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A large UK Government department was able to uncover the true barriers to achieving digital maturity using BAD’s behavioural insight. Identifying opportunities to increase understanding, confidence and communication around the personal benefits of digital transformation, BAD was able to develop targeted, evidence-based strategies to upskill their workforce and embrace new technologies.
Global
Finance
200,000
Our client is a large department within the UK Government.
Our client wanted to improve digital confidence and capability within their organisation to take their digital maturity level from ‘emerging’ to ‘mature’.
They believed their main challenges were their out dated digital systems and a lack of time for training due to heavy workloads.
As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, organisations need to keep improving their digital capabilities to stay competitive, adaptable and resilient. Those with strong digital skills can more effectively leverage tools and platforms to drive innovation, improve efficiency, communicate effectively and make informed decisions. Strong digital capabilities also reduce the risk of security breaches and ensures a workforce is better equipped to tackle challenges and keep up with evolving regulations. Organisations that fall behind are then increasingly vulnerable to security breaches.
We took an in-depth analytical approach to investigate if issues around digital confidence were caused by systems and a lack of time for training, or whether there were any other hidden barriers at play. We applied mixed methods comprising qualitative and quantitative research, while ensuring a representative sample of employees.
We uncovered some surprising insights! Challenging assumptions, while the existing systems were less than optimal, this wasn’t the main barrier. Employees actually felt unheard and disempowered due to a lack of clarity and communication. They didn’t understand the personal benefits of digital changes and didn’t feel like they had consistent support. This paired with their full workloads meant they didn’t feel like they had enough time to commit to training, leading to overall negative feelings towards the digital changes.
Utilising all this insight, we reframed the challenges through a behavioural science lens and developed a suite of evidence-based strategies to help our client influence behaviours and build their team’s digital confidence.
Challenge 1: Low skill level and lack of time
Full training days are not feasible for those with a heavy workload and if employees already don’t feel confident in their skills, this can lead to employee paralysis, where employees feel like they can’t move forward.
We recommended delivering bitesize learning, with learning and tasks broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks, to reduce the overwhelm and make it more digestible and memorable.
Challenge 2: Feeling unheard and disconnected
A lack of clarity and communication can lead to demotivation and disconnection. Particularly with digital transformation, employees often feel unheard and like decisions are made without considering them.
We recommended taking an inclusive approach, increasing user involvement and offering opportunities to share feedback to help employees feel heard. We also suggested promoting a shared identity to increase connection and bolsters buy-in and ownership.
Challenge 3: Overcoming negative perceptions
With these underlying barriers identified, it became clear that employees had developed a negative perception of digitisation. They saw it as something to endure rather than embrace.
We needed to reframe it and help employees connect with it as a benefit. We recommended using messaging to repackage digital skills as a powerful way to streamline processes and a tool to work more efficiently, freeing up time to focus on more important aspects of their roles.
Overall, we were able to identify key areas to re-connect with employees, bring them into the process and build trust and excitement for the opportunity that developing their digital capabilities can bring.
We'd love to explore the potential for behavioural science to inspire positive change within your organisation.
