Our literature survey suggests that skill shortage is one of the key factors that derail Digital Transformation. We see that several contributors highlight the lack of technical skills as a major cause for failure. Others further point out skills around partnering and communication. However, from my experience, I would go one step further and argue that where those skills have been present, they’ve been concentrated in too few people and distributed insufficiently across the whole organisation - effectively becoming a choke-point.
In addition to bringing in experts to help conduct the transformation, we suggest training your staff in supplementary skills that can be deployed as and when needed (see our blog post The Three Change Agents That Drive Digital Transformation Success).
These skills should be accessible, practical, and effective. They shouldn’t be hidden in academic texts and learnt by rote; rather, they should empower practitioners to apply techniques within their particular context in an immediate and relevant way. These skills need to include:
Relationship Management
Skills to improve influence, persuasion and trust. Skills to plan engagements, assess the strength of relationships and proactively manage expectations.
Discover our perspective on Relationship Management.
Here
Value Management
Skills to define and measure value. Skills to validate alignment and perform continuous improvement on those expectations that are not being met.
Discover our perspective on Value Management.
Here
Strategy Management
Skills and techniques to create and communicate strategy. Skills to Inform strategy through research and innovation. Skills to assess and create alignment on strategy.
Discover our perspective on Strategy Management.
Here
Portfolio Management
Skills to manage ideas and initiatives through early, middle and late life-cycle stages. Skills to assess risk and return pragmatically. Skills to balance a portfolio of initiatives with respect to strategic intent.
Discover our perspective on Portfolio Management.
Here
Organisational Change Management
Skills to assess the organizational capability and needs, identify the approach, develop the plan and sustain the new way of working. Knowledge of what culture is required for transformational change.
Discover our perspective on Organisational Change Management.
Here
