Front to Back Not Top Down for Digital Transformation

A good read for anyone involved in digital transformation in their organisation. I've been involved in a few now and like any project that actually succeeds, it lives or dies by the level of perceived agency felt by the 'real people' who actually do the business. But I do wince whenever I read the term 'top-down' as a way to describe communication flow within an organisation. In a world where information is digitised and access to data has democratised,  it feels old fashioned (panda) to refer to hierarchal layers. Especially when talking about digital transformation!

I prefer to use the term 'front-back' or 'back-front' to describe any engagement strategy. Put simply: it is whomever is closest to the customer that will determine the weekly revenues/margins that maintain solvency. Turn the organisation triangle on its side: A foxy organisation is one where every management layer behind, understands that they are paid to support the layer in front, in order to maintain the customer/client as the primary focus.

Unlike the old days where we had to manually pass information upwards, digitilisation of commercial data means we're not here now to serve a boss; the purpose of a boss is to support the front line to bring in the cash/service. The best leaders and project managers - the ones who people are happy to follow during a digital transformation- are the ones bringing a service (rather than servant) leadership style to their everyday interactions. They call everyone by their name, ask open questions, and are fully present in every conversation. Basically, everything they would do with a fellow Director. 

(And if we don't keep the customer at the heart of everything? There could soon be an app in your industry that does, requiring only a handful of tax-paying staff which has huge implications for our economy in the 2020s.)

Laura Thomson-Staveley is founder and leadership coach at Phenomenal Training and co-host of Secrets from A Coach podcast. For more information visit: phenomenaltraining.com and secretsfromacoach.com