“Everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change themselves,” is a quote from Leo Tolstoy. In my view, this is also the main reason why public institutions and traditional companies find it so difficult to embrace digitalization. How can this be changed?
It goes without saying that the coronavirus crisis has brought more downsides than upsides. And yet there is absolutely no question that coronavirus has given both the economy and public institutions a significant boost to digitalization. This includes flexible home office regulations, the use of video conferencing and the use of online collaboration tools. Of course, not all that glitters is gold. For example, a Deutschlandfunk report points out, among other things, the overload caused by the dissolution of work boundaries and the risks to IT security. Nevertheless, hardly anyone would doubt that the positive effects far outweigh the negative ones. Would this change have happened just as quickly without corona? Hardly. So do we need real crises for far-reaching changes? In start-ups with young and highly qualified employees, the answer is probably no. For public institutions and traditional companies, however, the answer is likely to be different.
Do you have to change anything at all?
“We’ve always done it this way” is a phrase that is often quoted when it comes to a refusal to innovate. The problem is that this is not just a description of the current situation, but is followed by “and we don’t want to change that either”. This leads to the subsequent problem that many processes were once good or simply necessary, but are now inefficient due to technical innovation. Think of a farmer who has his plow pulled by a horse. Previously impossible, now unproductive. The same applies to the office world, even if the leaps in innovation are smaller. In practice, it’s more about questions such as “Is our customer administration with Excel still up to date?”, “Why is every invoice printed out?” or “Why are all customer orders recorded on paper?”.
Good and bad routines
The biggest enemy of digitalization is routine. And it is in all of us. But routine is not a bad thing per se. Having a routine in something or doing something routinely is – quite rightly – positively connoted. It only becomes problematic when we become too attached to our cherished routines and are no longer willing to check whether they are efficient and up-to-date. For example, if we refuse to use a digital diary at work, even though we are aware of its benefits.
It is interesting to note that even supposedly innovative people sometimes display “old school” behavior. For example, all investors in “Die Höhle der Löwen” write on paper, although they are probably well aware of the advantages of digital notes. So before you point the finger at others or even ridicule them, you should become aware of your own bad routines. Nevertheless, a distinction must be made between private quirks and professionally necessary digitalization measures. Anyone who likes to write letters by hand should do so – but in their free time, please!
The role of managers in digitalization
Managers should always be role models – this also applies to the topic of digitalization. If they find it difficult to embrace change or even prevent innovation, this will sooner or later have an impact on the corporate culture. This will either lead to employees resigning after a while and no longer making suggestions for improvement (“Nothing will change anyway”) or simply leaving the company.
Managers also have budget responsibility and control the workload. Of course, digitalization should save time and money in the medium to long term and ideally increase the quality of the respective process. But in the short term, time (e.g. for research, implementation, training) and money (e.g. for new software) are needed. Managers are therefore also responsible for ensuring that those employees who initiate and initiate digitization measures are given the time and financial resources to do so. And, of course, this commitment should be rewarded (e.g. through bonuses).
Digitization: voluntary or forced?
Let’s be clear: a corporate culture that actively promotes innovation forms the basis for digitalization measures. If you look at public institutions and traditional companies, you will probably find that this is exactly what is lacking. However, if you start with the corporate culture – which would actually be the right thing to do – you still won’t have digitized anything in five years’ time. In my opinion, a parallel approach is therefore worthwhile. In other words, work on the corporate culture and implement digitalization projects at the same time. For the latter, it makes sense to start with a small team. This “task force” should be made up of people who are generally open to innovation and enjoy change. As soon as the test phase is complete and the digitization process is to be rolled out on a large scale or the software is to be made accessible to everyone, I believe a three-stage process is a good idea:
- Communication and training: If the benefits of the new process or tool are clearly explained, there is good training and employees are given enough time to familiarize themselves with it, most of them should be easily convinced of the digitization measures. But unfortunately, not everyone is, which is why further steps are required.
- Social pressure: Just as not everyone can be vaccinated against coronavirus despite the best arguments, there are usually people who resist digitalization measures or continue working as before. However, if a clear majority is behind the new process or the new software and the benefits are proven in practice, social pressure will automatically build up. Those who refuse will then have to explain themselves more and more often and will be increasingly looked at askance and marginalized by team members.
- Coercion: Although nobody wants to be an outsider, there are stubborn people who reject innovations out of hand. If even the best arguments, training and good persuasion don’t work, the only last resort is coercion. Or to put it in formal legal terms: invoking the employer’s right to issue instructions. Ultimately, this means nothing other than a warning and dismissal.
In my opinion, it always becomes problematic in practice when the newly introduced digitization solution brings an improvement compared to the previous practice, but has recognizable weaknesses. Recently, for example, I have been working quite a lot with e-signatures. And yes, electronic signatures can simplify processes. But as sorry as I am to have to say it: There are enough cases where they save neither time nor money. And if you notice this as early as the test phase, the question arises as to whether you can make such a measure palatable to the digitalization sceptics in your team. At the same time, the alternative – waiting and hoping for better solutions – is even worse.
Conclusion: It’s all a question of corporate culture!
Employees who are still passionate about their work even after decades in the same company, who continue to train themselves and are full of drive to optimize processes, are few and far between. It is therefore the task of managers to set incentives and create a corporate culture in which innovation and digitalization are actively encouraged and rewarded. Or to put it more emotionally: they have to keep the fire burning! A good mix of younger and older employees helps with this. More important than age, however, is that a positive attitude towards digitalization is conveyed. This also makes it easier to introduce specific measures and tools.
