HARD TRUTH : Digital Transformation is about Leadership not Technology

The most brilliant innovation is irrelevant if we are not skilled enough to use it and similarly even the most impressive human minds will become less useful if they are not able to use technology. Collaboration of Human and Technology is must.

Technology, People, Budget and Time

Technical expertise help me to understand technology and its usage. People skills made me effective to implement them. And above that understanding Business Value behind any update made me leader.

After two decades in the PLM and Digital Transformation space, I've seen that, the most enduring leadership lessons have little to do with the technology itself. When I began my career, I believed technical mastery was the bedrock of leadership. I was partially right, but my view was incomplete. Technical credibility is necessary, but it's merely the ticket to the game. The real leadership challenges—and opportunities—emerge at the complex intersection of technology, business processes, and human behavior.

HARD TRUTH from experience : Technology alone solves nothing

If your program's success criteria starts and ends with just deployment, you are already lost.

From my own experience about implementing Engineering Change Management within Digital Twin framework. The vision was beautiful: a seamless digital thread where a change to a 3D model would automatically ripple through to manufacturing work instructions, quality control plans, and service manuals. The key to this vision was creating Structured and Linked Data. Sounds really very easy on paper, but here are some truths which no one will tell -

• To get this structured and linked data, you need to restructure your existing legacy data - a one time but significant efforts.

• Business users see it as extra work as sometimes they may not visualise the impact. Unless you handle them properly, they silently resist.

This is where Leadership moves beyond project management. You need to convince Business Users and make these long term benefits immediate and personal.

Here are some tips about how to roll out and manage expectations while leading any Digital Transformation initiative in organisation.

1. Make it People Project - Simplify it, integrate it into regular workflows. When business users see how these changes were tied with their performance KPIs and recognition then adoption becomes easier.

   Equally important was showing how success would be credited back to the business teams—celebrating their role in unlocking process efficiency, transparency, and analytics capabilities that benefited the whole organization.

2. Talk about People ROI than Technical ROI - Answer about "What is in it for me?" for every role involved in Transformation process.

   1. With technical teams, diving into deep architecture discussions builds trust.

   2. With executives, focusing on ROI, time-to-value, and competitive advantage creates alignment.

   3. With end users, showing how it makes their work easier today drives adoption.

3. Managing Business Process or Organisational Change considering Emotional Side of Change -

   You can have flawless technology and world class program management plan but if you ignore how change affects people’s work, identity, and daily routines, resistance will stall progress. Better we should address the emotional side of change through workshops, pilot programs, and role-based success stories.

4. Expectation Management

   Leadership credibility comes from integrity in commitments. Setting very realistic expectations about Digital Transformation initiative will gain trust which will sustain this transformation momentum over years.

Goal is not just Digital Transformation from all offline or disintegrated system, it's to create a culture where data driven insights will be seen as shared benefit and not an individual burden.

What leadership lessons have you learned from your experiences with technology initiatives? Share your insights in the comments below.