Taking employees by the hand
"Digitalization and automation must continue to advance. The transformation is going to be hard, but we have to get through it and we will get through it!"
I can't assign this quote to any specific person but it seems to me that I have heard it hundreds of times before. It doesn't matter whether it's companies from industry or logistics, whether it's about the organization of internal processes or product development. Accordingly, the buzzwords "digitalization", "transformation" and "automation" determine many of the trade fairs and conferences I have visited in recent years, and "AI" has also been added lately. The patterns I recognize have always remained the same over the years and topics:
Everyone somehow picks up the buzzwords for their own presentations at conferences and the motto for their own booth
As a result, listeners and visitors are becoming more and more attuned to each other's hype topics
The buzzwords spread through such events in the management floors of the various companies
Out of fear of missing out on a hype, measures are being introduced that are supposed to somehow address these issues
Fortunately, many also see through this pattern and do not let themselves be wrapped up in it. In the context of digitalization and transformation, however, this seems to be different, because the terms are so broadly defined and span so many detailed topics that almost every company comes to the point of not wanting to miss the train when reflecting on itself.
At the "Logistics Summit" this month, the topics of digitalization and transformation were also often heard. Again. They are usually driven from the management floors of the companies and unfortunately do not have their roots at the employees. There was often talk of "we have to take our employees by the hand". "You have to inform the employees at an early stage about what to expect," was also repeated again and again. Of course, a pain immediately flashes through my agile limbs: "take the employees by the hand"? So like a small immature child so that it can be safely guided across the street? Aha, interesting. Employees are "informed of what to expect": a steamroller? A train? A monster wave? That's what it sounds like and it gives the impression that processes and tools have been devised in an ivory tower that are to be imposed on practice. There, where underage and small children have to be disturbed in their unsuspecting activities and guided into new paths. The best way to do this is with artificial intelligence, you never know what it can be good for!
I think that there is great potential for optimization in many companies and that the adaptation of working methods and digitalization in particular, can help enormously to leverage this potential. However, in the agile sense and in the manner of an organization aiming for the outcome, it is worthwhile to shed light on the real problems and to devise solutions for those that provide the greatest added value in solving them. However, this includes, of course, really knowing the current situation. Not by numbers in an Excel sheet alone, no, but by talking to the employees who face problems and challenges every day. Listening to what's really happening and what's typically going wrong. Together with the employees, tests are considered to think about how processes can be adapted so that it is simpler, easier, faster, simply better. I am also happy to try out new tools as a test. Together, we investigate which parameters still need to be determined in order to better understand what happens and why. Counting how often relevant things happen, stopping, how long some operations actually take, etc.
The goal is always the same: to come to a common understanding of what can be improved and how, and which of them should be tackled first, because it will bring the greatest improvement.