Make It Matter: The Surprising Secret for Leading Digital Transformation

A manifesto

I once had a dear friend who loved pretty much everything about his life except for his job. He was a charismatic, larger-than-life person to whom others were naturally drawn. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his interests outside of work. He hated his job. He lived from weekend to weekend and from holiday to holiday. He was literally counting down the days until his retirement, and this was when he was in his thirties and forties, so there were still a lot of days in his countdown. Except that a few years ago he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and three months later he died. I still miss him, and so do all the other people who loved him.

When I think about him I am also sad about all the time he wasted doing work he didn’t love. It was a waste for him because he spent far too many hours of his life being miserable, and he missed the opportunity to do work that was challenging and satisfying. It was a waste for his employer because even though he worked hard and faithfully—he was no shirker—when a person is not engaged in their work they’re not contributing their best. It was a waste for the world because he was a person of great gifts and potential, and we missed out on the amazing things he might have put into the world with that time.

I know so many people like this. People who heave a huge sigh on Monday morning as they make their weary commute to work, hanging on until Friday afternoon when they can have two days of freedom before starting the cycle again. There have been stretches in my own life when I have felt that way too.

In fact, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report from 2013 shows that in Australia and New Zealand only 24 per cent of workers are engaged in their work.¹ The rest are either ‘not engaged’, meaning they lack motivation and are less likely to put in extra effort towards reaching organisational goals (60 per cent), or ‘actively disengaged’, meaning they are unhappy and unproductive at work and may spread that negativity to their co-workers (16 per cent).

I hate the idea that so many people with so much to offer, to themselves and to the world, are spending their time and their energy doing work they don’t care about. It’s wrong. It’s an enormous waste. I am not saying that everyone should love every aspect of their work every day. There will always be parts of it we’re not crazy about, and there will always be times when our motivation ebbs. But believing in your work and knowing that it matters, yes, that is possible.

At the same time, organisations of all kinds need to transform themselves to survive and thrive in a digital, disrupted world. Leading this change under any circumstances is difficult. Leading it with a team that doesn’t care about making it happen is impossible. Leaders of transformation need the contributions of everyone’s best ideas, unique characteristics, talents and energy.

I believe the key to leading this kind of change successfully is to bring more meaning to the work: meaning for ourselves, meaning for our teams, meaning for our customers. It’s about making a real difference and knowing what that difference is. It’s about believing in what you do. It’s about making it matter.

This means we need to change our conversation from one that speaks only in data and analysis, technology and processes, to one that speaks to people at a deeper level—to their experiences, feelings and aspirations. Paradoxically, as the world becomes more digital and automated, we create the greatest value by being more human. It’s time to get personal about work.

1 The percentage of engaged workers is higher in Australia and New Zealand than in most other places. Worldwide, it’s only 13 per cent.

The dragonfly

Why is there a dragonfly on the cover of a book about the rather odd combination of digital transformation, information technology and storytelling? Let me explain.

The dragonfly is a symbol of change and transformation because it begins its life in water and then moves into the air and flies. Digital disruption calls for your organisation to change and transform, and building the skills you need to lead this change may call for you and your team to transform.

The dragonfly is a symbol of agility. Dragonflies can change direction very rapidly, with no apparent effort, just as agile organisations and teams do.

Because they are found near water, a symbol of emotional depth, dragonflies are associated with the idea of looking beneath the surface for deeper meaning. As we’ll explore in this book, stories are a tool for looking beneath the surface to reach a greater depth of understanding.

Finally, because of their sprightliness and translucence, dragonflies are a symbol of lightness and joy. Transformation, change and meaning might sound like heavy topics, but they don’t need to be. In fact, change is much more effective when it’s approached with lightness, positivity and humour.

Transformation, change, agility, emotional depth, meaning, lightness and joy. Sounds to me like the perfect symbol for the ideas in this book. May the spirit of the dragonfly be with you.

Who this book is for

I wrote this book with an information technology audience in mind, especially chief information officers (CIOs), digital strategists and their teams. There are a couple of reasons for this.

One is that I worked in IT for many years, first as a programmer and later as a business analyst, a project manager, a team leader and a director of strategic initiatives. For much of that time I worked within organisations where IT was a support or enabling function, not the core business, and this means I have firsthand experience of the fractious relationship IT usually has with its internal customers. I have a great deal of