Ice is here with a brand new invention...

Here

is my social selling rap written a while back, I am yet to commit this to video.

But Vanilla Ice had it down in the 90's - was he a portend to the Future? Is he from the Future? Getting all very "meta" on this. I digress.

People. 

This is where any type of change has to start. It cannot be led by technology. Yes technology is highly likely to be a part of it. It may even be the catalyst, but without bringing your people along, you will fail. And fail spectacularly. 

At DLA ignite, we are big proponents of Carol Dweck's Mindset theory, Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset. In order for us to be successful in any of our Digital Transformation programmes, we need to understand the psychology of the individuals we are working with, from the leadership down. You will be amazed how many businesses do not take this into consideration.

"We just need to do it" or "everyone else is doing it, right?" or "we need to show our clients that we 'get' digital, at least on the outside"

These are not good starting places for any successful transformation programme - of any sort.

There needs to be internal communication. By this, I do not mean an all-hands call or a firmwide email telling the firm what you are doing. There need to be conversations, open & honest. 1 2 1, group, across all levels if management. Leadership has to be seen to be adopting, if not, why the hell should any of your people do the same? If you do not want to change, and you are in leadership, then I will be so bold as to say you need to re-consider your position and get out of the way of the business.

You need to give your people the confidence that they are allowed to have a view and that it will be listened to. That this is not just another "tick" box exercise. You have to be able to answer the "what's in it for me?" If you can't even answer that, how on earth do you think you will be able to affect any meaningful change.  

Pause on that and reflect on your own career, especially if you are in a leadership role - 20 years ago, what we are talking about would have been in the realms of Science Fiction, yet here we are.  You have a new generation coming into the workforce who look back on how we work(ed) and question why would you even do that - therefore we cannot force our own prejudices and preconceptions of what we thinks works. It may have worked yesterday, but it is highly likely it will not work today. Definitely will not work tomorrow.

Once you unlock the collective thinking power of your business, through human conversation & collaboration, supported by technology, you will become unstoppable.

EY are putting a $1billion value on this for them - how much value are you putting on it?