To kick off change, upskill your people
In the age of AI simply learning how to use Co-pilot, Chat GPT or Claude AI is not the answer. Because technology itself is changing. Digital space is changing. The only constant is the need to be adaptable, curious and willing to learn from others.
And this skillset and mindset change is, in turn, changing organisational culture and ways of working. So when we think about how we can work with AI, we need to think about how we’re creating an organisational mindset which helps us adjust to change.
Below, I’m sharing the most useful tips and behaviours that pave the way for change in organisation, distilled from interviews with successful change makers.
“The only future-proof skill is the ability to change and to continue to be adaptive. Our capabilities need to be responsive to how things are shifting externally. Rather than tie ourselves down to specific skillsets, we should become adept at shapeshifting.”
Be a student
An important part of change is getting used to not having all the answers. We often find the terms we use: agile marketing, human-centred design, growth mindset, spark more questions than they do answers. And that’s good. Jump into investigation mode: learning and educating yourself.
Our toolkit is a great starting point. But in a landscape that changes faster than we can publish, there will always be new things to learn. It’s important to adopt that mindset of being curious when you don’t know.
“Curiosity is more important than the technical skills - though you need those too.”
As a change leader, get comfortable with learning from your team, owning what you don’t know and accepting mentoring. Let’s see your C-suite learning about optimisation from your digital experts, your CEO learning about social media from your junior marketer or your service experts picking up service design principles from your digital teams or agencies.
When it comes to change, you don’t need to have all the answers: lean into the knowledge and expertise of your teams.
Find your change makers
When your organisation embarks on change, one of the most important things you can do is engage your champions. These are colleagues who have experience of and interest in working in agile ways or cross-functional teams.
“I looked for a small thing where we could test agile ways of working in a fairly risk-free environment.... I picked [the project of] someone who I knew was influential and had a loud voice in the organisation ”
What makes a good change maker? They need to be keen to try new ways of working, have a strong voice in the organisation and the respect of their peers. Then all you need to do is give them the space and tools they need to work. After some time, others will hear about these new ways of working and will want to come along for the ride.
Working in cross functional teams and using co-design principles just works! Every interview showed us that people love when their knowledge, expertise and passion is heard and useful.
Start small
Find a bright spot: a project that you can hand to a nucleus of enthusiastic people willing to change, spearheaded by one of your champions who have experience of working in cross-functional teams.
This is a chance to show in practice what a new way of working and being looks like and spark an interest in others. For example, in many organisations, the Christmas project is a strong choice because it usually involves many teams, spans siloes and has a firm deadline.
“You get people going, ‘oh I know it works, I’ve seen that it’s fun and I want a piece of it.’ We had people coming to us for projects to do and work in that way.”
Recruit change
When a role opens up, grab the opportunity to recruit in a way that will boost the digital maturity of the whole organisation. Add relevant digital skills to the job spec. For example, a fundraiser should know how to write a killer email and analyse data to understand how it performed. A member of the media team should understand how social channels contribute to thought leadership and organisation’s reputation. Role by role, you’ll spread that digital mindset and skillset across the organisation beyond the core digital team.
If your recruiting team doesn’t have the skillset to hire for modern (digital) skills, call on agencies and consultants to help. This is the quickest way of modernising your organisation and preparing it for the changes triggered by technological advances and the rise of AI.
“We have changed a number of roles to bring in people with data and change management skills.”
Bolster progress by supporting your existing team through the change. Define new behaviours with your teams - this will help their adoption of them. Include KPIs to measure progress towards these behaviours in annual reviews. Train everyone in how to give constructive feedback. This will help your organisation track progress towards gaining and demonstrating the new ways of working, skills and behaviours.
Hold your nerve
Transformation is never linear. Something will go wrong at some point. Some people will get confused by the new ways of working. Some will try to interfere. And some won’t show up when needed. These are normal setbacks. Acknowledge them, learn, adjust and keep going.
“I had huge doubts at the start, but I’ve loved this journey I’ve been on. I’ve got so many new skills, a new career path, and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had in a role. ”
Keep communicating what’s going on, why and what’s next. Work with your champions to show what new ways of working look like in practice through small projects. Celebrate successes. Give the people involved plenty of constructive feedback which helps them understand not just what was wrong but also what needs to happen instead.
Over time, people will become interested and they will want to be a part of the change. At some point, you’ll reach critical mass and tip the whole organisation over into the new ways of working and behaving.
The toolkit prototype is below. Please have a look and share your comments with us either in the document, through this form or just email us. We are very grateful for your time!