Three years ago, our CEO, Ben Decker and I were working on a keynote speech for a senior executive at a cloud platform provider. His presentation topic was Digital Transformation through the lens of cloud adoption. We anticipated the script we were writing would hit upon issues like data security and privacy, multi-cloud environments, and interoperability. How wrong we were!
The executive entered the conference room and shared his theme for the keynote: “Digital Transformation is culture transformation, plain and simple. Culture is the key success factor, the secret sauce. I want to talk about how developing a digital culture can lead to breakthrough performance and truly transformative outcomes. And since culture is a function of communication, I really want you guys to lean in on how communications are a linchpin of Digital Transformation.”
Little did we know at the time that his words would become a harbinger of things to come for our company and our clients. Since then, so much of Decker’s work has centered on helping clients make progress on their Digital Transformation journeys. Because our client mix includes many of the largest technology providers and IT adopters, we’ve seen the challenges of Digital Transformation from every angle. And because so many of the cultural obstacles and accelerators are similar from one company to another, our training programs and consulting engagements have become incubators for a new set of communications best practices.
Decker’s Communicating for Digital Transformation program focuses on the communication skills required for successful Digital Transformation initiatives. The program’s training and coaching helps leaders and managers hone their influence skills in the change management situations that are common to Digital Transformation. The operative word here is common because no matter the industry you’re in, the Digital Transformation imperative is fundamentally the same: empower your people to embrace technology and deliver better results faster than ever before.
Since culture is about emotions and values, our Communicating for Digital Transformation program teaches listener-focused methods for addressing the emotional side of Digital Transformation. It’s an experiential training that simulates actual transformation scenarios and provides coaching on how to create a customer-centric narrative, communicating for inclusive and agile problem-solving, handling difficult conversations, and storytelling to drive cross-functional collaboration. This is communications training for champions of Digital Transformation.
What happened with our client and his keynote speech? Audience feedback indicated that he was the event’s highest-rated speaker. His emphasis on the need to drive a digital culture resonated broadly with the event’s global participants. He was right: culture is a function of communication. To transform a culture you must transform the way you communicate. If you would like to learn more about Decker’s Communicating for Digital Transformation program, please contact advisor@decker.com.