The 21st-century world is digital. Digital technology dictates many aspects of how people live their lives. It shapes how people learn, how they socialise, how they work and shop. But digital is not only about technology. It’s also about changes and adjustments organisations need to make to survive and thrive.

Many organisations need to go further to embrace digital in order to remain relevant and impactful. This often requires a shift in mindset, to see digital maturation as not just tech-based but a part of our foundational culture and ways of working. We need to cultivate new behaviours and expectations. These need to instil habits and values for a new digital reality, such as making a test-and-learn approach an integral part of our process and encouraging teams to learn from mistakes and from each other.

Technology catalyses change that reaches into all corners of organisations. We need the determination to change by reinventing our ways of working, updating our skills and processes so we can move from vision to action. In order to adapt to a rapidly changing context, we need to foster a culture of trust and accountability that enables agile, decentralised ways of working.

Culture: five levels of maturity

1. Sceptical

Staff are wary of digital and try to avoid it.

2. Respectful

Staff are happy that specialists are dealing with digital.

3. Participative

The organisation understands the value of digital and wants to learn more.

4. Inclusive

Digital is seen as key to success and incorporated into everything.

5. Fundamental

Digital is the principal way to engage supporters and advance our mission.

Average culture score

Overall, for this culture competency, organisations average out at level 3.

Culture scores by year

These graphs show the average scores for culture over the last few years, expressed as a percentage.

  • 2020 60% 60%
  • 2019 62% 62%
  • 2018 60% 60%
  • 2017 56% 56%
  • 2016 54% 54%