Mindful Start To Your Service & Digital Transformation Journey.

Up till now, I have written about being a mindful person to empower yourself and the people around you.  I will continue to write about mindful leadership, but I wanted to take the opportunity to combine the changes to our workplace and being a mindful leader.

Digital and Service Transformation are overused phrases, but they do describe the change many organizations are experiencing.  You are trying to modernize services to meet the new needs of your customers.  It’s that simple.  But the change isn’t simple at all.  A lot of people fail to deliver the change needed.  Failure always seems to point towards one thing, people.

If employees are not at the center of your transformation, it will fail.  That statement is coming from experience.  Technology has come a long way and it has never been easier to consume, but changing processes and behaviour have nothing to do with technology. I am a technology leader, and I am telling you to not focus on technology in your journey.  The work to implement technology projects is not easy, but it’s more fulfilling if people use solutions that are designed to meet their needs.  Put people in the center of your transformation and you won’t regret it.

If you were looking for a quick checklist on digital transformation, this article won’t help you.  I am going to write several articles that break down this journey, so the change sticks.  This article will be step 1 of many.

Check yourself first.

Ice Cube once said, “check yourself before you wreck yourself.”  Before you are attempting to change an organization, suggest a solution, or just trying to make a basic change, check-in with yourself.  Why are you doing it?

If the reason you are bringing change is to benefit the customers and employees, then great.  If you haven’t included anyone and it’s your own idea, then maybe you are doing it for yourself.  We can get in our own way, which can be half the battle.  This change isn’t about you, it’s about everyone else.

Below we will talk about how we handle relationships with others.  We need to make sure the energy we bring forward is collaborative.  We need to listen and work with people when making this type of change.  People who can control their own desires are more likely to be followed by others. 

Relationship Management.

Relationships are one of the most important factors that make our journey in the corporate world successful.  This transcends well into our personal lives as well.  For this article, we will focus on the corporate world. 

Interpersonal Relationships.

How well you listen and interact with others will determine how much influence you will have within your organization.  Open dialogue about processes and the issues people are having will give you insights into how you can make a difference.  But will people actually open up and talk to you?  That depends on how you have treated others and how collaborative you have been.

You are new.

If you are new to your organization or about to switch, your first 90 days must have a focus on building relationships.  Start with listening and understanding what motivates people and be a path of least resistance.  This isn’t about saying yes to everyone, but simply listening to others opens the door to opportunities that you will need later.

Not so new.

Now, for those who aren’t new and have been in the same organization for years, the path will be a bit different.  This all depends if you checked in with yourself throughout your employment.  Change is hard and it’s even harder if you haven’t been easy to work with.  It’s now time to reset.

The reset starts with you first.  Going on an apology tour won’t work long term, because your old habits might come forward.  In previous articles, I have talked about how to change the environment and eco-system within yourself first.  Those methodologies apply here as well. 

Once you start to make progress with yourself, it’s time to start re-engaging with your organization with a new approach.  This doesn’t mean you need to go solve everyone’s problem; you need to rebuild relationships.  Don’t be efficient with people but rather effective.  This takes time.

Business Relationship Management.

The term business relationship management seems overwhelming, but the concept isn’t.  Once you start to work on your interpersonal relationships, it’s time to formalize those team or business relationships. 

The goal is to have a regular cadence and start to learn how a business unit functions within the organization and what challenges they face.  This is a big picture approach because your role is to understand their value to the entire corporation, which will give them the respect they deserve.  An understanding of their strategy will give you insights into their processes and long-term vision.

In a perfect world, every area you start to interact with will have strategic plans and a list of projects they are planning to execute.  However, that may not be the case for everyone.  Operations can get in the way of some teams and strategic thinking doesn’t always happen.  You must be patient and stay committed. 

Don’t confuse this with stakeholder engagement, that is a different concept.  This is continuous learning and not always looking to solve a problem.  Build a relationship with your internal business partners and make yourself reliable.  This will be vital when it comes time to make changes.

Services Catalogue

As you meet people, it’s important to start noting how they identify services that your corporation offers.  Be upfront and mention you will take notes and put together information to build a list of services.  Don’t do this in isolation, make sure you are transparent and share the list.

In another article, I will write how you can build a Services Catalogue.  I have built 4 of them in my career and I can help all of you start.  However, below are a few pieces of information you want to start noting.

·  Common name of service.

· High-level description.

·   Hours of operation (if applicable).

·   Knowledge base location.  Don’t be shocked if there is nothing documented.

Don’t try to solve anything here, you are just documenting your organization with a different lens.  This perspective will be received well because this is how your customers see you.  For your organization to make real change, you need to understand how it functions from all angles. As you document, you will start to notice potential changes. This is how you can start to make a difference.

Final Thought

You don’t need to be an executive to start making a difference in your organization.  Even if you are working within a small team, you can still make a big difference.  Your mindset and your approach will dictate how successful you are.

This approach isn’t just made for technology teams.  This can work for anyone, in any line of business.  You will start to notice the inefficiencies, and ideas will come forward through your relationship building.  The best thing about those ideas is that you were inclusive and everyone was part of the process. If it was easy, I wouldn’t need to write about it.

Good luck with your start!