for keynote speaker Lauren Ledwell from RBC, who delivered a dynamic talk about overcoming challenges with organizational change.

Our key takeaway from Ledwell’s talk: success is not defined by launching a product. Meeting customer experience and product goals requires constant iteration, a dedicated team, and the willingness to learn and evolve.

“How can we keep the team around that was actually working on that project to ensure that they are there to actually do the work around continuous improvement and following up.”
~ Lauren Ledwell, Director, Digital Transformation, RBC

Uncovering transformational insight from large organizations

Moderated by Lee Dale, CEO of Say Yeah, a spirited panel discussion uncovered insightful conversation about transforming large organizations.

Joining our keynote speaker on the panel was Anne Matthews, Director, Business Readiness, Ontario Digital Service at Ontario Government, alongside representatives from two service providers who are dedicated to enabling client teams: Erika Bailey from The Moment and Shelisa Bainbridge from Agile By Design.

The panelists took turns sharing their perspectives on critical transformation steps and processes. Erika stated that transformation does not necessarily require the implementation of new technology or processes, but rather a shift in mindset.

Individuals make change

“You start at the behavioural layer of change,” said Erika. Effective organizational change requires identifying and working closely with devoted team members who have an eye for what the future of an organization may look like, and those who are open to new concepts and strategies for an organization.

“It’s really important in the beginning to figure out who can help you with your transformation goals in your organization; how do you find those early adopters, those keeners?”

~ Anne Matthews, Director, Business Readiness, Ontario Digital Service at Ontario Government

Leadership needs to set the tone

Shelisa Bainbridge says leadership needs to empower transformation. The goal of leadership should be to deliver the “why.” Why is change necessary? Why now? Why will this approach make a difference?

“They [leadership] don’t do well at explaining the why. They’re coming from more of a KPI perspective, and [think] that stuff will happen if you just put some talent in the room.”

~ Shelisa Bainbridge, Associate, Agile by Design

Organizations need to align with market needs

Ultimately, Disrupting with digital: talking organizational change revealed that a huge part of implementing digital transformation is understanding organizational limitations alongside customer goals, needs, and desires.

Erika encouraged the room of attendees to ditch data, and strive to initiate meaningful conversations with their customers.

Connect with your customers, colleagues, and peers

“[Customers] are just so happy to be there co-creating with you.”

~ Erika Bailey, Innovation Designer, The Moment

What you learn from customer and staff engagement is far richer than what data tells us. Get out there, talk to people in your office, at other locations, or on the streets. And connect with your peers at the next Disrupting with Digital event for more actionable insight.

The Disrupting with Digital event series continues

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