Adapting to technology – the People Organisational Factor

The Technology Fallacy*

We know that as much as technology is touted as the disruptor of business models, processes, products and services, as well as how we work together, it is people that think of the new business model, that need to make the processes happen and will use technology and the data created by it to reinvent products and services at speed. Every time someone interacts with technology, their interpretation of it, their perspective on it, will vary from person to person. This clashing of the black and white of technology (e.g. a software programme works or not) with the reality of its use in organisations and by customers and clients creates ‘organisational debt’ – the difference between what value technology could bring and what it does bring to organisations and their customers.

Being Digital

Everyone ‘being digital’ in the organisation is thus far from easy. If it were, every organisation in the same sector would be using technology in the same way and be at the same level of digital maturity. Plainly people make the difference. We also know that EDI is important morally and in terms of performance. So, squashing everyone into interacting with technology in the same way does not work – it is not performative.

Action Deficit

Acting is made more difficult by this personal interaction with technology – it is what drives user experience. To act within an organisation, people need to know about the forms of digital transformation and how their role is affected by it to give them purpose. How does their role contribute to better more digitally enabled products and services? How does technology affect the processes they work with and how to make the more automated parts of them to make them more interesting and value-add? How can they manage their career to adapt to the ways in which their organisation is changing through understanding the complexities of managing the bigger picture?

QA Perspective

Our perspective is that accepting how different people interact with technology is part of becoming a digitally mature organisation. The contract between organisation and employee needs though to be that personal interaction does not disguise the need for real tangible business value to be created. Mindsets and leadership can be learnt in ways that empower people to interact with ways that do create value. Adopt a mindset that helps relate action to value in tech-rich worlds and you have learning that is effective.

Contact us if you would like to see how working on mindsets alongside leadership can help your organisation ensure technology adds value through people’s actions.

*https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/technology-fallacy