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If we observe top companies in any industry, we notice they have one thing in common: innovation. Successful business leaders recognize when the same ideas and methods used before aren't working anymore. Smart, innovative approaches are needed for our hybrid working environment. The ABCD business model shows that present organizations spend the majority of their time on activities related to business administration (A) and doing repetitive work (D). The rest of the time is allocated to dealing with crises (C), and only nominally to improving the ways business is done (B). Digital transformation, competition, and the need for organizations to leverage technology and innovation in the future will 'force' organizations to maintain A, increase B, and (strategize how to) decrease C and D. Two initiatives will be unpacked and common elements will be identified as indicators in improving B. Five ways to change the game and become a human-focused organization that promotes innovation are proposed based on our learnings: People: 1. Encourage a growth mindset of continuous learning, creativity in how problems are solved, and flexibility how work gets done, 2. Encourage innovative thinking; create innovative groups, 3. Build skills, e.g., analytical thinking, innovation, creativity, and initiative, Workplace: 4. Design a psychologically safe culture, where people are included, can learn, have a sense of belonging, are appreciated, and valued for who they are and what they contribute and challenge. Technology: 5. Create an experimentation lab to TRY-TEST-ADAPT in rapid cycles to learn and fail/learn fast or advance the innovation. We are faced with multiple, messy issues that require out-of-the-box thinking and innovative solutions. Capturing lessons learned can build leading indicators that will help improve B. A simulation dashboard that quantifies the change is an innovation tool we plan to develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation has become a necessity in our volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. In their 2019 report, APQC found that 75% of organizations are undergoing digital transformation. Successful digital transformation requires a strong foundation of people, process, technology and content. Deep stakeholder engagement is important in early phases of change when transformation initiatives inform leaders and users why change is needed. Top drivers for digital transformation have business (e.g., increased efficiency and productivity) and people (e.g., optimize user experience with knowledge discovery) facets. Another dimension that adds complexity to initiatives is large, geographically dispersed organizations. Employees require a platform for collaboration on projects, documents and idea generation to meet business needs and enable them to be more efficient and effective in their daily jobs. This paper presents an example of digital transformation in practice led by Knowledge Management within Alberta Health Services (AHS). AHS is Canada’s first and largest province-wide, fully-integrated health system with more than 102,700 employees. The design, development and implementation of a collaborative platform within this large organization required close orchestration of stakeholder commitment and engagement, represented by a continuum of stakeholders’ engagement formats, relationship- and trust-building. The platform prototype was implemented with 19 selected business areas and it has demonstrated the potential to enable system transformation if implemented organization-wide. Setting the stage for successful implementation included: 1. Reviewing best practice organizations, literature and organizational environmental scan 2. Designing logical steps from innovation to system transformation - 13 steps grouped in 4 domains – System-critical thinking, orient strategically for the future, encourage and support innovation, champion and orchestrate change 3. Creating the Business Steward Role to support platform implementation at department level. 4. Embedding proven and emerging knowledge management approaches in the flow of work Business value was demonstrated with an initial ROI calculation on time savings due to more efficient coordination of meetings; feedback from users and cultural change was facilitated by people working together to find solutions to business challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]