Three Digital-Seeking Practices to Accelerate the Multifaceted Digital Paradigm Shift

Every company should strive to explore the “digital-seek practices" throughout their organization to accelerate digital paradigm shift.

Organizations across the sectors are steadily moving into the digital era with characteristics of hyper-connectivity and interdependence. They aim to move into a more advanced stage of digital deployment by tailoring their own unique set of business competencies and develop their own set of best and next practices to close the gaps between classic management and digital management. But more specifically, what’re digital-seeking activities practices your organizations are taking to accelerate the multifaceted digital paradigm shift?

Seek multidimensional mindsets: If traditional management is based on linear logic and analog thinking, and then, in today’s “VUCA” digital new normal, there are all sorts of thinking gaps need to be closed and different shapes of blindspots have to be closed. Silo mentality is a common challenge for many organizations to run in the digital mode because it enlarges functional gaps and leaves disconnected links in strategy management. In reality, many executives and managers have intentions to lead but lack cognitive understanding, intellectual sophistication, mental toughness, creative wisdom, T-shaped expertise, integral capabilities, emotional excellence, or overall high professional strength and maturity to lead effectively. For example, generally speaking, only five percent of the population is natural strategic thinkers. Without strategic thinking (zoom into the future and keep the end in mind), the managers can only keep the business wheel spinning, without the long-term perspective. The real critical thinking is another important thought process for today’s digital executives and professionals to overcome the challenges brought by overwhelming growth of information and fast-paced changes, in order to make sound judgments and make effective decisions. Digital is the age of innovation, creativity is #1 skill needed to win the fierce business competition today. Systems Thinking is critical as well to understand the hyperconnectivity and interdependence of digital new normal. In fact, digital minds are a full set of thinking processes for solving complex problems and improving professional competency. It’s the condensed human intelligence to adapt to the complexity of the digital world, clear blind spots, see things differently, and adapt to digital new normal effortlessly.

Seek multidisciplinary knowledge: Although information is only a click away, knowledge cycle is shortened significantly. The outdated knowledge will stifle innovation and decelerate the progress both individually and collectively. The border of knowledge domains is blurred and the scope of knowledge is expanded in the continual base. Today's digital leaders or professionals must have the humble attitude to admit known unknown and unknown unknown, and keep learning. Not only should they practice multidimensional thinking, but also need to seek multidisciplinary knowledge in order to connect the wider dots to spur creativity, also gain an in-depth understanding of issues to capture insight. The linear management practices are simply not sufficient to manage the "VUCA" digital new normal. Interdisciplinary science can be applied to digital management which involves applied Science (Engineering), Art (Design), principle (Philosophy), Cognition (Psychology), Social norms (Culture) and group behavior (Sociology), etc. The multidisciplinary knowledge helps the business professionals to not only work in the box but also across the multiple boxes, in order to approach problems via the multifaceted lens, technically, scientifically, economically, and philosophically. The enterprise Knowledge Management involves the application of technologies and processes of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge, with the aim of optimizing the value that is generated and making the best advantage of its knowledge.

Seek multi-functional and multi-industrial collaborations: The industrial organization with silo functional setting is to achieve the certain level of efficiency, but with digital nature of hyperconnectivity, silo becomes the very obstacle for running a highly responsive, highly effective, and holistic digital organization. Digital is about hyperconnectivity, it means to have better opportunities to connect the dots across the geographical, functional, organizational, industrial, or generational boundaries. Cross-silo or cross-divisional collaboration is crucial to building dynamic digital capabilities. Try to build teams around business capabilities rather than functions, which is an interesting model to create joint directorial responsibilities. With convenient digital platforms and collaboration tools, many companies have never been better positioned to engage in multi-industrial collaborations. It is imperative to break down silos, and harness cross-functional collaboration to enforce idea-generation or problem-solving. Strategically, cross-functional collaboration to delight customers and engage employees are critical for improving the business’s long-term prosperity.

Every company should strive to explore the “digital-seek practices" throughout their organization to accelerate digital paradigm shift. From here - doing digital to there- being digital is the journey of “seeking, experimenting, and innovating,” with multidimensional business effects and taking multifaceted management disciplines.

Posted in: Digital Master,Digitalization,Principle/Practice