This is an excerpt of the publication below, with the title above, focusing on the related topic.
The Keys to Scaling Digital Value
MARCH 16, 2022
By Karalee Close, Marc Roman Franke, Michael Grebe, Hrishi Hrishikesh, and Kristi Rogers
BCG commissioned by GOOGLE
C-Suite Alignment: It Starts at the Top
Becoming a digital leader starts at the top of the organization-but not just with the CEO.
The full C-suite must align on a common vision, strategy, and roadmap to galvanize action and drive enablement and execution through the organization.
Commitment, accountability, and collaboration are critical. Digital leaders are far more likely to secure all three. (See Exhibit 5.)
In many companies, siloed CxOs blame each other for hobbling the overall transformation by not digitizing faster or by failing to scale digital solutions.
More than half (55%) of laggards report that their C-suites operate entirely in silos and fail to communicate with each other on their respective digital initiatives.
In contrast, digital leaders hold individual CxOs accountable, and consistent C-suite collaboration is the norm for 72% of digital leaders.
A common approach is to establish a global chief digital officer role with responsibility for shaping the entire organization’s digital transformation.
In too many cases, however, CDOs turn out to be toothless tigers who can propose digital solutions but have little ability to enforce them because they don’t own the budget.
If, instead, digital becomes the responsibility of every CxO, the entire C-suite must drive the digital agenda collectively.
And every CxO must be accountable for achieving the intended business outcomes.
Our research found that only digital leaders (82%) align across the C-suite on
- the digital vision,
- investment portfolio, and
- resources needed to drive the digital agenda forward.
Besides setting the ambition and guiding the entire organization, the C-suites at more than 60% of digital leaders express active support for digital efforts and communicate progress across the entire organization.
A common approach is to establish a global chief digital officer role with responsibility for shaping the entire organization’s digital transformation.
Another issue can be the sheer number of CxO roles today, many of which involve digital initiatives, technology, and data.
In addition to CEOs, CFOs, CHROs, COOs, and CMOs, a proliferation of CDiOs (digital), CDOs (data), and CTOs are joining the leadership mix.
The demarcation lines often blur because digital transformations cut across functions. This makes collaboration between C-suite roles all the more important to ensure that they bring the right capabilities and perspectives to the table to achieve companywide objectives.
Another issue can be the sheer number of CxO roles today, many of which involve digital initiatives, technology, and data.
In many organizations, a single C-suite member’s digital agenda becomes a catalyst for collaboration.
For example, CMOs are increasingly involved in tech, finance, data privacy, and analytics.
They are well placed to promote digital transformation and champion change. In some companies, they collaborate with CFOs to manage marketing as an investment for increasing returns by setting business KPIs.
Often, CMOs drive customer-oriented solutions within the organization, which can also catalyze cross-functional leadership collaboration.
In many organizations, a single C-suite member’s digital agenda becomes a catalyst for collaboration.
To become truly digital organizations, leaders need to embrace agile ways of working, embedding agile in large parts of or the entire organization, starting with making the transition to working in cross-functional teams.
CxOs can struggle to scale agile for several reasons:
- They are focused on responsibilities within their own teams.
- They do not break down silos that isolate functions.
- They do not encourage business and tech leaders to jointly prioritize the digital roadmap.
To become truly digital organizations, leaders need to embrace agile ways of working, embedding agile in large parts of or the entire organization, starting with making the transition to working in cross-functional teams
Leaders have processes for conducting regular reviews of their portfolios to ensure that they align with their visions.
They also look continuously for new opportunities to pursue. For about 80% of digital leaders, business and tech prioritize the digital roadmap as a joint effort and regularly update their plans with evaluations of new opportunities.
Leaders have processes for conducting regular reviews of their portfolios to ensure that they align with their visions.
They also look continuously for new opportunities to pursue.
Establishing agile at scale often requires senior executives to change their own ways of working.
The idea that “leaders lead, managers review, and doers do” does not apply to truly digital companies. This adaptation can be a tall order, as agile behaviors are not the ones that propelled these people into senior leadership positions in the first place.
Moreover, good leaders involve the relevant middle managers in planning and executing the transformation program to ensure that they buy into the goals and strategy. Without this commitment, middle management may tend to slow the process, defending functional silos and power bases.
Originally published at: https://www.bcg.com
