Digital Transformation Problems? 3 Signs a Common Blunder Is Derailing Your Progress

I know, it's a strong title, but I promise you it isn’t click bait. 

In fact, it’s my genuine effort to help leaders at the helm of Digital Transformation. Recognizing the problems tied to digital transformation early on can prevent outcomes that lead to digital transformation failure.  Ask yourself: have you, or any of your internal team members, ever voiced concerns such as:

• “We’ve been funding this for two years – why is it taking so long?

• “How come leadership keeps changing the goal?”

• “Whatever happened to that big thing our team started – did it ever get built?”

• “Why can’t IT / Operations / Sales just take their marching orders?”

Does any of that sound familiar? 

Unraveling Digital Transformation Problems

You might be surprised to know that most of these symptoms can be traced back to one root cause: failure to address Operating Model Transformation as part of your Digital evolution. This oversight is a common precursor to digital transformation failure.

I wrote about this critical, yet often overlooked aspect of Transformation recently, and why it’s so important to getting your ROI. But how do you know if your organization is committing this faux paus? What are the signs that trouble is brewing and that your investment is at risk?

Before you start yawning or assuming that this doesn’t apply to your company, I highly encourage you to review the 3 signs I often see that signal an organization’s Operating Model needs to catch up with its Digitally-Transformed org.

1. You’re Still Operating With a Project-Based Mindset 

I know, old habits die hard. But project-based mindsets just don’t serve digitally-transformed organizations. You’ll know this is happening in your org if:

• Teams are reassigned as soon as a scope is completed, leaving the job of evolving or improving what’s been built to the service or maintenance teams (and those are usually radically under-resourced)

• You hear leadership say things like, “why is it taking so long?” Or, “why aren’t we moving faster?” Or, even the dreaded, “when are we going to be done?”

• You hear their IT counterparts say things like, “why does leadership keep changing the end zone?” Or, “we’re never going to be finished if the scope keeps changing.” 

In project management, there’s a well-known concept of “the triple constraint” – time, scope and budget. Nowhere in that triangle is there mention of building something well, or even knowing that it’s the right thing to build. You can see why this thinking doesn’t have in place in digitally-transformed orgs, right?

2. Teams Are Being Treated as Order-Takers Rather Than as Strategic Partners

Are you getting feedback that teams are frustrated by a top-down command style? Does the C-suite tend to give direction and expect others to take their marching orders with a smile?

You’ll know this is happening in your org if:

• Operations is purely seen as “call center people,” and IT is purely seen as doers, and Sales are purely seen as sellers, and so on. The silos are entrenched, and no one is ever allowed out of their lane.

• Key decision makers are charting the course or being seduced by shiny objects and “quick fixes ”without checking with their teams before acting (e.g., A VP signs a contract for a sexy new app without talking to IT to see if it will work with the current tech and data stack, or if they have something else in the works already – big oops!).

If you’re still thinking about any department as a team that “just does” X,Y,Z, then you’re missing the point of Transformation and possibly facing major digital transformation problems.

When decisions are being made in dark corners, it means there isn’t strategic alignment on how to solve problems and create solutions. Transformation is all about cultivating empowered teams that can come together to collectively make decisions. If you have a “stay in your lane” mentality, it’s a major indicator that your org isn’t actually transformed.

Most organizations just assume that the old ways of working will serve new ways of creating. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.

3. There’s Lots of Coordinating and Not a Lot of Doing

Another sign that your Operating Model isn’t caught up with the rest of the org is a general murkiness around how work gets done. Sometimes that sounds like:

• “I have no idea if anything I’m asking for ever gets done.”

• “I don’t know how to get anything done because there are so many handoffs and different people coordinating different parts of the project.”

• “Did that big thing we worked on ever get built? And did it work?” 

I call this one the black-hole effect: There are a lot of people in charge of a lot of things who run around looking busy a lot of the time, and yet we can’t seem to point to any concrete evidence that we're making progress.

I alluded to this in my last point, but Operating Model Transformation is really about redefining how work gets done. When you aspire to do something new, you also need a new system for doing it. That includes everything from setting priorities and funds, to defining how teams are structured and what they spend their time doing. 

Addressing digital transformation problems is crucial. Achieving a successful and lasting Digital Transformation is as much about the technology as it is about creating the mechanism for getting the work done. And it doesn’t happen by accident – in fact, it’s damn near impossible to get ahead of these things if you aren’t on top of it from the jump.

That’s not to say it’s too late for anyone feeling panicked as they read this list of red flags. Any course can be corrected –  in fact, that’s kind of our specialty over here at Tuckpoint – and there’s no time like the present to find your sea legs.