In the context of digital transformation, many companies are forced to fundamentally rethink their business models. At the same time, they face the challenge of convincing some employees – and especially members of management – of the urgency of change. However, every company also has employees with the potential to actively shape and influence the change “bottom up”, as it were. My observation is that many companies today could improve in adequately recognizing and acting on these factors.

As long as the numbers are right, urgency fades into the background

As long as performance is adequate and bonuses end up in the bank at the end of the year, the CEO and executive board will remain in charge of digitization, its consequences and the associated transformation process. While this approach is not entirely wrong, especially since a transformation process must first be supported from above, it does pose a challenge in terms of shaping change. This is especially true for the next management level and other employees, who will also struggle to contribute to the process as long as general assumptions about the world and how to make money remain unchallenged and unchanged from one decade to the next.

Who is driving the change?

When we talk about change in general, most people agree that it is needed to safeguard future competitiveness. When a change affects an individual personally, however, willingness to change nosedives. This becomes very apparent when it comes to assembling a “digital transformation” team of people committed to the topic (or to change in general). A transformation process can only truly be successful if it is driven by people not only with the hierarchical status and broad experience, but also the credibility and ability to inspire others in the company to embrace change.

The ideal transformation team

The individual team members must be able to put a common goal above their own interests. They should be visionary and tend to identify strongly with the company (beyond their own department). They also feel responsible for the reputation of the company and join the team not because they’ve been told it will boost their bonus but because they are personally interested in the future of the company and intrinsically motivated. So where do you find such people? They are not as rare as you might first think – but you may have to look around the company to identify suitable candidates and stop focussing only on their professional expertise and hierarchical level.

Top-down communication takes too long

Although the situation will vary greatly depending on the company, my experience shows that internal politics and hierarchy are still influencing the composition of transformation teams too heavily. Often, a large number of employees in these organizations would get on board with change much more easily if the purpose and ideas were brought to them by the right influencer. Influencers undoubtedly need to include people from management but – crucially – not only. To achieve momentum, influencers are needed at all levels. The path from top down is just too long.

That’s why I’m making the case for much stronger involvement of the next generation in transformation processes. Purely hierarchical structures need to be fundamentally rethought when it comes to driving change.