When we talk about digital transformation and building data-driven organizations, the first things that come to mind may be technological solutions. But there’s something even more important that often gets overlooked: the organization’s culture. Without buy-in from the employees to create a culture that embraces change, even the best technology won’t be effective.
ABUNDANCE OF TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
Technology is abundant in our world. New solutions are developed daily to address the velocity, variety and volume of data and data products. There are many different technology solutions available to manage data collection, organization, manipulation, analysis, visualizations and reporting processes. Choosing the right solution is one step in an organization’s path toward digital transformation. But leaders must also ask, why are employees resisting the change? What if employees:
- Are not adequately trained to use technology?
- Refuse to adopt new technologies when previous methods worked?
- Are asked to change processes they have used for decades?
- Underutilize an expensive technology solution?
If an organization’s culture will not accept change, digital transformation will fail.
In 2022, the Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), the headquarters to U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC), appointed its first command Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO) to avoid this kind of failure. Creating a position to prioritize and manage digital transformation shows the importance of the effort to the command. To accelerate digital transformation, ATEC required subordinate organizations to hire CDAOs and position them directly under the organization’s senior civilian, highlighting the position’s importance to the organization.
INCREASING CULTURAL MATURITY: SEVEN COLUMNS OF CULTURE
As the ATC CDAO, I identified seven key factors to improve cultural maturity to successfully drive the organization toward digital transformation: leadership, communication, invest in people, employee engagement, encourage creativity, competition and relationships.
Leadership
Support from senior leadership is essential for establishing the importance of data-driven decision-making. When leaders emphasize the role of data in their organizational strategies, missions or campaign plans, they provide an example and clear direction for employees. According to a 2018 article, “Unlocking success in digital transformations,” once the vision is communicated from leadership, it becomes imperative for working level teams to align with these data-driven priorities. This alignment ensures cohesion and maximizes the impact of data initiatives across the organization.
The first column of culture, leadership. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
Communication
Leaders must clearly explain how new technology and processes will improve daily efforts, and how additional effort will benefit the workforce in the long run. Keeping everyone informed minimizes surprises and makes employees feel valued. Open communication creates a space for feedback and questions. When people feel heard and see their ideas incorporated, they take ownership and pride in the changes, ultimately leading to a successful transformation.
The command uses town halls, bi-weekly workshops, emails and knowledge sharing platforms (e.g., SharePoint and OneNote) to communicate digital transformation ideas including data governance, data management, data visualization and biases. These methods reach a larger audience, ensuring employees are well informed about upcoming changes, and highlights the importance of the changes.
The second column of culture, communication. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
Invest in people
When implementing changes, offering employees adequate training and time to learn the new tools prior to full-scale deployment reinforces command support. Leaders can demonstrate their support by implementing a gradual introduction of changes and allowing adequate time for employees to get up to speed. It’s not just about learning new skills but also making sure everyone feels comfortable with the changes. A little extra time and support can make a huge difference.
By hosting CDAO workshops and data literacy courses, employees have multiple opportunities to learn digital transformation tools while providing substantial lead-in time to embrace technology deployment. These workshops educate and empower employees, resulting in the organization moving over 490 terabytes of data across 493 test programs from on-premises infrastructure to a cloud-based solution, improving the visibility and accessibility of the data. The Army Data Plan also emphasizes the importance of data literacy and ensuring that the right skillsets are at the right location to drive actionable insights from data.
The third column of culture, invest in people. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
Employee engagement
Going digital affects everyone in the organization, which is the reason it’s so important for employees at every level of the organization to provide feedback. Listening to feedback uncovers hidden requirements and ensures implemented changes seamlessly integrate into daily workflows.
As a CDAO I have been proactive in obtaining employee engagement in data governance efforts as described in the Data Management Body of Knowledge, artificial intelligence (AI) projects, data processing development and data sharing efforts. This has resulted in participation in data governance councils, development of extract, transform, load processes and enhanced data visibility across the command. Additionally, a deputy CDAO developmental assignment has been established to include diverse viewpoints and experiences for the digital transformation effort. Upon completing the assignment, the individual returns to their mission area as a champion for data-driven changes.
The fourth column of culture, employee engagement. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
Encourage creativity
While many tools support data wrangling, analysis and visualization, fostering exploration, innovation and exploration in the use of digital transformation tools is key for success. Encourage employees with phrases like “go ahead and experiment,” “what are your ideas?” “here’s another approach to consider,” or “let’s explore this potential solution together.” Promote creative and unconventional thinking. Introduce people to tools and inspire them to envision the possibilities. Ask thought-provoking questions such as: “If you had this data, how could it inform our decisions?”
Leadership’s willingness to embrace failure as part of the learning process has improved employee engagement with new technologies and enabled automation of daily workflows. A fail fast mindset (to identify problems earlier) has given employees the confidence to test a multitude of cloud-based services. According to a 2024 article, “A ‘Fail-Fast’ Culture is Critical To Digital Transformation Success,” argues that no one wants to fail, but organizations can gleam insights and apply their learnings to new digital transformation initiatives. Within the past year, employees have developed novel approaches for processing big data, established automated pipelines for staff-based metrics reporting and moved away from static data presentations to dynamic reporting methods.
The fifth column of culture, encourage creativity. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
Competition
In the Army, competition is the lifeblood of progress. Use competitions to rally your organization around new tools, technologies and data-driven decisions. Benchmark data against others within your organization. Initially, there might be some surprises with the results, but you’ll see a positive shift as leaders inspire their teams to achieve even greater success and surpass their peers. Exploit these friendly rivalries to fuel your digital transformation journey.
ATEC has embraced this by launching an AI competition, which asks subordinate organizations to identify challenges which could be addressed by AI solutions and then gives employees the training and tools to develop those solutions. The most recent winning effort and model leverages AI to identify defects in body armor X-ray images, instead of relying on human review. This challenge provided a hands-on opportunity to experiment with AI tools and yielded an expected savings of 80 analyst hours per month.
The sixth column of culture, competition. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
Relationships
When considering relationships in digital transformation, you may think of data connections, like those used when establishing a dashboard. However, the most vital relationships will always be human ones. Each person in your organization is a stakeholder in this journey and building strong connections strengthens digital transformation progress. Understanding workplace social networks can help leaders identify the best channels for communicating effectively.
Recurring weekly CDAO office hours have served as an opportunity for employees to ask questions and connect to the digital transformation mission. The office hours have built key relationships with test and evaluation professionals on both the technical and support staff. The CDAO team also makes time to visit the test ranges to provide training, observe and address challenges and strengthen the relationships firsthand. External relationships are also critical, partnering with other organizations and contracting companies has helped to push the command across the digital transformation finish line.
The seventh column of culture, relationships. (Illustrations by Brandon Sanders, ATC)
CDAO INSIGHTS
Here are insights for leading digital transformation within their organization:
Stay positive. Digital transformation is a significant undertaking, and it is easy for employees to become discouraged by slow progress. Your organization needs to see progress, even in the face of difficulties. Stay positive, and together, you’ll navigate through any obstacles.
Be everywhere and available. Engage with every member of the organization. Be present and involved, demonstrating your commitment to walking alongside everyone through this transformative journey. Share in their successes and struggles as they adapt to changes.
Keep it simple. Individuals enter digital transformation initiatives with varying levels of data proficiency. Help simplify the information and focus on what they need to be effective. Simplicity is key; the easier we make things, the more effectively we can build a coalition.
Be bold. Digital transformation can be daunting, but don’t be intimidated. Adopt a baseball mindset: Even the most successful hitters only hit .300. Which means they embrace failure 70% of the time. Step up to the plate with confidence and swing for the fences.
Listen. Change can be difficult and it’s natural for people to have questions and feel frustrated. Be available to hear their concerns and acknowledge their emotions. When someone shares their frustrations or worries, take the time to understand their perspective. Resist the urge to provide immediate solutions. Consider their input as data that can shape future requirements. Revisit the topic later when they are ready to embrace change. By doing so, you are addressing their concerns and fostering an environment of trust and mutual respect, making the transition smoother.
Endure. This initiative is a marathon, not a sprint. Focus on building a foundation for lasting success and growth, even beyond your time in the role. Celebrate the small wins to build a positive culture that will continue to grow and be resilient to future change.
CONCLUSION
While technology plays a vital role in digital transformation, the culture ultimately determines the success of a datacentric strategy. By shifting the focus from solely technology-driven approaches to a culture-centric approach, organizations can successfully unlock the full potential of digital transformation, drive meaningful change and create a foundation for long-term success. Considering the columns of culture, an organization can start to treat data as an asset and let data work for them.
For more information, contact Brendan M. McCreary at Brendan.m.mccreary.civ@army.mil.
BRENDAN M. MCCREARY is the CDAO at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He holds an M.S. in data analytics from Southern New Hampshire University and a B.A. in mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps.
CONTRIBUTORS:
GREESHMA M. GEEVARGHESE is the deputy chief data and analytics officer at the U.S. Army Test Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. She is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps.
MELISSA R. STEFFEN, PH.D., is the technical director of the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. She is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps and a DAWIA Certified Practitioner in test and evaluation.
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