What I learnt at the BITC awards; the challenges of digital transformation and how to find solutions to the inequalities in socitety

On the 11 July, I had the privilege of being invited to join an afternoon with future leaders at The O2, ahead of the star studded Business in the Community (BITC) Awards evening.

This was the first time I had any real involvement with BITC and I have to say I found it very eye opening and thought provoking. The BITC quite frankly support amazing work by encouraging organisations to strengthen their HR and Corporate Responsibility approaches.

Historically, I would have fallen into the 'unconvinced' category of the impacts this can make on a business and a team.

However, over the past two years I’ve personally been at the centre of some of Ricoh’s CR activities. From CV workshops, interview preparations, school visits and of course, our More Than Hope gala event where we raised £45,000 for the Princess’s Trust.

What I found rather interesting with the BITC is how they set high standards between the member organisations, to take their business skills out and into projects that make a real difference to people. They basically help leaders think strategically about their impact and co-create solutions which enable them to grow responsibly. Such activities would be recognised as:

• Practical guidance that help businesses review, improve, measure and report activity
• Give benchmarking tools which help companies measure and report on responsible business
• Integrating the delivery of positive social and environmental outcomes

The Eagle has landed

Earlier in the day, I sat in three workshops with people classified as ‘Mind Blowers’. This seemingly overstated name caused intrigue in my mind. Out of the three, I want to highlight one. That is Lewis from Barclays, who was touted as the inspiration behind the Barclays Digital Eagles. Lewis had a story that took him from an Accountancy degree, to being at the front of an internal (and then external) digital transformation project. Its goal was to bring up employees competence in new technology, to a level that meant they (the staff) could keep in touch with customers. It was the approach that I want to highlight.

This was a top-down project that had sound footing, strategic intent, financial support and based on user insight. It was structured on methodologies like DMAIC and Six Sigma and had such a fundamental impact on so many people. It showed the group the importance of thinking big, keeping focused, listening to others and accepting guidance throughout the journey.

We can all learn from this ambassadorial approach.

The awards

HRH The Prince of Wales spoke at the opening and made mention of some important topics.

• The need to embrace the circular economy that focusses on generating value through smart design and efficient resource-management
• The need to find solutions to a carbon constrained world, which he announced a new initiative with corporate partners

The ceremony (like many awards) tended to drag a touch but only because the stories of the winners were so compelling. Let me share a couple that struck accord with me.

• The Championing an Ageing Workforce Award; won by St Leger Homes of Doncaster New Directions Programme - The panel was impressed by the power of the business case for action on age at work. Taking action to retain and retrain older workers clearly helped to grow the organisation. The experiences people in the business have are; regular 'career conversations' promote opportunities and support available, flexible support to retrain, enabling people to change career changes and stay in employment longer and a redeployment register for those staff requesting alternative employment.
• International Disaster Relief Award; won by iDT labs - The small company winner was also involved in responding to the Ebola outbreak. This winner's extraordinary work involved developing a reliable payments system for health workers in Sierra Leone in just six weeks, all of which prevented a potentially disastrous strike by Ebola relief health workers.

Above image: Ricoh's CEO, HR Director and Finance Director hosted a group of future leaders at the awards

The big picture

What was clear from the whole day was that big business is working hard to distil macro topics down to practical projects for the benefit of the community, but also themselves. Profit is not a dirty word here and clearly supports initiatives like the BITC – without it they would not survive.

But its not just big business. Smaller businesses were much involved too, both from a UK and International perspective. Small businesses can follow with scale and creativity. Just look at the Ebola case above. An amazing impact of technology. Small businesses are proving that getting involved in this activity keeps talent and inspires people to give more.

The outgoing CEO Stephen Howard put it very well. He recognised the complex challenges that digital transformation poses us all still and how we need to address the inequalities in society, in order to open new markets, attract and nurture talent and motivate employees.

His left the audience with a challenge. And that was to continue to innovate ways to help communities to engage with business.

Being my first time with the BITC, I couldn't help but reflect on the word ‘collaboration’ and how crucial this is between communities and businesses of all sizes.

What can leadership teams learn in SMEs from all this?

• BITC standards and approaches can keep your staff with you
• Diversity in the workforce can be built into core competences
• When young talent considers your business, they will consider your community activities
• Build CR activity into your training and development programmes
• CR activity can give people a purpose to work for you
• It will help you think more creatively
• Lean manufacturing processes can help bring staff together for a mutual business and social goal

Thanks to the BITC for an excellent evening.