Hi everyone, 

Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter about digital leadership and other things that I stumble upon in my life. 

In the last few months I’ve been working on a project looking at digitalisation within the manufacturing industry and small and medium businesses in West Sweden. It’s hugely satisfying to dig into this area and to learn what is actually happening in these companies. 

One of the things I learned from interviewing people about their digitalisation projects is that the word ‘digitalisation’ is too broad. Some got pretty annoyed when I was talking about digitalisation in a general sense. One said: ‘What do you mean? Automation or digital marketing?’

I totally get why they were annoyed. If you use terminology and want to include everything in a word such as digitalisation people feel confused and there is a risk that you are not talking about the same thing.

What worked was to specifically ask what they are digitising in their administration and in their customer support services and how they digitise their production. In some cases, I had to say ‘modern ways of working’ to get people to feel I was including every aspect of what they do. 

Learning point: terminology matters. Always be specific. 

Last month I was at a business awards dinner and I sat next to a lean production expert. We spoke about what I am involved in and how lean is connected to digitalisation.

I have frequently found lean thinking inspiring, and I like to pair lean with digitalisation. 

Here are some thoughts: 

The changes you make in your organisation should be good for: 1) staff, 2) your customers, 3) our society and 4) owners and their profits.

Changes in today’s working life often entail going from analogue to digital. Are the changes you’ve implemented good for the groups I mention above? If yes, then you are on the right track. If no, you need to look at what you can improve. 

Setting goals together and discussing them often is a great management technique. Working the lean way means that you do this on a regular basis, often every morning. If you are running in different directions all the time while trying to change your organisation for the better, then your progress will be pretty slow. 

Using too much gobbledygook language will confuse people as well. We need to make sure that we understand each other. I once worked with a person who loved to talk about ‘levers’ and ‘marketing leverage’. Well, many people in the team didn’t get it at all, and they were all smart and great colleagues. The senior manager who used these words all the time didn’t make a big impact, and he also got angry when people didn’t understand him. 

When you are improving your work methods, people need to feel safe and assured. Creating a threatening environment is, of course, bad for employees, your customers and society. One thing impacts the other, and we are all somehow connected. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself when you work on any digitalisation project: 

If you answered no to any of these questions, you need to work harder on creating a better work environment. And if your teamwork looks like below you there is room for improvements. 

Have a lovely day ahead. 

Sofie 

P.S. I didn’t send out a February newsletter as I had too much to do and bad neck pain. I will hopefully be able to still send out my future newsletters on a regular basis. 

P.P.S. Download my checklist for Lean Digital Leadership. 

• Email: sofie@sofiesandell.com
• FB: https://www.facebook.com/sofiesandell
 

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Quick points 

What I am working on
I am getting back to writing in Swedish, which is good. And then I am finalising the interviews I've been doing in my digitalisation project. 

What I am studying
I might get hens, and I went on a one-day hen keeping course recently. Now I am able to make a more conscious decision about whether to got some or not. I live in the countryside so it's possible to keep hens here, and I eat egg every day, so it's a good combo. 

What I am listening to 
I listen to Kara Swisher's podcast every time I drive somewhere. She gets great guests on her show, highly recommend it. 

Quote I like at the moment
Seek always for the answer within. Be not influenced by those around you, by their thoughts or their words.
Eileen Caddy