Leaders need digital dexterity in today’s fast-moving world but why is this important? And most of all, what is it? Times are changing at an exceptional speed. Technology is advancing and the digital era is a phenomenon globally. And businesses have had to speed up their digital initiatives to maintain their position in their respective
However, their ability to be set apart from their competition to stay ahead in challenging markets has been the downfall for those who have been slow to digitally transform. This has been a result of poor digital dexterity.
What is digital dexterity?
For success in education, in the workplace and in life, digital dexterity is essential. As well as digital literacies and information literacy, it encompasses a wide range of skills and capabilities, such as ICT proficiency, digital learning, digital creation, collaborative skills, media literacies, and digital identities.
Digital dexterity is defined as leaders with the ability to demonstrate and apply technology awareness, deep customer focus, disruptive innovation, as well as an experimental mindset balancing speed of execution.
The framework of digital dexterity in the workplace
For successful digital dexterity, an organisation needs to have or be the following:
1. Mobilize
- Digital adoption
- Customer-focused
- Digital visionary
2. Transform
- Integrate data
- Creative disrupter
- Orchestrate solutions
3. Execute
- Aspirational collaborator
- Scaling purposefully
- Ecosystem builder
4. Agility
- Easily adaptive
- Flexibility
- Resolute entrepreneur
What digital dexterity can accomplish for a company:
1. Technological aptitude
Due to the rapid evolution of technology, the dexterous employees will be those who demonstrate the ability to use and learn emerging technologies. A particular area where this matters is the proliferation of cloud-based SaaS applications. By rushing to transition from using old-school PCs to using SaaS, AI, and IoT, internal workforces aren’t evolving as quickly. In these circumstances, the gap between the introduction of new technologies and the ability of employees to exploit them has been growing. The lack of digital dexterity that characterizes this gap is one of the biggest roadblocks to digital transformation. In order to fully utilize capabilities, a digitally dexterous workforce is a requirement.
2. Possibilities for expansion
As with any organizational change initiative, getting employees to develop their own digital dexterity requires an open mind. Digital dexterity precedes digital adoption, just as an open mind precedes digital dexterity.
Change-resistant employees prevent you from achieving dexterity on a large scale. Without strong leadership, it will be very difficult to overcome resistance and persuade employees to become more dexterous.
3. Organizational agility
In addition to having high levels of digital dexterity, businesses that have developed this skill tend to be more flexible. You can boost your organization’s dexterity exponentially by integrating agility into your organizational design, business strategy, and worker development. It’s equally important to identify and integrate emerging technologies that will help you meet your goals.
4. Ambition
To become dexterous, you need ambitious employees. A staff that is aware of the changing nature of business and is willing to develop greater digital skills will be key to the success of your organization. Employees are more likely to become more motivated to learn and embrace new digital tools once they see how digital dexterity can open up new opportunities and boost their careers.
5. Remote work
When offered a robust remote training program, employees with a high level of digital dexterity can work from anywhere. This saves organisations costs, allows greater flexibility, and high work attendance rates.
6. Better productivity
A digital tool can greatly increase your productivity by giving you better results in less time. These tools will help better track projects, saturation, and schedules.
Team or department to which digital dexterity applies:
- IT professionals
- HR
- Marketing
- Customer service staff
Need a checklist to assess the digital dexterity preparedness of your company? Check here.
As explained above, the importance of a digitally savvy workforce go beyond personal nice-to-haves but affects the entire trajectory of digital transformation. It does not just affect the workplace but the individual themselves as well as the economy. Progressing as a company is dependent on the staff and their ability to be led into dexterous capacity.
Contact DigiRev to accelerate your digital initiatives and technological services.
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