Digital Transformation That Sticks: Creating a Capabilities Ecosystem for Effective Learning

Organizations in every industry rely on the skills and abilities of people to drive their success. The need to onboard, retrain and upskill people is nothing new, but widespread digital transformation efforts have exposed gaps in many traditional training models. While instructional design (ID) can help businesses address these gaps by creating customized in-house learning solutions, these often don't get at the core of the challenges. The best approaches to transformation go beyond traditional workforce training and leverage principles across disciplines—including instructional design, organizational change management, psychology, product management and technology—to create capabilities ecosystems. 

Like any ecosystem, a capabilities ecosystem consists of both individuals and their environment, drawing on human, technological and organizational approaches to learning. To take advantage of a capabilities ecosystem, companies must identify the underlying causes of business problems that hinder transformation and growth. In a capabilities-ecosystem approach, stakeholders and advisors critically examine business drivers and talk to leaders in several areas before they recommend a learning strategy that can tackle an organization’s real issues. They then accompany the business on its transformation journey, guiding and supporting its people as they learn and evolve into new ways of working.

Without this holistic approach, companies may fall back on a “learn as you go” strategy that ultimately hinders their transformation. Consider the following scenario:

This is a relatively common situation, changes within an organization are often difficult. But some businesses do succeed at navigating even the most radical digital transformations. Unfortunately, Company A isn’t one of them. They begin implementing a technology shift without preparing their workforce to use and manage important new tools. Every gap in understanding is high stakes, negatively affecting Company A’s customers and threatening Company A’s reputation for reliability. 

An ineffective transformation strategy also prevents Company A from reaching its goal on technology alignment. When the new workflow and procedures are not well established, Company A requires all its resources to settle the chaos. Achieving the goal of harmonizing business processes across the company branches becomes practically impossible. This lack of strategy prevents Company A from planning and executing further optimal, strategic steps.

An upfront investment in creating capabilities ecosystems could have helped Company A avoid this trap. Consider this alternative scenario:

Company B is successful because they implement a capabilities-ecosystem approach. Focused learning solutions aligned to business strategies mean that new knowledge is put into practice more quickly, and employees receive timely and continuous support. As a result, their confidence in using new tools rapidly grows. The far-reaching advantages of this holistic approach are also apparent, as illustrated by Centers of Excellence and new communication channels at Company B, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and dissemination of lessons learned across the organization faster. Company B increases its resilience to new changes and becomes more open to new technology and business advancements in the market. Because they can adapt to changes more quickly, they improve their alignment with the needs of their existing customers and become a more attractive option for new ones.

Like any organization, digitally enabled businesses rely on people to do their best work. By creating capabilities ecosystems, companies put their people first, supporting their growth and empowering them to overcome challenges. Organizational change management and instructional design are at the heart of this approach, providing a solid foundation in research-based strategies and best practices for aligning business goals with employee needs. The ecosystem approach builds on and expands the advantages of both by incorporating business philosophies and addressing mindset, motivation and culture. Ultimately, this helps companies become the most agile and resilient versions of themselves so they can adapt and stay competitive.