Technology is not the Answer: Why "digital" is not the most important aspect of your digital strategy

Technology is not the answer:
Why “digital” is not the most important
aspect of your digital strategy
Megan Hurst and Christine Madsen
Athenaeum21 Consulting
www.athenaeum21.com
Coalition for Networked Information
CNI Fall Member Meeting, Dec 2018
@A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen

Overview
Why do large organizations often fail
to evolve with the times?
What is your strategy for supporting
“digital” evolution and innovation in
your organization?
How do you adapt to and benefit
from change and new ideas and
technologies?
Athenaeum21 www.athenaeum21.com @A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen 2

Overview
In March 2018, Athenaeum21 was
commissioned to conduct an
environmental scan of how and why
digital strategies in a range of
organizations succeed, and also why
they “fail.”

Our definition of
“Digital Strategy”
“a plan of action for the adoption of
institutional processes and practices
that transform the organization and
culture, to effectively and
competitively function in an
increasingly digital world.”

“Digital Maturity”
“How organizations systematically
prepare to adapt consistently to
ongoing digital change”
(Kane et al., 2017)

Overview
Our research included a literature
review, web review, and in-depth
interviews with thought leaders and
practitioners in digital
transformation and digital
skills-building in higher education,
non-profits, and corporations.

Overview
Our final report provides examples
of successful practices undertaken
by organizations actively managing
digital transformation and benefiting
from their investments in innovation
in Canada, the United States and
Europe.
The report also includes examples of
so-called “failed” digital strategies.

What does a
successful digital
strategy include?
What should it “look” like?
Well, obviously, it includes
technology.
And don’t forget data...

Data
Technology
DIGITAL STRATEGY ?
Athenaeum21 Consulting www.athenaeum21.com @A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen 9

Our Findings The answers as to why digital
strategies succeed or fail are
complex, but we identified that both
hinge on six key elements.

DIGITAL STRATEGY
Culture
Leadership Organizational Alignment
Data
Technology
People
Athenaeum21 Digital Strategy Model ©2018 Megan Hurst, Athenaeum21 Consulting www.athenaeum21.com @A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen 11

2
4
6
1
3
5
DIGITAL STRATEGY
Culture
Support Well-Being During Change
Enable Cross-Functional Collaboration
Decentralize Decision-Making
Expect a Marathon, Not a Sprint
(but Celebrate the Sprints!)
Support Risk-Taking, “Failure,” and
Continuous Learning
Leadership
Know the Organization Before Trying to Change It
Bring Together the Right People
Define a “Moon Shot”
Establish a Common Language
Continuously Communicate to Entire Organization
Organizational Alignment
Align with Digital Strategy:
Organizational Strategy
Talent Management
Reporting and Accountability
Funding and Resource-Allocation
Data
Support Prioritization and Decision-Making
Promote Data Literacy
Define Guidelines, Policies, and Best Practices for Ethical
Data Governance, End-use, Privacy, and Security
Design Systems and Data to Support Data Interoperability
and Portability
Technology
Develop Tech for (and with) End-Users
Support Process Improvements and Efficiencies
Balance Basics vs. Innovation
People
Continuously Develop Digital Skills
Set Bold Goals
Be Agile and Adaptive
Be Service- and User-Oriented

5
6
2
4
1
3
DIGITAL STRATEGY
Culture
Continuous Learning
Leadership
Talent Management
Data
and Portability
Technology
People
Set Bold Goals

Our Findings
Digital strategies are most
successful when they become part of
the DNA of the people and culture of
the organization.
The majority of the time, success or
failure hinge on people, culture,
leadership, and organizational
alignment. Not on technology.

“How an organization implements technology is only a small part of
digital transformation. In cases where digital transformation does involve
implementing new technologies, the technology is only part of the
story.”
(Kane, Palmer, Phillips, Kiron & Buckley, 2017)
Athenaeum21 Consulting www.athenaeum21.com @A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen 15

People
● Continuously Develop Digital Skills
● Set Bold Goals
● Be Agile and Adaptive
● Be Service- and User-Oriented
PEOPLE
1

People:
Continuously Develop
Digital Literacy and Skills
“More than 75% of digitally maturing
organizations surveyed provide their
employees with resources and
opportunities to develop their digital
acumen, compared to only 14% of
early-stage companies”
(Kane et al., 2017)
Investing in developing digital skills
in existing staff is more likely to be
successful than replacing those staff.

People:
Continuously Develop
Digital Literacy and Skills
“An effective way to raise the capabilities of
a whole cohort of staff is to offer bite-sized
activities that they undertake voluntarily, in
their own time (e.g. ‘five minutes a day, for
five days’), but [together] in the same
time-frame (e.g. the same week). This offers
a good compromise between personal
flexibility and the cohort effect.”
(Anglia Ruskin University in Beetham, 2017)
Digital literacy expert Dr. Monica Bulger’s
YouTube "Crash Course in Media Literacy"
series provides a series of short lessons in
media literacy.
“Bite-sized”
Digital Literacy Support

People:
Set Bold Goals
“The bolder the digital strategy, the
more likely the company is to have a
successful digital transformation. In
our dataset, bold corporate
strategies were associated with
significantly superior performance
on all counts”
(Bughin and Zeebroeck, 2017)
A 2017 survey of 2000+ companies across all
major industries and countries found that
digitally mature organizations are bold in their
digital ambitions.

Their future trends provide an
external framework for their
strategy, allowing the organization to
check in from time to time and see if
they need to adjust their strategy
based on changes in these trends.
This is similar to a scenario- planning
exercise that provides a modular
structure of variables to help
re-assess trends and how well the
organization is adapting to the
trends.
The California Digital Library addresses the
need to continually adapt to the broader
ecosystem by creating a “Future Trends”
document accompanying the strategic vision
(California Digital Library, 2018)
People:

“Top performers in our survey...have
a better understanding of the
human experience that surrounds
digital technology. These companies
prioritize user experience specialists
and creating better customer
experience through their digital
initiatives."
(Puthiyamadam, 2017)
For universities, “ultimately it should be student
needs which shape their decisions on investment
in technology and how to drive forward digital
learning”
(Knight, 2017)
People:
Be Service- and
User-Oriented

People:
Be Service- and
User-Oriented
“Their pioneering iLancaster app
allows students to do everything
from checking for openings in the
laundry room, catching a bus, or
looking up their exam seat.
Everything in the app was chosen by
students…”
(Jisc, 2018)

Culture
● Support Well-Being During Change
● Enable Cross-Functional Collaboration
● Decentralize Decision-Making
● Expect a Marathon, Not a Sprint
● Support Risk-Taking, “Failure,”
and Continuous Learning
CULTURE
2

Culture:
Support Well-Being
During Change
“[d]igital change generates anxiety and
stress, as well as interest and
excitement–and both need to be
acknowledged before personal
development can happen”
(Beetham, 2017)
The Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework
provides a section on the support of
“well-being” of staff and students
during periods of significant culture
change.

Culture: Enable
Cross-Functional
Collaboration
“Where the team actually ‘sits,’ both
physically and in the org chart, can
affect their ability to influence the
cross-functional groups integral to
real digital transformation.”
(Libert et al., 2016)
Implementing cross-functional teams that can
address specific problems, and design and
implement solutions, helps both to move digital
transformation forward and to change culture.

Culture: Enable
Cross-Functional
Collaboration
“This made it practically impossible
for them not to collaborate. It's a
physical drop-in space for faculty
and students, and now they are
tightly integrated.”
(Concordia Digital Strategy Committee
interview with UBC, 2017)
The University of British Columbia (UBC) created
a virtual organization of the Learning Technology
Hub, but they physically colocated the IT app
team members and tech-focused pedagogy team
in the same room.

Culture:
Decentralize
Decision-Making
At UBC’s Learning Technology Hub
“the accountability sits with the
decision-maker…Now we have
evaluation guidelines that look at
support— we don’t want to have to go
4 layers up the organization to get a
decision on a $10k software license.
We have thresholds for different
levels of decision-making.”
(Concordia Digital Strategy Committee interview
with UBC, 2017)
Digitally maturing organizations empower
individuals and groups to make decisions at
the local level, so they can iterate and
innovate more quickly.

Culture:
Expect a Marathon
“Real transformation takes time, and a
renewal effort risks losing momentum
if there are no short-term goals to meet
and celebrate. Most people won’t go on
the long march unless they see
compelling evidence within 12 to 24
months that the journey is producing
expected results. Without short-term
wins, too many people give up or
actively join the ranks of those people
who have been resisting change.”
(Kotter, 1995)
John Kotter has written extensively–and for
decades–on the need for perseverance in any
organizational change.

Culture:
Support Risk-Taking,
“Failure,”
and Continuous
Learning
“Since day one, we’ve had
presidential support
for...risk-taking...across the board…
When you’re iterating, you have to
embrace failure and move on. I’ve
had to learn that myself, and teach
my team that it’s OK and to move on.
The people that are doing this the
best are failing regularly and learning
from it”
(Athenaeum21 interview with Leafstedt, 2018)
According to Jill Leafstedt, Director of the
Teaching and Learning Innovation Center at
California State University, Channel Islands, one
of their biggest successes has been “creating a
space for faculty to feel safe to fail” Athenaeum21 www.athenaeum21.com @A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen 29

Leadership
● Know the Organization Before Trying to Change It
● Bring Together the Right People
● Define a “Moon Shot”
● Establish a Common Language
● Continuously Communicate to
Entire Organization
3
LEADERSHIP

Leadership:
Know the
Organization
Before Trying to
Change It
The University of Calgary’s LabNext
studies the changing nature of
research practices in order to
understand how to improve their
library services
(University of Calgary, n.d)
This research-first approach is in
contrast to many libraries, which
have taken a very functional
approach— thinking first about what
the library already does and how it
could be improved.

Leadership:
Bring Together the
Right People
“[i]nvest in comfortable shoes.
Achieving change in a large
organisation requires you to explore
it and understand the different staff
and student experiences within it. So
walk around, see what’s going on,
talk to people and provide
opportunities for them to connect
with each other”
(University College London, in Beetham, 2017)
Getting to know the culture of an organization
before embarking on change, also means
identifying the people in the organization who can
help facilitate change.

Leadership:
The Gates Foundation partnered with
McKinsey in 2015 to try to understand
key themes for successful change in
higher education.
They interviewed more than 100 people
in higher education and “institutional
leaders pointed to three distinct themes
they think should be considered to
manage the increasing and inevitable
changes in higher education.”
The first among Gates’ themes was the
need to do something different or bold.
“[I]nstitutions must define a differentiated value
proposition… While almost all colleges and
universities are experimenting and tweaking
their models, few institutions have radically
restructured their postsecondary experience”
(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2015)

Leadership:
University of Bergen’s digital
strategy is boldly titled
“Digitalisation that Shapes Society”
in recognition of their broader
agenda and commitment to the
world outside their university.
For the California Digital Library,
strategic vision is about
“respond[ing] to society’s need for
unfettered information access to
confront the critical problems of
today and tomorrow”
Often, an academic institution’s boldness of
purpose comes from recognizing their overall
responsibility and relationship to broader society.

Leadership:
Establish a Common
Language
The University of Leicester did this
directly by creating a section of their
digital strategy called “Our Measure
of Success: We Know We Are
Successful When.”
Their video about the creation of a
“Digital Campus” communicated the
goals and methods of their digital
strategy and enabled a number of
stakeholders to have a clear, shared
mental model of a digitally-enabled
campus.
(University of Leicester, n.d.)
Digitally maturing organizations draw a picture
of what success looks like, and communicate it
widely.

Leadership:
Continuously
Communicate
to All Levels of the
Organization
“Most strategies for public
institutions are written for boards,
funders, governors, etc. With that
audience, they fall into making
shallow, but grandiose, claims. If I
had a dollar for every time they
mention innovation, collaboration,
etc., I would be a rich man. But those
kinds of strategies don’t mean a thing
to the people who do the work. They
know…it’s not for them.”
(Athenaeum21 interview with Edson, 2018)The leadership’s vision of what a successful digital
transformation looks like needs to be
communicated to all levels of an organization and
be inclusive of all parts of an organization. Athenaeum21 www.athenaeum21.com @A21_US @MHzUX @mccarthymadsen 36

Organizational
Alignment
● Organizational Strategy
● Talent Management
● Reporting and Accountability
● Funding and Resource-Allocation
4
ORGANIZATIONAL
ALIGNMENT

Organizational Alignment:
Align Digital Strategy with
“The two strategies were created in
parallel, with the digitalisation
strategy as an appendix to the larger
university strategy.”
(Athenaeum21 interview with Burheim, 2018)The University of Bergen’s Digital Strategy is
designed to be an appendix to the
University’s Strategy

Align Talent Management
with Digital Strategy
“Many companies are adopting new talent
models in response to digital trends.
Employees engage in two- to three-year ‘tours
of duty,’ engaging in one project or role for a
certain period of time, at which point they
transition to a new role inside the company or
outside in order to continually develop
different skill sets. These efforts are clearly
and intentionally designed to allow the
company to cultivate diverse talent in a
rapidly changing digital world...”
(Kane et al., 2017)
Supporting those who can move culture
change forward should be a priority.
“Don’t put the changemakers in a silo”
(Athenaeum21 interview with Michael Edson)

Align Organizational
Reporting
and Accountability with
Digital Strategy
Ensure that teams given the
responsibility for a project or
program actually have the authority
to make the required decisions.
This was part of the success of UBC’s
Learning Technology Hub, wherein
they made sure that “the
accountability sits with the
decision-maker”
(Concordia Digital Strategy interview with
University of British Columbia, 2017)
The success of cross-functional teams
depends upon aligning authority with
responsibility

Align Digital Strategy with
Funding and
Resource-Allocation
Called the “Connect Process,” CDL has
established “a mechanism for creating
alignment of CDL-wide activities
around selected thematic clusters for
the purpose of ensuring that the
resources are expended efficiently and
effectively to support CDL’s strategic
vision. Connect activities are designed
to analyze, synchronize, improve and
prioritize efforts within a given topic or
service area. The process can be
undertaken by ad hoc or standing
groups.”
(California Digital Library, 2018)
The California Digital Library (CDL) have
explicitly outlined the process for aligning
resources with their strategic priorities.

“Failed” Digital
Strategies

Characteristics of
"Failed" Digital
Strategies
1. Ignorance of the primary
importance of People and
Culture
2. Lack of vision (Leadership)
3. Imbalance between
infrastructure and innovation
(Technology)
4. Lack of commitment to the
marathon (Leadership)

Conclusion

2
4
6
1
3
5
DIGITAL STRATEGY
Culture
Continuous Learning
Leadership
Talent Management
Data
and Portability
Technology
People
Set Bold Goals

Conclusion
Thoughtful, well-conceived digital
strategies can successfully
“transform the organization and
culture to effectively and
competitively function in an
increasingly digital world”
by addressing people, culture,
leadership, and organizational
alignment as foundational.

Read the Full Report
Includes bibliography and references
for this presentation
https://tinyurl.com/athenaeum21-report

Discussion
Why do large organizations often fail
to evolve with the times?
What is your strategy for supporting
“digital” evolution and innovation in
your organization?
How do you adapt to and benefit
from change and from new ideas and
technologies?

Questions? Comments?
Megan Hurst
hurst@athenaeum21.com
@MHzUX
Athenaeum21 Consulting
www.athenaeum21.com
@A21_US
49

Technology is not the Answer: Why "digital" is not the most important aspect of your digital strategy

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