1. Live
the
transformation
you
want
to
be
Why
the
key
to
successful
digital
transformation
lies
not
in
capabilities,
but
in
mobilising
the
hearts
and
minds
of
those
involved.
Ask
any
CEO,
CTO
or
CMO
about
how
they
intend
to
deliver
the
digital
transformation
of
their
business
and
they
will
more
than
likely
reel
off
a
list
of
technologically
led
capabilities
from
their
roadmap.
Too
few
of
them
will
talk
about
the
human
value
or
meaning
they
seek
to
create
within
their
organisation.
It
is
this
fundamental
misunderstanding
of
digital
transformation,
which
prevents
organisations
and
their
employees
from
realizing
the
true
transformative
value
of
digital.
This
paper
proposes
a
new
four-­‐step
framework
for
business
leaders
seeking
to
deliver
meaningful
and
enduring
digital
transformation,
the
basis
of
which
is
the
need
for
creating
an
on-­‐going
dialogue
within
the
organization
driven
by
internal
storytelling.
Figure
1:
Four-­‐step
framework
for
leaders
to
help
embrace
new
ways
of
‘thinking’
and
‘doing’:
Step
1:
seeing
through
complexity
Step
2:
collaboratively
aligning
for
success
Step
3:
embracing
a
culture
of
“wrong
thinking”
Step
4:
unleashing
your
internal
storytelling

2. Step
1:
Seeing
through
complexity
Today
one
of
the
key
constants
is
change.
New,
disruptive
digital
trends
emerge
daily
to
disrupt
consumers’
behavior
and
the
way
businesses
operate.
Understanding
how
to
successfully
capitalize
on
this
is
increasingly
key
to
survival
and
ultimately,
success.
It
is
no
wonder
then,
that
R&D
spending
by
the
Global
Innovation
1,000
companies
reached
$638bn
in
2013,
the
highest
level
ever
recorded.
However,
despite
such
levels
of
investment,
new
research
from
Capgemini/MIT
suggests
that
two
thirds
of
global
enterprise
companies
are
failing
to
evolve
digitally.
This
is
because
the
instinct
of
many
is
to
create
new
tech
capabilities
and
features,
which
ultimately
only
serves
to
magnify
complexity
and
paralyze
organisations
from
advancing.
The
less
obvious
but
more
effective
route
to
digital
transformation
is
through
an
organisation’s
people.
Empowering
people
to
transform
the
business
should
start
with
adopting
‘visualization’
to
bring
to
life
abstract
concepts.
This
builds
common
and
coherent
ways
of
seeing
the
world
you
are
trying
to
transform
and
avoids
any
over
reliance
on
words
alone,
which
–
with
their
multiple
interpretations
–
can
quickly
create
false
assumptions.
At
SapientNitro
we
embrace
visualization
from
the
moment
we
map
out
the
ecosystem
of
touchpoints
in
the
world
our
clients
want
to
transform
(see
figure
2).
Step
2:
Collaboratively
aligning
for
success
Whilst
visualization
helps
to
reduce
complexity,
it
is
just
the
start
of
a
much
greater
challenge
for
any
digital
transformation
project:
alignment.
Figure
3:
Visualsing
touchpoints
(ecosystem
maps)
Figure
2:
Increased
annual
R&D
spend

3. Often
evolving
in
an
additive
manner,
department-­‐by-­‐department,
product-­‐by-­‐product,
the
siloed
nature
of
most
businesses
can
be
an
insurmountable
barrier
to
digital
transformation,
which
requires
multi-­‐disciplinary
teams
to
work
together.
As
such,
transformation
leaders
need
to
find
systemic
ways
to
engage
and
align
diverse
sets
of
stakeholders.
Collaboration
is
in
SapientNitro’s
DNA
and
shapes
our
unique
approach
to
the
‘discovery’
phase
of
any
transformation
project.
Fostering
co-­‐creation
upfront
enables
us
to
understand
and
align
around
what
is
important.
Far
from
relying
solely
on
analytical
research,
we
engage
stakeholders
in
a
heavy
cocktail
of
observations
and
insights
that
are
expertly
mixed
in
facilitated
environments.
Leveraging
non-­‐traditional
creative
techniques,
we
help
our
clients
collectively
shape
where
they
want
to
play
and
how
they
can
win.
A
key
step
for
any
transformation
project
is
to
define
its
vision.
SapinetNitro
does
this
with
a
technique
that
aligns
disparate
sets
of
stakeholders
through
slowly
building
up
the
values
of
their
vision
one
post-­‐it
note
at
a
time,
before
organizing
and
prioritizing
into
meaningful
themes.
We
call
this
the
‘newspaper
headline
exercise’
and
its
simplicity
enables
stakeholders
to
use
tangible
outcomes
to
assemble
the
vision.
Step
3:
Embrace
a
culture
of
“wrong
thinking”
A
key
challenge
of
transformation
is
that
it
inevitably
deals
with
the
future,
and
the
future
is
desperately
hard
to
fathom.
It
is
hard
to
understand
what
customer
needs
will
be
and
therefore
what
requirements
and
capabilities
your
transformation
should
deliver.
The
path
to
discovery
is,
and
should
be,
full
of
mistakes
and
false
leads.
Some
of
the
most
transformative
moments
are
born
out
of
‘wrong
thinking’
–
the
kind
of
original
ideas
that
only
Figure
4:
Co-­‐creating
visions
(making
physical
talismans
of
the
future)
Figure
5:
Embracing
lots
of
ideas
(divergent
thinking)

4. come
to
life
when
we
dare
to
be
different,
keep
an
open
mind
and
have
no
fear
of
failure.
You
can’t
do
things
that
are
radically
different
if
you
are
afraid
of
making
mistakes
or
follow
convention
wisdom.
Market
research
and
analytical
thinking
are
useful
tools
but
only
inventiveness
and
abductive
thinking
can
help
organisations
leap
into
the
future.
Nothing
is
more
prized
at
SapientNitro
than
the
willingness
and
ability
to
generate
new
ideas,
take
chances
and
fail
fast
in
the
pursuit
of
transformative
innovations.
Our
co-­‐
creation
workshops
build
on
the
principle,
“the
best
way
to
get
a
good
idea
is
to
have
lots
of
ideas”
and
use
forced
association,
‘what
if?’
statements,
with
other
non-­‐
traditional
creative
techniques
to
achieve
just
that.
Once
myriad
ideas
are
generated,
participants
self
select
and
prioritize
the
best.
The
second
principle
our
transformation
process
is
built
upon
is
“a
culture
of
making”.
Whether
it
is
developing
conceptual
ideas
or
testing
solutions,
our
process
puts
‘making’
at
its
heart.
It
is
only
through
prototyping
and
experimentation
that
we
can
begin
to
understand
the
future,
which
customer
needs
we
can
solve,
what
solution
requirements
are
needed
and
which
associated
capabilities
will
be
required.
Anything
else
is
just
guessing.
Step
4:
Unleashing
your
internal
storytelling
The
quality
of
collaboration
within
a
team
is
key
but
so
is
a
team’s
interaction
with
the
rest
of
the
organisation;
especially
key
stakeholders
such
as
board
members,
budget
controllers
and
staff
on
the
front
line,
who
are
the
most
likely
to
feel
the
effects
of
any
transformation.
As
such,
the
communication
coming
from
the
team
is
just
as
important
as
the
communication
within
it.
Figure
7:
Using
video
as
a
cultural
prototype
to
inspire
employees
Figure
6:
learning
through
doing
(prototyping)

5.
Bringing
brands
to
life
through
storytelling
is
at
the
heart
of
what
SapientNitro
does.
Leaders
must
learn
to
embrace
‘cultural
prototypes’
to
communicate
their
vision
and
plan
for
transformation
to
the
whole
organisation,
and
thereby
win
the
hearts
and
minds
of
employees.
SapientNitro
has
a
dedicated
process
deigned
to
achieving
just
this.
Our
ThirtySix
process
involving
creative
workshops
for
stakeholder
groups
generates
video
content
of
the
vision,
along
with
posters,
PowerPoint
presentations
and
seminars,
which
can
be
used
to
involve
and
inspire
the
whole
organisation.
Conclusion
Ultimately,
the
most
successful
organisations
are
able
to
combine
both
an
authentic
and
a
human
approach
to
their
digital
transformation.
Their
‘purpose’
and
an
open
and
collaborative
corporate
culture,
combine
to
inspire
the
whole
organisation
to
create
meaningful
value
for
customers.
Peter
Drucker
once
said
“your
first
job
as
a
leader
is
to
take
charge
of
your
own
energy
and
then
help
orchestrate
the
energy
of
those
around
you”.
The
four-­‐step
framework
can
help
guide
leaders
to
do
just
that
by
empowering
all
employees
to
embrace
and
live
the
transformational
change
desired.
Figure
8:
Using
infographic
posters
to
communicate
change