This week’s webinar for DWCAU 2024 had a vibrant and informative discussion. Our panel discussed the causes and consequences of low digital literacy, the challenges for improving it, the role of leaders in fostering a culture of learning, the impact of age and diversity on digital skills, and the opportunities and threats of artificial intelligence.
The Challenges
Digital Literacy
The ability to use information and communication technologies in the workplace can be hindered by any number of barriers, some of it institutional (lack of leadership in ability to upskill in the use of new technology/tools by employees) or personal (employees not taking ownership of their own learning and upskilling).
Nicole Harlow on challenges for non-digitally native employees
“if you were not from a digital first generation, you are going to find yourself challenged by different technology and therefore your appetite for it might not be as high…I think that’s having an impact across organisations. You’ve seen your leaders aren’t as literate as people you know using these tools…”
Ageism and Personal Responsibility
The issue of ageism in the workforce was discussed and how it affects both older and younger workers in terms of digital literacy and career opportunities.
Lauren Ryder on ageism
“Ageism isn’t just … old people, but it’s also discrimination against young people as well…we expect young people to come into organisation saying you’re digitally literate because you grew up on your phone…They’re not actually taught those skills in school.”
Change Management
Change Management is often overlooked or underfunded, with many businesses approaching change management as a box to tick off, rather than an opportunity to make ongoing and beneficial change to their business. The lift and shift approach! Placing more time and money into the Change Management process almost always results in increased productivity and more opportunities for employee satisfaction. .
Sharon Connolly on Change Champions
”We actually have more success increasing productivity from bottom up, from getting advocates for that technology in the business… (in that way) everybody in an organisation is a change manager…they just don’t realise it”
Leadership
Leading initiatives that directly improve productivity and adoption – whether at an individual level (an individual’s Digital Literacy) or at an organizational level (during a change project) don’t always have to follow the traditional “top down” approach; and in many ways, senior leaders in organisations need to understand the technology their staff is being asked to implement!
Employers should be prepared to offer training and tools to help their employees grow their digital toolkit, but equally, employees need to take responsibility for this as well.
Lee Stevens on Senior Leaderships responsibility for Digital Literacy
“Start with the senior managers … if they understand it and they can buy into it, it’s easier to roll that out to other departments … if they don’t understand it, they’re never going to buy into it.”
Lauren Ryder on Reverse Mentoring
““it’s where we actually pair young people …more mature people and more experienced in the organisation ; peer-to-peer assistance… we can actually formalise it in a mentoring programme in a way that people can help each other.”
Links
Follow-up tasks
Digital Literacy: Identify and implement a digital literacy capability framework to enhance employee skills. Research the frameworks and tools used in the US and other countries to measure and improve digital literacy in the workforce.
Productivity Measurement: Develop a system to measure and report on productivity improvements from digital literacy initiatives.
Training Effectiveness: Design a feedback mechanism to measure the impact of training on productivity and digital literacy. Find and use the free training resources available online to learn new skills and features of Microsoft 365 and other technologies
Self-Learning Encouragement: Create a program to encourage self-learning and upskilling among employees, focusing on digital literacy.
