Dive into the world of digital transformation with The Workgrid guest, Dr. Shaun Slattery. In this episode Rob Ryan is joined by Dr. Shaun Slattery, Senior Solution Consultant for TiER1 Performance. They cover topics on organizational change and digital dexterity including:
Exploring the nuts and bolts of org change management
Digging into the intricacies of digital dexterity and evolving digital landscape
Evaluating the interplay of technology, people, and culture
How did you end up at the intersection of academia change management and digital workplaces?
I have a long background in technology, as I have always been the “techy person” in a humanities space. In my academia days, I worked in English departments where I taught things like technical writing and digital collaboration. I’ve always been interested in the role of online communities in knowledge sharing which led me to the next stage of my career, moving to software where I focus on enterprise collaboration and the increase of knowledge sharing.
Exploring employee engagement and business problems led me into change management, I found that to get tech implemented successfully there are a lot of things that need to line up to make that a reality. As I moved into consulting, I had unparalleled access to some of the biggest logos in the world, a big career transition from my work in research and as a professor, but at the core of it I’m still a teacher researching complex problems.
What is organizational change management? Why is it important?
Organizations are just large groups of individuals, which means departments and divisions are motivated by different things. Getting all of those individuals aligned is what organizational change management is.
It’s very clear to me that organizations must constantly evolve in response to their environment. Markets change, technology changes, consumer interest changes, it’s critical that organizations change with them. The first step for companies in organizational change is to identify two things....
1. What are doing now?
2. What are you doing next?
A clear picture of these two things are imperative and where organizational change management comes into play. It helps shape the different aspects of the business which are evolving or need to evolve.
Why is change so difficult for people personally and professionally?
There are a lot of things that need to be aligned to get us pointed in the same direction such as leadership styles, incentive structures, and business processes. An organization needs to spend resources and time to align these things so the new outcome or ways of working start to point in the same direction for everyone at the company.
At the individual level, change happens in a lot of different ways and sometimes people are very excited about it and ready for it. These are the “I've been waiting for this change for years” type of people. But sometimes change is thrust upon them. At work this can look like an acquisition or merger, the kind of change that prompts uncertainty “What is this new company going to mean for me and my benefits?” There is often a personal stake in professional change, the known and unknown means that information sharing and dialogue is needed.
To be clear, a communication plan is not a change management plan. Just telling people something is happening is not enough.
In my own experience, I was working at Jive Software when it went public. Throughout the process, the CFO explained details to the company, like what it means to go public, and would field questions. Answering these questions is where he achieved alignment by addressing what the change means for employees. Change can happen successfully when a change is demystified for employees, it’s easier to overcome when organizations help people understand why leadership is making decisions.
How can digital workplaces act as a catalyst for change?
A small parent company that managed several small local manufacturers often struggled because each manufacturer had common information that everyone needed, but no single source of truth. When they invested in an intranet, it became the place everyone could go, and had a tremendous unifying impact on the organization.
When a single source of truth is not in place, it can be chaotic. But that’s not the only way a digital workplace can support change in an organization.
The ability to create online communities and social interactions can also have process benefits. With the implementation of technology like Slack or Teams, employees can ask a question and whether their peers are in Singapore or Australia they can chime in and all employees can gain benefit of collective wisdom, finding answers quickly and across diversity of talent.
Even something more mundane like company news, and the ability to comment on it, can have a lasting influence on a company. I saw this when a longtime customer, a 175-year-old financial company, was trying to transform their culture which was historically top down. It took a while to get there, but opening up comments on internal communications made it so people were able to cheer on each other's successes, ultimately fostering change by creating more of a community.
How can organizations begin to develop digital dexterity?
Leaders within organizations have a great opportunity to make teams more resilient as we see more rapid advancements in technology. To remain responsive, organizations need a talent pool with the skillset to adopt, try, and even shed technology. That requires a comfort level in experimentation and the development of technological repertoires.
In my academia days, I evaluated someone who was trying to edit an image. I saw them flip through three different editing programs to find the one that had the functionality he needed. He was not an expert in any of them and wasn’t aligned to any particular one, just searching for the solution to his problem. This is what digital dexterity looks like – finding the best path from what’s available.
Organizations need to support the adoption and learning of technology. Employees should be supported and, in some cases, even rewarded for learning about new technologies. To foster a culture of learning, technology should be made available, and it should be made known that it’s important to adopt and experiment within the organization.
Can you hamstring the employee by limiting access to tools?
We don’t want a scenario where there are fifteen ways to do something, this leaves us with choice overload. But on the opposite end, we don’t want everything to be completely locked down where we as employees can’t do anything even on our own laptop. Somewhere in the middle is probably a happy medium where there is enough support, enough ways to do things, enough access. I think it’s about giving teams choices.
What is some advice you would give to clients given the changing landscape of technology? How can organizations better contribute to the employee experience with technology available today?
Something I have come to learn is the idea of building with, not for. Meaning if we are attempting to build a digital workplace for employees, there are many benefits of involving stakeholders early in the process. It doesn't have to be a lot of people, but a few core team members can make a large impact. It’s a bit of the design thinking methodology, for user focused design seeking early and frequent input from those who use the systems you're trying to design is a natural part of the process.
If organizations do a lot of things through this process, including building goodwill by involving folks early on, it shows that we, as the changemakers, are trying to do things right and not just for senior leadership.
What are some ways that you can overcome naysayers?
Dialogue. Unpacking frustrations.
We should not attempt to dump new things into an environment. If you haven’t done the hard work of getting all the sails pointing in the right direction, then you haven’t done the work to ensure success.
Naysayers or blockers are usually folks that have been burned before so it’s important to figure out what was unsuccessful previously so that we can respond to the feedback.
What is your view on the rise of AI?
As a teacher of writing, technology was always a concern. Even before AI with simply copy and pasting, the internet etc. There have always been threats to students learning with changes in technology.
As far as AI, I believe there are ways to avoid content generators replacing students' work. This is by the assignment design. Especially with teaching writing. The goal is for people to learn how to synthesize information and put it together for someone else to understand.
Another concern with AI is if we offload easy writing tasks then we are not training junior writers, what can we give them that helps them learn the craft that generative AI can do? I’d say we just need to think closely and make moves toward mentoring. We’ve seen technology change things before, we will evolve with it.
But, I will say things will shift. We’ve seen this happen before. There used to be an entire secretarial class inside organizations that went away. Shifts in culture, technology, etc. have repercussions and the butterfly flapping its wings does play out over time. Things will shift in societal structure but leaders in orgs need to think about where the wind is blowing, and ask themselves “How do I pivot and develop a junior workforce?” because 10-15 years from now that’s what will matter.
What's the most common myth about business transformation you’d like to debunk?
It’s that there is always a known change that is defined and being introduced into org environment. I’ve seen transformation, where it was assumed that the shape of it was well understood, get launched into an org and meet all kinds of resistance because people had not been involved at early stages, and there were conflicts they did not prepare for.
Business transformation is not a broad rollout all at once, it’s layered.
This works well for agile methodologies or emerging projects especially where the end state is not defined or known, because a layered rollout prepares you to navigate twists and turns.
What is one technology you can’t live without?
CTRL V, CTRL C – I am a shortcut person. I am always grabbing things I’ve used in one place and putting them in another. My mind thinks in copy paste. I see things in one context and see it in another.
If someone yells “Is there a doctor in the building?” are you raising your hand?
Yes, but there is an old joke about academics – “Yes I'm a doctor but not the kind that helps people.”
About the Guest
Shaun Slattery, Ph.D. is a Senior Solutions Consultant for TiER1 Performance. For more than a decade, he has been leading strategic business and digital transformation planning, design, execution, change management, and success measurement, often through technology implementations.
