Between school and various workplaces, I have worked with many types of HR technology covering different aspects of people management. I have had my joys and stresses working with various vendors and have a great appreciation for how so many companies have adapted and innovated to meet the constantly changing demands of workplaces in Canada.
In the last year, I have been studying Digital HR with The Academy to Innovate HR in order to make sure I have the best understanding on how to provide the best HR services to clients. My goal is always to prepare employers for the future workplace in Canada. We spent a lot of time on the subject of Employee Experience and Design thinking. I had heard of these concepts in the past, but never truly grasped how these terms relate to HR and digital transformation until now.
Implementing new processes and systems are a lot of work. The people working to implement these systems are usually so wrapped up in the implementation, they forget about the whole employee experience and how to choose the best solutions that create a more engaged and productive workforce.
Here are my tips on how to go about implementing a digital HR strategy and the areas that need to be considered before heading on a transformational journey in your workplace.
What problems are you trying to solve?
- Make sure that you know all of the concerns that you are trying to address starting from the beginning of the employee experience cycle (eg. recruitment process) to the end of the cycle (retirement or other separations).
- Interview staff who have been in all of the cycles recently to ensure that all pain points are revealed.
- Use various resources to brainstorm solutions and learn about other digital HR projects in companies – e.g. different professionals, people in your network, staff on the front-line, vendors, etc.
- Use different brainstorming techniques such as Ideation when thinking about how to tackle issues. Ideo is a great organization who is educating the world on Human-Centred Design thinking that has great resources and guidance on how to think about change and it’s impact. https://www.ideo.org/tools
- Once you have uncovered all of the facts, you will realize that there are gaps and issues that new technology cannot solve. The most important tip for organizations is that if you have completely broken processes, do not try to bandage them with new technology.
- Instead, look at technology as a tool to reinvent processes and create an overall better user experience for everyone.
- If the organization is struggling with areas such as ineffective leadership (e.g. leaders who refuse to use technology or those that display undesirable behaviours) or overall poor moral, it is crucial to try to work on some of these areas first as these can be major impediments in the success of a digital transformation.
Identify your Implementation team!
- This is necessary to ensure that the implementation is not only successful, but that it also has all of the approvals, support, and resources needed to be done in the best manner for the organization.
- This includes having a Steering Committee and a Project Team.
Now you are ready to head to the HR Software market!
- By this time, you are ready to search for suitable HR Technology solutions.
- If this is your first rodeo, make sure that someone on the implementation team is experienced in this type of work. It will be a lot of work.
- If you do not have the expertise in-house, consider using a Consultant that specializes in Digital HR strategies. This resource can help to select the best vendor(s) and run the implementation to ensure success and maximum adoption rates.
Now that I have you excited about HR technology, please look out for my next article where I will focus on how to examine HR technologies.
Originally posted in January 2021!
