Aligning People with Technology to Drive Innovation

I sometimes notice a disconnect between the stories I hear around the role of technology in the workplace and what I’m actually seeing in the real world.

For example, it’s often said that the introduction of digital technologies is going to reduce the need for people. Yet the WEF forecasts a net gain of around 12 million new jobs to be created globally by 2025.

And this is what I see in the field at our customers. Across manufacturing, technology is being used to meet business goals – such as driving greater efficiency, flexibility and innovation; but also enhancing what people can do. For sure, people remain at the core, and there is an increased demand for human skills like critical thinking and problem solving. This is why I am a fan of our company’s mission of “Expanding Human Possibility.”

Food for thought on driving Innovation and adoption

When I was at our most recent Automation Fair, digital workforce productivity was one of the hot topics. Whether it is skilled workers retiring and taking years of knowledge with them, or plant-level operators needing better access to information in order to make good decisions quickly, there are solutions to help employees be more effective - giving them the data and analytics they need to understand what’s happening.

While the technology is available, empowering employees in digital adoption is as much a cultural transformation as it is a technological one. For leaders tasked with driving digitalization initiatives, there are several critical components in helping workers thrive in their new environments.

Planning and designing a productive environment

The value of technology is not just in the features, but in its usability and user experience. Are the solutions being implemented making the user’s life easier, and thus improving job satisfaction?

Technology implementations are rarely perfect the first time, so it’s important to enable feedback loops that allow employees to share their honest feedback on what’s helping them and what’s holding them back. During a visit to one of our manufacturing plants, I saw how employees can rate their experience at different machines with easy “happy” or “sad” faces, and that identifies potential areas of improvement on work satisfaction. What a great idea!

Supporting skills transformation

Navigating the digital age involves a set of skills that may be new to many of us.

How do we leverage the digital skills people are developing outside of the workplace? As technology becomes more pervasive in our non-working lives, people may be spending their free time engaging in activities that involve coding, design, data analysis and even virtual reality gaming. Can you leverage hobbies and interests and consider how these might converge to improve their professional competencies? How often can we spot these opportunities in reviews and career planning discussions?

Enabling creativity

There are certain human qualities machines can’t replicate. As leaders, do we encourage these qualities and help our employees embrace them as differentiators?  How do we promote a culture to make processes work for us, and not the other way around – a continuous improvement mindset that drives process efficiency and increases our speed of decision making?

Communication matters

With innovation, like with many other things, it’s important to know why you’re doing it. The business impacts of change will only come if people are onboard and feel enabled in making their own contribution to the organization’s success.

By staying up to date on what’s possible with digital technology and thinking carefully about how these capabilities will be perceived through everyone’s lens, leaders can make the critical connections to ensure technology is bringing a positive, empowering contribution to the organization.

If you are interested in this topic and want to find out which technologies and products can help, check out this link on digital workforce productivity.