You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Just like you can lead people to a fantastic digital tool and make them use it, you can’t make them appreciate it. If they don’t appreciate it, they will go through the motions but won’t change their mindset, and the tool won’t bring the expected benefit. To avoid this, the focus from the beginning must be on bringing the people along for the ride. Know the barriers to the usage of digital and proactively work to break them down. Providing access to cutting-edge digital solutions does not guarantee their adoption and use. Leaders must manage people’s resistance to change carefully. A lack of preparedness can pose significant challenges to successful transformation.
Look for both mental and skillset blocks
There are several reasons why people might not use a new digital tool. Ultimately, these will always boil down to the person’s technical and mental preparedness.
Here are some of the most common reasons why people don’t use a digital tool:
- They don’t see the need for them: People tend to think they have chosen the best way of doing something and changing it will be more effort than benefit. So, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”
- They fear change: They believe they could become less relevant or lose their job.
- They didn’t have sufficient technical training: Training might not have been enough to ensure they learned it.
- They don’t fit into existing processes: It can be an excellent tool, but if it is an island that doesn’t consider essential problems (like data quality issues), it will create more work than benefit for people.
- The tool is not user-friendly: It may be excellent, but if it’s created in a too complex way, people will give up on it.
In any digital transformation initiative, it is vital to be aware of these common roadblocks to adoption and work against them. The change management process must include various activities to support preparedness for change.
Data Literacy is an essential part of technical training
Specific data literacy plans are a fundamental part of transforming an organization. These plans must be unique to each company’s situation, considering people’s data literacy starting point, the new skills needed immediately, and the skills that will need to be developed over time. It is important to go beyond giving new knowledge. There must be room for people to express their thoughts and opinions, and leaders must be prepared to answer them with equal sincerity.
Some standard tools for increasing data literacy within an organization are:
- Digital Readiness Assessment, which is a first, essential step in ensuring that initiatives build on the existing skill set.
- Training offered for general topics (i.e., explaining a digital mindset) and specific to the new tool (i.e., teaching them how to use a dashboard).
- Courses that are repeatable and offered in several different formats: online, classroom, or via mentoring
- Necessary know-how repeated regularly, for example, an online course that is updated yearly.
Thanks to these steps, people will have a solid technical foundation for using the new digital tools. This breaks down some of the most significant barriers to adoption.
Go beyond data literacy to the heart of what drives behaviors
Although data literacy is essential, most blockers mentioned above were more about mental than technical readiness. For this reason, data literacy initiatives, as described above, may not be enough. The key to getting people on board is to get people to talk about what they are feeling and thinking.
To do this, the focus must be on optimizing communication within the organization:
- Communicate why leaders think the new technology is necessary and offer various means for people to discuss it. This could be in special meetings, workshops, via email, or with anonymous comment boxes.
- Ensure that leaders are genuinely interested in what people are feeling and that those leaders act to calm any doubts or fears.
- Ask for feedback on the tool’s user-friendliness and act to improve the design so that people feel comfortable with it.
A digital transformation initiative that builds in these key steps is a significant step closer to success. People will feel respected and much more likely to trust that the change will be positive for them. This, in turn, increases their engagement in the initiative as suc
Know barriers and break them down
Digital transformation leaders must know the barriers to the usage of digital and proactively work to break them down. Common roadblocks can hinder adoption, such as the fear of change, lack of perceived need, insufficient technical training, and user-unfriendly interfaces. Data literacy is a vital tool for technical training to address these challenges. It ensures that individuals have the necessary skills to embrace the new digital tools. Yet, going beyond data literacy and focusing on understanding and addressing the mental readiness of individuals is equally crucial. With better organizational communication, people will be more willing to accept change. This lays a solid foundation for the success of the digital transformation initiative.