Ten years ago, it was less likely for CIOs and Digitial Trailblazers to form a partnership with their CHRO and human resources departments. At that time, IT was largely focused on run and grow initiatives with little focus on transformation – and the term digital transformation was in its infancy. Meanwhile, many employees perceived HR as untrustworthy and only sought their services to complete performance reviews, gain support for promotions, request approvals for new hires, and handle difficult employee situations.
In this third wave of AI-driven digital transformation, CIOs, CHROs, and Digital Trailblazers in IT and HR must partner on evolutionary organizational changes. I believe that partnership starts by driving experimental cultures, rewarding innovation, and fostering intelligent risk-taking.
Driving experimental cultures
“Move fast and break things has been a tech startup mantra we’ve heard over
the last decade,” says John Milburn, CEO of
Clear Skye. “While the notion of an
experimental culture is not dissimilar, it’s a more mature, intentional
approach that involves an entire organization—not just the tech team.”
Milburn is spot-on – that leaders must involve the entire organization when
driving an experimental culture. As much as CIOs believe they can influence
departmental leaders to participate in agile programs or become data-driven,
the
Digital Trailblazers
leading digital transformation initiatives cite stakeholder resistance as a
common and significant drag on
change management programs.
In previous posts, I made several recommendations about how CIOs and CHROs
can partner in digital transformation, accelerate innovation, empower agile
teams, and drive experimentation. Here’s some reading to get started:
- 15 Behaviors that Hurt Agile Cultures and 5 to Pioneer Agile Mindsets – I share common problems facing Digital Trailblazers, such as when stakeholders “expect near-perfect delivery on scope, timeline, and quality” and “push the velocity gas pedal to 110% and rarely celebrates team wins.”
- 3 Ways to Develop Meaningful Relationships with Business Stakeholders – I share a 12-step plan for how Digital Trailblazers can develop relationships with business stakeholders and digital transformation initiative sponsors.
- What are HR’s Important New Roles in Uplifting Digital Transformation – I recommend five areas where HR can uplift digital transformation, including redefining incentives, taking active roles in addressing detractor behaviors, and partnering on Digital Trailblazer learning programs.
- 3 Key Priorities CIOs and CHROs to Partner on Improving Employee Experiences – The priorities include guiding employees on agile mindsets, aligning performance management practices, and, most importantly - “reward learning, experimentation, and data-driven practices.”
I suggest reviewing these posts and their recommendations before reading my
next three ways CiO and CHROs must partner on driving experimental
cultures.
CIOs and CHROs Empower Self-Organizing Teams
The key to driving experimentation is empowering
self-organizing teams, requiring them to draft their
vision statements, review the
business value of initiatives, and provide
agile program management tools
for tracking progress. As I’ve written about these before, below are some
more specific areas for CIOs and CHROs to focus on:
1. Promote asking questions and challenging the status quo
In my post on
how genAI is driving three emerging leadership trends, I say, “I am optimistic about the possibilities of using genAI; however,
I am pessimistic about whether many organizations will make the necessary
adaptations fast enough to compete in the AI era.”
GenAI is driving a seismic change in skillsets because of technologies like
copilots
and text summarization tools. Solving problems effectively and efficiently
will become a more democratized skill set as copilots improve their
accuracy. GenAI is already helping employees answer questions, data
scientists identify outliers, software developers write code, and marketers
create website content.
But what genAI can’t do (yet) is ask the right questions that can drive
business value, identify operational changes, evolve experiences, or create
new revenue streams. Organizations will need more people asking these
questions and having the skills to evaluate a genAI’s answers.
2. Define roles and responsibilities in change management
I wrote this well before genAI:
“The pace of technology change is increasing, and you must reevaluate your
digital strategy and priorities. Frequently. You will always be
transforming, and your organization must establish transformational
practices as essential core competencies.” – Isaac Sacolick, in the preface
to Digital Trailblazer.
Driving change management is a top bottleneck in driving transformation.
Change management is not a sole IT responsibility, a training issue, or a
gap in how stakeholders participate in digital transformation initiatives.
It’s all of the above and more – which is why I wrote a white paper on
change management in digital transformation
that includes 13 ways to ease adoption and improve experiences.
CIOs and CHROs looking to drive experimentation and accelerate
transformation initiatives can’t just leave change management
responsibilities to Digital Trailblazers and change management experts.
Change management must be a top-down
digital transformation core competency
with defined responsibilities and accountabilities. (Note: StarCIO has
coaching and learning programs in these areas –
contact us
for more information.)
3. Promote security, safety, and quality
Milburn recommends, “To breed a culture of innovation and experimentation,
CIOs and CHROs must work together to create security guardrails and
effectively communicate change to the organization so everyone can
participate without compromising safety or performance.”
Driving experimentation and empowering self-organizing teams can’t become an
open season of doing what you want, with whichever tools you need, and by
incorporating whatever datasets are available. CIOs and CHROs should look to
create guardrails on experimentation:
- Increase training and learning programs around security risks
- Identify safety risks and ensure experimentation complies with regulation
- Establish data governance principles on using intellectual property and third-party data
- Define quality non-negotiables and standards
The bottom line is that CIOs and CHROs who don’t partner and seize the
moment to drive safe experimentation will find struggling Digital
Trailblazers.
Join us for a future session of Coffee with Digital Trailblazers, where we discuss topics for aspiring transformation leaders. If you enjoy my thought leadership, please sign up for the Driving Digital Newsletter and read all about my transformation stories in Digital Trailblazer.
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