When it comes to digital, there is a large disconnect between business leaders and employees. Close the gap and encourage collaboration.

Are you ready to embrace the future of work as a disruptive opportunity? While every workplace is digital to certain extent, it can be challenging to understand how digital workplace trends can be applied to your business operations and workforce.

“The digital workplace is all about the employees’ ability to do their job by collaborating, communicating, and connecting with others,” explain experts from Deloitte.

Rapid developments in digital workplace systems means there are new tools that enable optimisation, collaboration, and workflow – all of which could reshape the way you run your business. It’s time to proactively innovate so you can quickly adapt and compete in today’s evolving marketplace.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ninety percent of businesses expect their operations to be disrupted by technology, but only 11% believe they’re ready to adapt to the digital age.

Despite all the new workplace technologies, productivity growth is at its lowest in 40 years.

Connected, unified, integrated, and intuitive collaboration tools play a central role in your workplace operations.

These are some of the trends you should consider implementing today:

An enhanced user experience = increased productivity

Don’t be fooled by the fun elements of social media – the fact is, this communication method is effective for businesses too. “Social enterprise networks present companies with unlimited possibilities of sharing information and knowledge, utilising untapped skills, and reducing traveling costs,” says Tomás Sanchez, co-founder of Alma Suite. 

Competing and thriving in the modern workplace requires efficient collaboration, and the use of enterprise social platforms enables employees to communicate and collaborate with everyone in the company – as they do with friends and family on their favourite social networks.

Enterprise solutions such as social networks provide a great user experience and can even boost productivity.

The disruption of leadership

While “robobosses” are on their way, in the meantime, your digital organisation needs a new kind of leader. While research suggests this new era of leadership should be younger, more agile, and digital-ready, it’s not too late for you, as a CEO, to learn.

“Innovation and risk-taking now define high-impact leadership; risk-taking has become one of the most important drivers of a high-performing leadership culture,” says Linda Dausend, Leadership Development Consultant at FlashPoint Leadership Consulting.

“A different type of leader will be necessary to execute on these models; therefore, formal training is being supplemented and even supplanted by experiential programmes.”

QUICK FACT

Research from the 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Report found that 90% of companies surveyed are redesigning their companies to be more dynamic, teamwork centred, and inter-connected.

Digitizing Human Resources (HR) for better people management

Once the leadership is clued up on the trends, it’s time for HR, your current and potential employees, to become the focus. Your customers are as digitized, or perhaps even more, as you are, and your team members are closest to your customers.

“A digital organisation is one that is comprised of a digital workforce, a digital workplace, digital HR who are leading the workforce through this change, and the enablers who allow an organisation to change their methods of doing things,” says Michael Gretczko, principal at Deloitte and general manager of ConnectMe.

Not only will applying digitalization to your recruitment processes help bring on a more digitized workforce, but HR can also work on existing staff through automated leave processes. For example, the list of hiring requirements is about to get an adjustment as the ability and willingness of potential employees to use existing and emerging technology increases.

Aiming for agility

Your efforts to keep up with digital trends and eventually be at the forefront of your industry rely heavily on great planning and swift implementation. As workplaces continue to become smarter, applications will start to, for example, manage and supervise smart buildings. Will your building be one of these, or do you find it unnecessary to go this route for your progress and profitability?

There will be apps to allocate parking spaces or automatically assign workplaces, while smart badges will gather information about your experience in the building. This will support digital dexterity, notes Gartner associate, Matthew Cain.

“When you work in a digital workspace you improve digital dexterity. You are sending a message to the workforce that it’s a good thing. This is good for the organisation as digital dexterity will be a key attribute soon.”

DO THIS

Develop digital capabilities by acknowledging the shift in these three main areas:

• Think differently: Conceptualise possibilities in a digital world, handle increased cognitive complexity and think divergently.

• Act differently: Adapt to shifts in power and influence, collaborate with and across diverse teams and be willing to fail and try again.

• React differently: Embrace ambiguity, develop resilience and risk, and have the confidence to lead through change.

Resources:

https://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/10-digital-workplace-trends-shaping-the-future-of-work/

http://www.globoforce.com/gfblog/2017/6-hot-digital-workplace-trends-gartner/

http://centricminds.com/blog/five-emerging-digital-workplace-trends/

http://www.flashpointleadership.com/blog/disruption-and-leadership-in-the-digital-age