WHAT IS A DIGITAL CULTURE?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is sending shockwaves of seismic proportion through “work” as we once knew it.

The walls have been torn down. The foundations have crumbled. And “work” has become something we do, not a place to do it in.

That’s fantastic news, of course. It means embedding a healthy Digital Culture has never been more important. And many businesses are turning to digital ways of working, digital-friendly workspaces, work apps and collaboration tools as the building blocks of theirs.

Sure, they all play a big part, but without the mindset, people and hunger that make up a truly Digital Culture, these tools and apps are, well… just that. Fandangled gadgets and gimmicks, with no real substance.

What does a flourishing Digital Culture look like?

That answer varies from sector to sector, but you’ll always find Digital Culture pumping through the veins of a business’s workspace, client experience (CX), brand and crucially: people.

We’ve found 5 key themes. And as with almost every aspect of our lives, technology has made the road to achieving them so much shorter:

• Autonomy

A Digital Culture gives your people the power and freedom to decide how, where and when they work most effectively. It focuses on end goals and outputs, not instructions on how to get there. And it levels the playing field to accommodate everyone’s work-life juggles, helping you to attract and retain the very best, most diverse talent.

Spreading decision making throughout your business isn’t only a powerful way to build trust and increase job satisfaction. It will help you move faster, adapt faster and deliver a client experience (CX) that’s driven and shaped by the people talking to your customers, day in, day out.

• Collaboration & Community

With physical barriers hopped over and removed in a few clicks, a Digital Culture helps your people communicate and collaborate more effectively – internally and externally – wherever they may be.

That’s why your Digital Culture plays such an important part in uniting your people, creating peer motivation and rallying them together under one purpose. The pursuit of something greater. A digital revolution started by the people, for the people. And with goals, knowledge, successes and stories shared across teams, there’s transparency and a groundswell of learning that’s essential to stay ahead of the game.

• Experimentation & Adaptation

A healthy Digital Culture encourages the experiments of the unconventional thinker. It sees the norm as something to be knocked down and reinvented. Something that can be constantly improved and evolved.

Perfection stops momentum. The only failure is giving up, and your team’s reservations need to be replaced with a hunger for risk-taking, learning new habits, and unlearning those that have grown outdated and redundant. Think it. Test it. Adapt it. But if things aren’t going to plan, fail fast. And go again.

• Purpose

To engage, motivate and commit your people, your purpose and your values need to be crystal-clear – a consistent message to cut through the noise – and most importantly, lived and breathed every day. Your people and your potential employees need to understand your ‘why?’ and your ‘so what?’. It’s about much more than charity or corporate social responsibility. It’s about having a clear cause that your people can get passionate about, and the impact you, your work and your business can have beyond the day-to-day financial goals.

• High Performance

Cultural change of any kind is impossible without the people ready to make it happen, and for all these themes to come to life, a Digital Culture needs high performers to keep pace. Strong leaders to set the vision and steer the course. And out-of-the-box thinkers, ready to quickly adapt to new roles and learn new tech, given the freedom to spark change from the ground up.

The transition to a high-performance culture takes time, and it may mean refining both your performance management process and the qualities you’re hiring against to feed into your goals.

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