Never give up on a good thing

This is positively my last post inspired by the book 'Digital Disruption' by James McQuivey but probably not my last on the subject of digital more generally. As a businessman my focus always tends to be on how businesses should respond to the various changes we see and digital is no exception. McQuivey says 'A company that wants to think and act like a digital disruptor has to have the right kind of energy, staff with the right skills and policies that enable digital disrupters to succeed." 

People at all levels of a company have to be excited and, in my words, 'get it' before digital can become embedded in its strategy. But that isn't enough. You have to have the right skills and mindset. A survey referred to in the book says that 65% of employees are excited about digital but only 38% of people believe the company has the right skills to adapt to the changes. Actually the skills are probably available but may be in the wrong place or tied up on other projects.However, this is probably not the biggest barrier: policies, procedures and structures Are bigger problems. Another quote from the book says its well. "One of the biggest structural barriers our clients face is the specialisation of silos that have built up over the years. Because companies have built up those silos in an era of analog assumptions, each silo took shape under certain expectations about how it would add value to the company. In the face of digital disruption those silo assumptions become dramatic liabilities." The bigger, older and more successful a company, the more entrenched and powerful are those silos. The leader has to work really hard and be persistent to overcome them. Sometimes small teams acting outside the normal structure can be the only way of overcoming the resistance. Indeed I have some experience of that working. McQuivey adds three further tips;

- identify silos and breakdown barriers ( easier to write than actually do ).

- get senior executives to commit their support. To my mind this is essential and needs to be both         done AND seen to be done.

- insist on short development time frames.

I would add a fifth tip. Never give up.