Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER SEPTEMBER 2019 10 NEWS changing the workforce and, by virtue of that, is going to be changing organizations." "If your organization isn't hav- ing some pretty deep conversa- tions right now about its organiza- tional structure, and about actu- ally changing how it does business from the bottom to the top, then you're probably not taking this next wave of digital transforma- tion seriously," he says. "e sooner that organizations can put in place a strategy for de- veloping the leadership and the training and the competency they need, the better." Digital maturity Only 14 per cent of the 1,014 com- panies surveyed worldwide have developed an integrated digital and business strategy and road map. Instead, just over half have rudimentary digital capabilities or a digital strategy that's not aligned with their business strategy. Employers fall into four catego- ries of digital maturity based on their approach to digital strategy and key digital enablement levers, such as culture, leadership or hu- man capital management, found Willis Towers Watson. irty-one per cent are "emerg- ing," with a very basic, reactive digital strategy, while 14 per cent are "advancing," meaning they're in the early stages of developing a formal digital strategy. irty-five per cent of organi- zations are "leading," so they're making substantial progress with strategies, while 20 per cent are "transformative" and have an aligned or fully-integrated digital and business strategy. e latter are more than two-and-a-half times as likely as emerging orga- nizations to report being high- performing relative to their peers, found the survey. It's more than just taking exist- ing processes and making them digital, says Androsoff. "e big change that's starting to happen now is people are ex- ploring the question of 'How do we take advantage of these new technologies to actually transform how our organizations work at a much deeper level?' So, it's about reengineering processes from the bottom up, not simply putting a layer of digital paint on top of ex- isting processes or services." It's a challenge for a lot of legacy organization, he says. "If you think about companies or organizations that have been around for many decades, those organizational structures, those cultural norms, the types of skill sets that they recruited for tradi- tionally, those become very so- lidified in terms of how they ap- proach things. And, as we know, the rate of change is getting faster and faster." ere are several pre-require- ments before an employer looks at technology adoption, and one is at the C-suite level, says Harry Sharma, director of innovation and technology at the Conference Board of Canada. "ere has to be a clear align- ment with current medium-term and long-term business objectives of adopting these technologies. If those alignments are not there, then it's just a haphazard installa- tion of a technology that's not go- ing to lead to any useful or fruitful outcome. So, the executive team and… the board of a company, they must clearly understand what the impact of adopting cer- tain technologies will be on the core business," he says. Change management is critical, says Sharma. "Once you have alignment to your business objectives, you want to make sure that the ex- ecutive team puts in a very robust change management plan, which would be C-suite downward. So, it includes all the training that's required, both the soft and the hard training… it means you have to put in very clear goals and ob- jectives. In knowing the organi- zational processes, you have to ensure that there are teams cre- ated… that are looking at inter- disciplinary, collaborative ways of adopting or incorporating those technologies to achieve the busi- ness objectives." Leadership challenges Leadership is essential and 75 per cent of transformative organiza- tions say they hold leaders ac- countable for the outcome of the digital efforts, compared to 40 per cent of employers overall, found Willis Towers Watson. Two-thirds of employers cite leadership development as the top area requiring breakthroughs to adequately address the chal- lenges of automation and digitali- zation (followed by performance management and organization structure in the top three). Leaders' bigger challenges will include spearheading the devel- opment of new digital capabili- ties, integration contingent labour with work teams, and merging hu- man talent with automation, says the report. "Leaders need to address all of those levers empowering all the capabilities they require. Not just the organization's digital ambi- tions, but also around the needs for competencies and mindsets that's required as part of the digi- tal transformation," says Malcolm. And there are a few ways lead- ers are held accountable, she says, citing engagement and re- tention levels. Essentially, leaders need skills for a diverse ecosystem, says Malcolm. "[It's about] skills to orchestrate this new level of diversity of work options, [so] becoming more comfortable and savvy around opportunities that technology such as AI [artificial intelligence], robotics can bring to the organi- zation, but also alliances for the different options for talent, so that they can actually access this range of resourcing to get work done." Communication is critical, not just in terms of relating the vision to employees, but being clear for talent, says Malcolm, so "what their organization stands for, what talent experience they're trying to create in their organiza- tion so that individuals — whether it's employees or an AI vendor or freelancer — really understand the mission and purpose of the organization." It's all part of change man- agement, says Sharma, and the executive team has a huge role to play in conveying to staff that these technologies are basically in service of achieving business ob- jectives, which are about making businesses more sustainable and ensuring a decent rate of growth. As a result, executives require a huge transformation in terms of how they view the role of tech- nologies and how they incorpo- rate those digital technologies to achieve their business objectives, he says. "Just the alignment of business objectives to digital technologies, that's the hardest part… it's easier said than done, you really need to build a very strong business case around 'How are you going to be able to incorporate these digital technologies and improve your bottom line?'" It's especially hard because it's about looking into the future, says Sharma. "ere is no kind of precedent within the company to have done this. So I think, at the leader- ship level, it is going to require a change in mindset, a change in planning and then really develop- ing very strong attributes where you can actually make the case that adopting some type of digital technologies will improve your bottom line and help you achieve your business objectives in a more timely and effective manner." It's not about having a director or vice-president who is a com- puter coder or data scientist, but rather having a baseline under- standing of how the digital world works, says Androsoff, "so that you can have an appreciation of what the limits and the possibili- ties of technology are." "To be frank, it's so that you can call B.S. on something when you need to around the management table," he says. "Part of some of the big failures we've seen in technol- ogy implementation — both in government and in the private sector — has been because, in many cases, you have leaders who aren't well-versed enough or con- fident enough to be able to ask the right questions when it comes to digitally-involved projects. And so that traditional kind of leader- ship and oversight function that executives provide becomes com- promised when digital becomes so foundational." Looking for proactive occupational health and safety solutions? 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Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals Conseil Canadien Des Professionnels En Sécurité Agréés HR Reporter_Aug19.indd 1 2019-07-16 9:18:38 AM Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation COMPENSATION info@resourcecorporation.com | (416) 498-7800 ext. 101 | www.resourcecorporation.com Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation CONSULTING. Robust change management plan needed LEADERSHIP < pg. 1 While the drive for automation continues to creep into workplaces, many employers don't have a digital transformation strategy in place, according to a recent report. Credit: Zapp2Photo (Shutterstock) Breakthroughs needed Top areas requiring breakthroughs to address the challenges of automation and digitalization • leadership development 66% • performance management 64% • organization structure 59% • career management 56% • yalent acquisition 54% • HR's role 52% • pay programs 51% • cybersecurity 45% • benefit programs 41% • employment brand 30% Source: 2019 Pathways to Digital Enablement Survey Findings, Willis Towers Watson

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