This is why hybrid working is on the rise. Even beyond the pandemic.
Digital culture is a term that we at OFFICEMEDIA like to use and that is increasingly finding its way into the media. This is because companies with such a culture are often more economically successful, generally more innovative and also report higher employee satisfaction. But what exactly is this digital corporate culture and how does it influence day-to-day business?
Digital transformation does not necessarily mean that the corporate culture has to be completely rethought.
Digital Culture: Definition
In the ternary of society, people and technology, “digital culture” encompasses everything that has established itself as new practices, techniques and ideas. It is the expression of transformative processes and influences itself. For example, techniques change society and thus people.
Within this trinity, there is a constant change in which everything seems possible at all times. This requires a high degree of adaptability in order not to be “overtaken” by digitization and to fall into a state of passivity in which digitization happens. To break away from this process and make digitization manageable requires a digital culture. It needs space to observe it, experience it and participate in its design.
In practice, a digital corporate culture can also be recognized by eight concrete characteristics (see Haufe Personal):
- high customer orientation
- Integration of current trends and market impulses
- autonomous working conditions
- Collaboration instead of “silo thinking”
- Digital technology and digitized processes
- Agility: Dynamic thinking and action through rapid adaptability
- Executives who communicate a digital vision and corresponding strategies
- high innovation and learning orientation for the further development of the company
How to Find a Digital “Target Culture” in the Company
Adaptability does not mean that a company’s culture has to be rethought. On the contrary, just as digitization transforms analog processes, it should also improve the corporate culture and make it more accessible. To do this, it is helpful to first find a digital target culture, based on which the transformation of a company can be oriented. As part of a digital transformation, companies should ask themselves the following questions in advance:
- How is the current corporate culture defined and how is it lived?
- How should digital processes be handled in the company?
- What about flexibility in dealing with hierarchies?
- How can innovations be promoted?
- Which technologies should be focused on?
- What about openness and curiosity with regard to new technologies?
Digital Mindset: Implementing New Processes
If the target culture is defined and the digital mindset is in place, the next step is to establish the digital culture. To do this, it is essential to expose yourself to as many internal and external impressions as possible in order to understand the scope and reach of your own culture. Now it is time to implement new processes in order to bring about change. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How do customers and employees react to the changes?
- How can existing processes be reviewed and adapted?
- What steps need to be defined for the transformation?
Promote Digital Culture
After successful implementation, it is important to promote the new structures and processes. Culture must be lived, otherwise it will collapse under its own ideas. This is where the digital mindset and the actual adaptability of a company are put to the test.
In order to promote the culture, employees are needed who actively drive the change. If these are not present in the current structures, they must be hired.
New qualifications, so-called soft skills, such as flexibility and competence in solving problems, now apply. The digital mindset must permeate all levels in order to maintain the implementation of the above-mentioned steps.
And what we at OFFICEMEDIA always preach should be mentioned here again. It should even be mentioned until you “can’t hear it anymore”. Because it shapes the techniques, the society and thus all the individuals involved: Old hierarchies must be dismantled. The right tools are needed to give employees the skills to work independently.
Because the daily work routine is a process that needs to be optimized. Anyone who demands flexibility from their employees must provide it to the same extent. This allows problems to be solved where they arise and do not have to additionally make their way to the top and reach a point where it may already be too late. Flat hierarchies and trust promote transformative processes and offer the necessary space to approach digitization openly and curiously.
