The world around us changes at a pace we haven’t experienced before. It’s harder than ever to know where we are headed. Exciting and stimulating – and nothing any one of us can change. I talk about the digital transformation.
Over the coming months, I will publish a number of blog entries, expanding on five important factors to succeed in this changing environment. Factors organizations can realize through changing their ways of working based on collaboration tools. I will touch on them one by one, both from the perspective of the organization and of the individual. The blog entries will be published at the Think blog of IBM Sweden in Swedish and here in English. The five factors are:
You’ll find an overview in this white paper, “The only constant is change”
Technology, business models, market preferences, communication habits, power balances, you name it. They all change rapidly and simultaneously. You have to stay alert, agile and always informed with many and sensitive tentacles. We don’t need much time or effort to come up with examples of drastic changes, for better and for worse: Air BnB, Über, Kodak, Nokia, video rentals…
But for decades, companies and organizations have focused on structuring, standardizing, streamlining and, to a large extent, eliminate “the human factor”. The result? Shiny system and processes that work efficiently, but which are static, insensitive and uninspiring.
It’s time to reintroduce people and positive human factors like creativity, engagement, flexibility and relations. To show that talking about the employees as “our most important resource” was earnest, not just empty words. Listen to employees, customers and partners. Engage them through including them and give them opportunity to leverage their entire potential, not only what the standardized job description says. Not just leverage, by the way, but grow their potential. It’s time to engage and inspire! I want to give people possibilities to communicate, collaborate, learn, share and help, easier than ever before. To find the people and the knowledge you need and to be able to show what you’re really made of, with minimal extra effort. All to the benefit of both people and organizations.
I don’t think it’s enough to be able to produce and manage pretty documents and presentations. What is important is to enable people to fill them with the best possible content.
What do you think? What makes work interesting? What brings out the best in you?
Originally published here in Swedish on the Smarter Planet blog of IBM Sweden
The Social Swede (a.k.a. Bjebeje) 
Hi Peter, my goodness! I’m hooked up already! I can’t wait to dive into the rest of the series of blog posts you will be putting together on this rather important topic, not just for organisations, but also for knowledge workers alike, as you well stated. In fact, as I read through the blog entry I kept getting lots of flashbacks about an organising principle I have grown rather fond of over the last decade or so and which is becoming more and more relevant by the day for exactly the very same reasons you mentioned above: sense making of our complex world both at work and in our personal lives one link, one conversation at a time.
Not sure whether you may have been exposed to Wirearchy already (See http://wirearchy.com/what-is-wirearchy/ for more info details) or not, but if you haven’t, you will find that plenty of your reflections from this article and upcoming ones could very well be reflected in such organising principle. Now, if only we could get more organisations embracing it accordingly 😀 hehe
Like I said, look forward to further blog posts and conversations on a very much needed and anticipated transformation. Not just digital, but also humane 😀