Can we make 2022 the year of change?
What a ride. Eighteen months of radical change. While putting the words for this end-of-year column together, I’m in Vienna, Austria, and all unvaccinated adults have been put into strict lockdown while the rest of us are trying to safeguard our sanity.
Recently I have experienced significantly different forms of digital transformation—namely governmental digital transformations. And where I would have expected faster progress, I was surprised how smaller and poorer countries are mastering the art of transformation at a much higher rate than the big, rich ones. And that made me remember what a wonderful friend and colleague of mine, James Duckenfield, almost ten years ago predicted in a presentation; the countries that now seem far behind us will leap-frog ahead of us when it comes to adopting new, digital technologies.
Leaving all the looking at the still somewhat crazy merger and acquisition market behind, when will it ever end, who’s left, what’s left? Neglecting the ever-growing low-, medium-, and high-end production printing market, never mind anything remotely connected to cybersecurity, let’s look at what has changed in our attitude towards digital transformation. Are we there yet? Are we doing enough?
Recently a U.S. judge made the headlines, asking for support, during a court session, on how to use pinch-to-Zoom on his iPad. Before that, we heard a U.S. senator asking Facebook/Instagram to end “Finsta.” The list of digital “ill-literacy” is long and international. We may attribute this to age; however, take a mirror, and ask yourself, are you ready for the change? Are you willing to change? What are you prepared to do to adopt change successfully?
This brings us back to one of my favorite topics—learning. Unfortunately, most of us find more excuses to skip learning than I can possibly list. But how can we be ready for the now, never mind the future, if we are unwilling to learn what it takes to deal with it or lead in it?
Can We Make 2022 the Year of Learning?
Educate yourself, educate your team, educate your customers. The means are readily available to do so anywhere and anytime, paced and tailored to your needs. Let’s pick a very recent, very excellent initiative, HP. Their mixed reality approach to education and problem-solving production printer issues is one significant step in the right direction. Or the various software solutions providers of our industries offering regular, sometimes even open-web sessions to gain insider knowledge of how to use their products more effectively. Others have long invested in online learning platforms, offering video-based, self-paced product and workflow content. Some have added moderate gamification; others make you earn certificates; others even pick up on their customers’ requests to add personalized learning content.
Can We Make 2022 the Year of Leading with a Good Example?
What type of software/hardware/services are you selling? Are you selling assessments and workflow optimization? When did you last conduct an assessment on your workflows and processes? Did you upgrade them to meet and exceed the latest industry innovations? You may have updated your showroom, but can you walk your customers through your company and show them the real-world example? What does your team say about the new digital processes? Did you talk to them before you applied the changes? Did you give them enough time and training to adopt the changes?
Can We Make 2022 the Year of Better Communication?
How do you engage with your team and your customers? Email, video, asynchronous video messaging, newsletters, social media, chat tools? Are your communication tools connected to your CRM so you know who shared what with whom and when with a mouse-click? And are you evaluating the performance of your communication? Finding the right balance of what we share with whom takes time, analyzing the data doesn’t always make sense at first glance and almost always requires change. However, as with learning, adopting what you preach and the right communication pays off.
Can We Make 2022 the Year of Change?
It’s all in your hearts and hands. Embrace it yourself, inspire your team, and encourage your customers. And always remember to listen to the weakest link; they are the ones that make or break initiatives, and winning them over consistently paves the way to success.
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