Your executive team is ready for a digital transformation, but they don’t know what they don’t know.
Considering the economic uncertainty, labor shortages and supply chain issues your company must contend with, there are many hard questions to answer. Questions you’re glad your boss hasn’t asked—yet.
I have spent a number of years thinking about frontline digital transformation. Through my work with manufacturers across various industries, I have noticed patterns in the questions my company’s customers have asked around connected worker solutions. In this article, I’ll outline several common ones, along with a spectrum of answers to consider.
Next time your boss comes to you with a hard question about digital transformation, you’ll be better equipped to answer intelligently, holistically and strategically.
How do we capture tribal knowledge from veteran frontline workers?
David Allen, legendary creator of the GTD method, is famously credited with saying, “Your brain is a terrible office.” The human brain is for having ideas, not holding them. Or, as one of our food producers loves to joke, “If the safety training wasn’t recorded, it didn’t happen.”
Unfortunately, too many companies aren’t embracing this philosophy. You would be shocked how manufacturers are surprisingly undocumented from a work instructions standpoint. To ensure tribal knowledge doesn’t walk out of the door at the end of the shift—or end of a team member’s tenure—I have a few recommendations:
• Hold a quarterly content blitz.
• Incentivize your employees with food, drinks, gifts or other small rewards.
• Dedicate one afternoon solely to extracting key process insights that live inside people’s brains and get them documented.
• Gamify these meetings if you have to.
But make sure the information is gathered digitally and that everyone on your team has quick and easy access to the lessons learned. Remember, lack of process documentation can’t meet a surge in production needs during the next recession of pandemic. If you want a repeatable, scalable and, most importantly, operationally resilient company, it starts with digital transformation.
How will we scale our connected worker technology?
If your plan is to install a new connected worker platform on tablets, for example, there are many ways you can expand within the organization. Savvy companies often start small and strategic before expanding to multiple sites. They might run a pilot at one factory, facility, office or team before considering their full scale rollout.
The secret from a leadership perspective is quantifying benefits: making sure there are KPIs associated with success in order to show building momentum. You have to set expectations appropriately. Scaling won’t happen overnight.
But when your broader team sees how you got from point a to point b, they will gain perspective on your unique creative process. Ultimately, inviting them to collaborate with you more effectively in the future.
Once your pilot is finished and some basic understanding is embedded, moving forward and collaborating with other teams becomes natural. You’ll set the stage for rapid expansion and make scaling less of an uphill battle.
How do your digital solutions and training support company recruiting goals?
Executives from virtually every industry are concerned with a rapidly retiring workforce, recruiting a younger generation and remaining innovative. It’s not only a hiring trend in manufacturing, but across all verticals.
One of my company’s customers, the head of operations, advises leaders to break through this trend by using technology and training to entice and retain new hires. During interviews, site tours, job fairs and Zoom calls, make sure to show off all of the technology your company is using. Put it in the hands of people if you can. Sell the company’s journey of digital transformation as a reason to work there over the competition.
In addition to leveraging your innovative tech as part of your employer brand, be sure to emphasize cross-training and up-skilling during the candidate experience.
In your job descriptions and other human recruiting and hiring materials, be explicit. Differentiate your workforce through digital solutions. Help job candidates envision a future as a connected worker at your organization, and you’ll make offers they can’t refuse.
In what ways are you using digital strategy to keep your employees engaged?
You’ve now captured tribal knowledge, scaled connected worker technology and integrated both into your recruiting strategy. But what about keeping your workers engaged? Can digital technology become an employee retention strategy?
Absolutely. Technology, such as connected worker platforms, can help to keep workers around long term. It’s all about leveraging that technology to appeal to higher aspirations. For example, figure out how to use technology to:
1. Empower frontline workers to give feedback and improve processes. From their first day to the fifth year anniversary, ensure they feel safe making comments. Thank them for any and all contributions, and offer a special shout out when their ideas prove to be especially useful. This elevates their status amongst the team and makes them excited to unlock continuous improvement opportunities down the road.
2. Reward employees who meet quality benchmarks and hit production targets. Offer them financial payouts. Present training opportunities beyond their current role. Or try advocating for internal promotions to be given to those operators who master new technology. Appreciation is the fuel from which the retention fire grows.
Organizations that think about digital transformation more holistically are poised to win. By ditching the old approach of keeping teams in silos, companies can evolve proficiently (and profitably) by building a people-centric, scalable tech strategy.
Conclusion
With these answers in your back pocket, you will be glad your boss asked these tough questions about digital transformation. And you’ll be certain to build a people-centric, scalable tech strategy.
At a time of rapid outbreak of various viruses, there is a growing demand for working from home due to limited travel. As such, companies desperately need a platform that can make it easier for employees to work together and many Vietnam business consultant out there can help them to solve this problem, not only to help you save costs and time, but also improve the productivity of your business.
Forbes
