Allegra Consulting recently hosted its annual Educational and Networking event at the RACV Club in Melbourne titled: Change and Transformation in the Digital Age. We received an overwhelming response – our biggest to date, which we believe is a testament to the growth and high levels of engagement within our change management community.
Following is an overview of the the key topics highlighted by our expert panel of three presenters who provided excellent insights into how the fast-paced digital environment is impacting our discipline.
Guest speaker Tracey Penington outlined the impact that the digital age is having on designing and delivering transformational change. With the speed of change that we are now experiencing in the marketplace, different approaches and capability is required to design and deliver the change. Tracey discussed a number of case studies, each representing the scale and speed with which organisational transformation can now be implemented. Tracey highlighted the role of the Transformation Specialist noting that these individuals were often ‘all-rounders’ and more often than not had very strong change backgrounds.
Tracey spoke of the importance of transformational “thinking”. She emphasised that it is this thinking that provides the scaffolding for building truly sustainable change. Tracey also highlighted the importance of building teams comprised of individuals who not only represent experience and expertise but are also prepared to be flexible and adaptable to deal with the impact of the digital era.
Oracle’s Andrew Lafontaine’s presentation explored how digitalisation is impacting the Human Resources sector. Andrew highlighted the need for HR departments to play a more pro-active, rather than reactive, role withing organisations.
By leveraging technology and harnessing the existing power of social and professional networking, the role of HR can move beyond the traditional techniques of a recruitment-only view of the world to helping drive the strategic agenda of organisations around identifying, incentivising and retaining high-value employees.
The tools, he said, are already there, and if organisations are not already on a digital-based journey, they will fall behind their competitors in striving to build a a high-performing, engaged workforce.
Carolynn Smith is currently working at ANZ leading the transformational thinking component of a three-year payment transformation project. Her presentation focused on how the landscape of large-scale technology projects has changed as a result of constant digital developments. Carolynn emphasised the importance of breaking large projects into small change “wins” and to seek opportunities to recognise achievements that have added measurable value at regular intervals throughout the journey.
New digital innovations are constantly being introduced, said Carolynn, and the scope of a project at its outset may change and transform during its lifecycle meaning change managers need to adapt and remain flexible adopting a more agile approach.
Allegra Consulting would like to thank Andrew, Tracey and Caroylnn for their excellent presentations on the night and for taking the time to answer questions from our 300-strong crowd.
About the authors
Allegra Consulting
Our team is comprised of experts from many areas within the broader change and transformation spaces who love sharing their knowledge.
