Develop The Art of Communication

Good communication is a key factor for an organization to make a positive change be it big or small. This becomes even more important for an organization going through digital transformation because technology flattens traditional communication hierarchy and makes information distribution faster and wider than ever before. Further, employees won’t feel safe and cannot focus on their work if they don’t know how the organization is doing, why different digital initiatives are underway, and how these changes will affect them and their work. As Jean-François Manzoni, The President of The Institute for Management Development (IMD) points out:

… human beings are fundamentally programmed to look for threats even under normal conditions. That’s simply the result of evolution where for the longest of time our ancestors lived in a world where underestimating a threat could be deadly. So, they learned to be quite sensitive to potential threats. And legitimately crisis situations are bound to intensify this tendency. When things all around are relatively positive, we as human beings are on the lookout for threats. But when things all around are decidedly threatening, our amygdala becomes hyperactive and now we’re really scanning for possible danger. In this context, it becomes clear that as a leader, one of your key objectives during a crisis is to help everybody to stay calm and focused.” (IMD, 2020, 1’04”) (image source: https://www.iedp.com/articles/learning-with-impact/) 

For those people who are technology fluent, they know organizational digital transformation will help them increase productivity and improve their mental health and physical well-being. But for those who struggle to be technology literate, organizational digital transformation poses real threats. This is especially true when they see on the surface that some technology initiatives may remove their current positions or fail them. These are practical situations that a digital leader needs to face if leading an organization through digital transformation and this organization is deeply entrenched in its aging legacy systems. In this context, digital leaders need to make good use of communication technologies. For example, they can take advantage of the flattened communication structure to get more employees involved in the organization’s digital transformation. The earlier they get them involved, the more they feel empowered in their work, the more they are engaged, and the more productive they will be. Digital leaders also need to send out positive messages to support, encourage, and inspire employees. Problems need to be pointed out and fixed promptly but focus needs to be on value based communication by communicating the opportunities that digital transformation brings to the organization and the employees. They need to make the communication channel open for dialogue. They need to know when to communicate, what to communicate, who to communicate with, how to communicate, and how often to communication. Organizational communication is an art and it plays an important role in the success of an organization’s digital transformation.