McLean & Company outlines how HR shapes culture, engagement, and success in a tech-driven future
As artificial intelligence (AI) and other technological advancements reshape the work landscape, HR professionals face the challenge of ensuring they and their organizations keep pace.
In response, McLean & Company has published HR's Role in Driving Meaningful Digital Transformation, offering insights into HR's responsibilities and key considerations for enabling successful digital transformation.
The firm emphasizes that HR is essential in guiding organizations through transformational change.
In the publication, McLean & Company outlines how digital transformation involves a large-scale shift in technology that opens up new possibilities for business models.
HR’s expertise in people management is crucial here, bringing attention to cultural dynamics, workload, employee engagement, inclusion, and equity—factors integral to the success of any transformation.
Lisa Highfield, principal director of HR Technology and AI at McLean & Company, states that “technology either disrupts or disrupts and transforms organizations.”
She further explains that expanding the definition of digital transformation success highlights HR's critical contributions, particularly in managing the people aspects. Success, Highfield notes, ultimately depends on how well people, processes, and technology collaborate to support organizational health.
To support HR leaders in navigating these rapid advancements, McLean & Company’s resource covers four key areas essential to digital transformation:
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Defining digital transformation: The initial section details digital transformation’s evolution and what constitutes success, while also noting significant risks if organizations resist or misplace efforts.
Successful transformation goes beyond technology, impacting organizational health, competitive advantage, return on investment, implementation speed, and employee experience. Failure to embrace digital transformation can undermine these critical outcomes.
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The need for HR’s involvement: McLean & Company explains that while digital transformation is typically led by IT, HR's input is essential for integrating a people-focused perspective.
Research indicates that organizations where HR is a strategic partner are 2.7 times more likely to excel at innovation and 1.8 times more likely to adapt quickly on a large scale.
Without HR’s insights into workforce needs—such as workload balancing and change management—employees risk becoming overburdened and disengaged.
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Key success factors: The resource identifies four critical success factors HR must address to drive transformation effectively:
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Culture
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People and relationships
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Skilled and empowered employees
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Change management
HR’s unique role in fostering organizational culture is paramount, as shaping culture is expected to be HR’s top-rated value-add by 2030. By reinforcing behaviours aligned with the organization’s digital goals, HR can guide transformation more effectively.
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Strategic focus for HR’s efforts: Recognizing HR's limited resources, McLean & Company advises focusing on factors that have the most impact.
By assessing current strengths and weaknesses in these areas, HR can prioritize its efforts strategically, helping the organization reach transformation goals.
Strategic HR teams can leverage transformation’s downstream benefits to solidify HR’s role as a valuable partner in achieving broader organizational objectives.
Highfield explains that “technological changes are process changes, which are ultimately people changes.”
She emphasizes HR's critical role as a culture steward, responsible for identifying which cultural elements will aid or hinder digital transformation.
By activating key success factors, HR, as the expert in people management, supports and amplifies the behaviours essential for transformation success.
McLean & Company underscores the need for HR to maintain an anticipatory approach, noting that the continuous advancement of technology and the global business environment can render even the best-laid plans outdated without regular reassessment.
By staying proactive, HR can help their organizations remain competitive and innovative in the future of work.
