6 Core Competencies for an Innovative Digital Workplace and Workforce

6 Core Competencies for an Innovative Digital Workplace and Workforce

With all of the focus on the latest and greatest technologies, we sometimes forget what’s really behind digital enterprise innovation – talented people.

Today’s technology is more powerful than ever, and companies are embracing it because it is changing how business is done, creating opportunities and transforming lives. Thriving in this "digital era" means that leaders across all industries must increase the speed of the three critical ingredients for digital success:

• Collaboration
• Experimentation
• Innovation

The way to ramp up a company’s digital power quotient is to invest in well-trained talent. Automation, algorithms, digital platforms and machine learning are drastically changing the face of the human employee with regard to:

• what a workforce looks like
• where to find qualified team members and
• how a company puts that talent to work.

It’s the people behind the machines who power real digital innovation.

Nurturing Digital Talent Clusters

If companies are to thrive in the digital era, they must carve out a new set of digital competencies for a range of tasks, including cybersecurity, web and mobile development and Big Data. Leaders must have a thorough understanding of the ways their talent clusters will need to engage in co-innovation platform initiatives where product and partner data come together to form new and compelling user experiences.

Today, companies must embrace the idea of experimental business processes and harness the emerging opportunities. Multi-dimensional teams that focus on serving a single customer segment or functional need are the norm. There must be a way to master the interplay between humans and machines in order to make this digital age work.

6 Core Competencies for an Innovative Digital Workplace

• Document Creation - a digital workforce must be able to create, format and collaborate on digital documents on an expert level to avoid lost time, poor communication or analysis and errors.
• Project Collaboration and Management – collaborating with coworkers on all phases of project management, including the use of project management software and other digital communications, ranking tasks, managing time and juggling distractions, is essential.
• Search and Research - Employees must be able to quickly and effectively search for relevant and accurate data on the Internet as well as the company’s digital archives – and be able to distinguish its worthiness.
• Digital Etiquette – knowing the do’s and don’ts of online communication allows employees to maintain a smart social presence, which maximizes the company brand messaging without jeopardizing its reputation.
• Platform Flexibility - The ability to navigate across several devices and platforms such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and wearable devices is critical to avoiding lost time, compatibility issues and not leveraging the tools available.
• Security and Privacy - Employees must be well-trained in security and privacy awareness, and know how to use their businesses’ specific safeguard practices.

Beginner’s Mind

The days of carefully developing new products and processes via bureaucratic strategies are gone. Instead, successful companies must take on many of the attributes of a start-up – speed, creativity, action, risk and collaboration. Savvy leaders are prepared to act, encouraging human creativity that will move their businesses forward and provide the right balance between digital processes and human talent.

Customer-Driven Decision Making

The drive to change must be dealt with at all levels and at a pace that today’s equally savvy consumer demands. Companies must embed human-powered design into everything they do. It’s not just about hiring talented people to analyze data and design processes based on that data. Both CEO’s and IT leaders must understand that their customer is the true driving force behind the revenue stream; it is the customer who counts the most. Assessing and responding to their needs is more important than ever before, and if industry leaders aren’t quick enough to respond, then they will surely lose valuable revenue and loyal customers.