Technologists and their business counterparts need a clear understanding of the top technologies being used across the business so they can remove barriers created by knowledge silos, have clearer conversations with better results, and contribute to the business’ success on a new level.
What is tech fluency?
With the fast pace of technology, companies have been racing to digitally transform their organization—but they often don’t include tech fluency, leaving big parts of their workforce behind.
So, what is tech fluency? Does this mean that a person on your legal team needs to understand how to code? No. Tech fluency is not about building a specific skill. Instead, it’s about placing an organization on a path to tech fluency by educating the entire workforce on why a technology matters to the business, how it’s applied, and how it works with other technologies. With a tech-fluent workforce, individuals can experience a shared understanding of key technologies across the business and lean in where it matters most.
A programmatic approach to technology literacy
In order to be successful at creating a tech-fluent workforce, your organization needs to provide employees with an end-to-end, scalable program with engaging content that’s applicable to a wide variety of roles. Sounds like an easy task, right?
Organizations that realize they need to create a shared tech literacy are lost on what tools they need to execute, resulting in disconnection and wasted time. These orgs are seeing that digital transformation offerings are too vague and end up leaving the learner lost in a sea of content. And home-grown content is difficult to create and not scalable.
Build technology literacy into your business strategy
Organizations that are doing this well are building tech fluency into their business strategy—not executing it as a separate initiative. For example, on Accenture’s path to creating a tech-fluent workforce, they identified their business goals, mapped those goals to their technology needs, determined what skills and knowledge their teams had, and then provided employees with the tools and content they needed to grow.
Find a tech literacy champion
Since tech fluency is relevant to the entire workforce, your entire leadership team should be engaged. Accenture’s CEO, Julie Sweet, is a champion of their tech fluency program and actively engages leaders and individuals across the business by creating a company culture that learns together. Sweet will often share what they’re learning and why and how it fuels their business, enabling transformation and innovation.
Provide individuals with the right tools to learn
Next, you’ll want to find a tool that helps your learners feel supported. According to IDC, the top elements leaders should take into consideration when choosing a tool are convenience, quality of instructors, and content quality. Other elements to consider when aiming to provide a positive learning experience include personalized content recommendations and the ability for learners to check their knowledge on a topic and assess out of topics they already know. Courses should focus on the what, why, and how of tech topics, providing learners with the knowledge they need, without getting too technical.
Drive adoption across your workforce
Your technology literacy initiatives should be positioned as an opportunity to grow and collaborate with team members. Engage your entire workforce in learning challenges, allow for dedicated learning time, or provide them with a chance to collaborate with their colleagues on a project where they can practice their learnings. The best way to drive adoption of tech fluency isn’t through force, it’s through fun.
Help leaders measure progress of your tech fluency initiative
Last but not least, you need a way to measure progress toward your goals and help leaders understand where their teams are at. This will allow you to recognize top learners at your organization, increase engagement, and communicate your outcomes back to the business.
