Learnnovators

“DIGITAL MINDSET”: WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

“Digital mindset” seems to have become another buzzword – rather buzz-phrase to be grammatically precise – whenever the conversation (online or offline) veers toward social business, social learning, collaboration, and other 21st Century phenomenon in general. One of the oft-repeated reasons for the failure of Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs) in organizations is often attributed to a lack of “digital mindset” in the employees or leadership or both. It has become a specter looming over everyone’s head. This post is an attempt to distill some of the skills/attitude/knowledge that possibly make up the “digital mindset”. In an attempt to crystallize the skill sets, some of the finer nuances have been lost. It is also important to remember that there is no black and white distinction between digital and non-digital mindsets. It’s a spectrum, and we need to move along the spectrum to make the best of the world we are in. The trigger for this post comes from a tweet-chat hosted by @WiproLPS with @bill_fischer sharing his insights on this topic. Unfortunately, I couldn’t participate as I’d have wanted to but was lurking and following the stream. For those who missed it, here’s the compiled chat in Storify. Thanks to @nidhisand for putting it together.

As a precursor to my description of the defining characteristics of a digital mindset, here’s a diagram created by Jacob Morgan–author of The Future of Work–encapsulating The 14 Principles Of The Future Organization.

This diagram, by putting in perspective the characteristics of a workplace of the 21st Century, acts as a trigger to define certain qualities that everyone (employees, leaders, managers, partners, customers, and all other stakeholders) need to inculcate today. And these characteristics are what we term as “digital mindset”. It’s a way of being, an evolving philosophy. One of @bill_fischer tweets encapsulates the spirit of an organization that embodies the “digital mindset”:

To substantiate my understanding, I also spoke to my daughter–a quintessential 23 year old–who juggles her education, projects and social life with apparent ease. Some of the insights gleaned from her adds depth to my analysis. I have noted down my cumulative understanding here.

A “digital mindset” is not about using technology alone although that is a large part of it. While heralded by the growth and evolution of disruptive tech, it is characterized by a different perspective of the world. An individual with a “digital mindset” understands the power of technology to democratize, scale and speed upevery form of interaction and action. Technology is playing a transformative role in virtually every domain today– from IT and Telecom to Retail and Manufacturing. To cite an example: a 3D printer can reduce the design to prototype time dramatically while also allowing the flexibility to tweak the design as the model evolves (created). Technology is thus an amplifier. Having a digital mindset is the ability to grasp this spectrum of impact that the Network Era has on us and thus truly appreciate the futility of actions like knowledge hoarding for power, enforcing hierarchy, building siloed work environments, following old world processes, and such. The tweets by +Abhijit Bhaduri from the tweet chat synthesize the core qualities.have tried to contrast the characteristics of the Industrial Era with the Digital. While it is obviously not always black and white, it’s an attempt to delineate what differentiates this era from the ones gone by.

When we operate in the Complex zone, we can only connect cause and effect in hindsight. Exceptions, unusual business models disrupting traditional ways of operating, disruptive tech with their emergent nature, all fall in the Complex category. One needs to be agile, adaptive, and vigilant to operate in this zone.

Hence, IMHO, digital mindset is not only about using technology but it is much more about changing the way we operate in the world, in our community and in our lives. It comes with its drawbacks but that is inevitable in a period of deep and hitherto unimaginable transition. The key is to remember that these characteristics do not exist in isolation. They are all interlinked and feed into each other. Someone who is open and collaborative is also likely to welcome diverse perspectives. It is a set of behavioral patterns that signify a digital mindset. It is about changing the lenses through which we view the world.

Written by our Guest Blogger, Sahana Chattopadhyay

Sahana Chattopadhyay is an L&D Consultant, OD Specialist, Blended Learning Architect, Social Learning Evangelist, and Blogger.

Sahana’s work cuts across performance consulting, workplace learning strategies from formal to informal and social learning, knowledge management methodologies and adult learning principles. She is passionate about helping organizations become learning organizations through community building, enabling personal knowledge management, and bringing working and learning together.

Sahana has appeared in the list of Top Ten e-Learning Movers and Shakers for the Asia Pacific region for four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014, topping the APAC list in 2014 and appeared in the top ten of the global list.

_________________________________

(Visited 1,355 times, 1 visits today)