In this blog we share recent learnings from the ‘Delivering your Digital Strategy Accelerator’, delivered in partnership with Charity Digital and funded by Okta for Good.

At Dot Project we believe your team is your superpower - especially when it comes to developing your digital strategy.  Uniting your team to weave their exceptional skills and insights into your organisational digital vision forms the foundations necessary to embrace a digital future.  

Your digital strategy is the guide for how your organisation uses digital and technology to achieve its goals and working together as a team to implement that strategy is essential. In this blog post, we draw on our experience supporting 17 organisations through our Digital Strategy Accelerator, to uncover the reasons why teamwork is key.

Firstly it’s worth acknowledging the common challenges we hear from organisations when we begin scheduling sessions that require a whole team’s commitment:

‘We don’t have the time and we lack the internal resources to bring people together’

‘We’re struggling to get buy-in from key stakeholders that this is a necessary use of our time’

‘We have lots of priorities and they compete for our resources’

Of course, all of these are very valid challenges, but we’ve learned that when a team is aligned, it actually brings the golden gift of time. If a team is aligned on the importance and need to build a digital strategy collectively, it then becomes much easier to dedicate time together.

Developing, and certainly implementing, an effective digital strategy is not a task that can be accomplished single-handedly.  Here’s why we think it should be a team endeavour:

1) Your collective skills are greater than the sum of their parts

A participant in our Digital Strategy Accelerator shared that working as a team ‘started conversations and planning that we just didn't seem to have time for before’. Digital projects are multifaceted, often encompassing technical, creative, and project management skills and it’s extremely unlikely that a single individual possesses the complete range of skills, knowledge and experience required for a project's success. By embracing a collective approach, you give space to tap into the expertise of your full team.  In doing so, you also create the opportunity to learn from one another, to create shared experiences and to build collective confidence.  By combining your expertise, you’re able to boost the likelihood of project successes and deliver greater outcomes. This collective knowledge also helps in identifying potential blind spots and mitigating risks. 

In a previous project we discovered through conversations with a team that there were a series of quick wins to improve the data collection process within their case management system.  One person responsible for measuring impact was struggling to get access to complete data sets, for her this was a real and big issue.  The service delivery team did not fully see the implication of leaving a data entry process unfinished, which often happened if they ran out of time at the end of an appointment.  By coming together the team was able to see the situation from different perspectives and evolve their service accordingly.  

2) True shared accountability and ownership

One Accelerator participant told us that working as a team ‘built confidence and shared ownership’; that’s because a collective approach creates greater accountability within your team. When individuals feel their contributions are useful and integral to a project’s success they’re encouraged to take initiative and pride in their work.  Developing a shared sense of responsibility creates the conditions to move forward with determination and motivation.

Our work can shift people from feeling ‘digital is not my job I don’t have the skills for that’ to feeling ‘I helped create this and I want it to succeed, it matters to me and I know there’s a team to support me’.

3) Creates the opportunity for innovation

An Accelerator participant told us that working as a team ‘helped us to innovate and opened us up to other ways of thinking’. Creating spaces to share ideas and perspectives provides the opportunity to solve problems more creatively,to make decisions differently, and to deliver work more quickly!  Different team members will approach problems from distinct angles and this mixing pot of perspectives helps in creating an approach which is functional but also innovative. This has the potential to set you apart in how you are approaching and delivering your digital projects.

Whilst the thought of dedicating time as a whole team to developing and implementing a digital strategy seems daunting, it’s imperative for your organisation’s success. It is a complex task and it demands a multitude of skills, perspectives and experiences in order to be deeply innovative and effective. What’s more, the benefits of sharing the journey with your colleagues, of navigating the challenges together and celebrating the successes as a collective, far outweigh the ‘ease’ of doing it alone. One of our findings from our Digital Strategy Accelerator is that working collectively as a team leads to sustained motivation and focus. So, if you’re aiming to carve a successful path in delivering your digital strategy, think about undertaking that journey as a team and remember going further is easier when you’re going there together.