The digital transformation does not speak balleno | Innovation
Dory, the oblivious little fish that accompanied Malvin, the father of Nemo, in his desperate search for the young clown fish in the Disney classic, boasted of knowing how to speak whale, a supposed language typical of the cetaceans that only these gigantic marine animals dominated. In the processes of digital transformation that companies are experiencing today, it would seem that there is also a lot of consultant and a lot of experts in new technologies who communicate in "ballen" with the world. And that is not usually a good idea. Because, except for themselves and perhaps an advantage like Dory, is not a language that ordinary mortals understand.
Every initiative of digital transformation implies, logically, a high technological component. Devices, processes, software ... technology occupies a prominent place in these processes and is part of almost all the solutions designed for them. And technology, like any other discipline, has its own language. A collection of names, codes and ways of expressing themselves exclusive of the professional jargon to which they belong. To avoid errors and misunderstandings, precision is needed, and this requires tight and unambiguous terms that all the interlocutors share and interpret in a similar way.
So it is up to a certain point logical that those who have the responsibility to implement this type of digital processes handle these language registers. The problem is that the digital transformation is not a matter only for a few specialists, but it concerns each and every one of the groups and individuals that make up the company. Its success depends on the participation of all the employees and collaborators and they become familiar as soon as possible with the use of these tools and ways of working. And this is only possible if the language used to transmit the new culture is available to a heterogeneous workforce with different degrees of digital skills.
The digital transformation is aimed at people and can only be successful if those people understand it, embrace it and make it their own. And language plays a fundamental role in this process of falling in love. Lovers do not express their feelings in mathematical terms, but they do so by addressing tender words that exalt emotions. In the digital transformation the same thing happens. When users see that at the time of explaining the novelties arise the technicalities and detect a certain paternalistic whiff in the expert in front of them, they disconnect.
The team involved in the digital transformation must learn to adapt its discourse according to how the different audiences they are addressed to, leaving the explanations far-fetched for those who understand them and making an effort to translate them into terrestrial language when it comes to speaking with profane people. The matter. It is not something that is easy for them, because many times these technical profiles are not used to interacting with users or have received training for it. This point is often a handicap in many processes that try to implement a new technology-based system, because this communication deficit ends up being a drag on the efficiency of them.
That is why it is important to reinforce the communication skills of all the professionals involved in the implementation of digital transformation processes. These skills are nonnegotiable in leaders and in the so-called catalysts of change, whose essential mission is to push the organization towards the new digital culture. But it should not be disregarded in those professionals with technical responsibilities in the process, especially if, as usual, they have direct interactions with the rest of fellow users. We have to help these professionals, train them and remind them that the majority of mortals do not talk whale.
Fernando Botella is CEO of Think & Action
