Upheaval with a Sense: The Disruptive Digitalization Pig

Digitization is a challenge. No question about it. But is it really the biggest challenge we currently face? If we look at the big picture rather than just this one segment of change, the proportions and priorities shift. If digitalization is given its rightful place, it immediately becomes less threatening and easier to handle. However, the massive side effects that accompany it are more difficult to deal with.

Some topics are all the rage at the moment and are therefore highly valued by companies. On the other hand, there are also issues that people no longer want to talk about - even though they are more important and decisive than any cool trend. So what is it really about? Why do projects fail? Why is a CRM system that was purchased for a lot of money and initiated at great financial and personnel expense not being used correctly and efficiently by so many employees? What exactly is the problem when employees have to leave their usual individual offices and start working in open-plan offices? And where are the pitfalls when project times are massively exceeded in a project with the most modern and highly agile SCRUM project management?

Very few projects fail due to technical challenges, but rather due to a lack of employee acceptance, communication difficulties, unclear assignments, a culture of cooperation, power struggles and a lack of trust. Once viewed from this perspective, the "digital transformation" is not a digital transformation at all, but rather a mental transformation! But is that even possible? In the age of agility and change management, aren't we ideally equipped for such changes? Of course, there are companies that are well on their way. In my view, however, a large proportion of companies are deluding themselves in this area.

If people work in a company - and at all levels - who really want to, who think along, who are committed and interested, then many problems do not arise in the first place. Digitization projects were initiated in such companies years ago and implemented without any problems. Why? Because it was already considered necessary. Because it was simply time. And because everyone involved recognized this. Some entrepreneurs will now ask themselves how and where they can find and retain these great employees. That is precisely the central question. I am firmly convinced that in future, capable employees will only work in companies that suit them. And this cannot be achieved with even more efficient processes. After all, trust, appreciation and purpose are difficult to translate into automated processes. Fortunately.

Reinhard K. Sprenger, the management mastermind, coined the phrase a long time ago: "People join companies - but they leave managers". This is precisely why we need to be very honest with ourselves when it comes to digitalization and all the other challenges we face. We need to understand that it won't help to launch yet another cool, future-oriented project without first having given fundamental thought to meaning, trust, work and success. Technology 4.0 and processes 10.0 are sometimes easier to manage than people 1.0. But it is precisely these people who will decide whether digitalization brings benefits in terms of meaningful progress.

Anyone planning a transformation of the company in the area of digitalization and thinking that this is a technical change that can be implemented with processes and workflows will fail brutally. Because the really impressive thing about digitalization is that it brings us back to people. To concepts such as authenticity. A lean organization can only be built if trust and meaning are talked about, but also recognized and accepted. In future, entrepreneurs will only find good employees if they offer them a sense of purpose. However, this meaning cannot be imposed or prescribed, but must be perceptible in all communication and in the entire being of the company and entrepreneur, always and everywhere. This will attract employees who also find this meaningful.

Anyone who still thinks that these topics are feel-good issues is very much mistaken. There is no alternative. Of course, you can wait and see and drink tea. That's supposed to calm you down. However, researchers have found so-called pyrrolizidine alkaloids in tea. They are suspected of causing cancer. What can we learn from this? Waiting can also be fatal ... So would you rather have a strategy for managing the transformation in the area of digitalization? For entrepreneurs who ask me about this, I recommend the "disruptive digitalization pig" with a wink. Of course, this is meant to be provocative and initially irritating. But to put it somewhat casually, it's about "the poor sow that is currently being driven through the management villages and business literature". Digitalization and the associated transformation may be one of the most important topics in companies at the moment. However, I don't believe that it is really the most burning issue. Even if you might think so based on countless articles about it. It's just too one-sided to think that we simply have to become more digital in order to be there. Because that's what "people" want and because it also seems incredibly cool. 

Without meaning, there is no point! Employees switch to "pull through", innovations fizzle out. However, if there are people behind the digitalization, behind the improved processes, behind the transformation, who see meaning in what they are doing, companies do not have to worry about success and can confidently plan the next (technical) step into the future.