Organisations need to make sure that digital skills, mindset and behaviour are part of everyone’s job.

This doesn’t mean that everyone in the organisation needs to be a social media whizz or expert coder. But it does mean that everyone should practise a ‘digital’ mindset, for example, thinking about digital solutions to problems and learning from data in order to make improvements.

People need to have digital capabilities that are relevant to their specific job. For example:

• a supporter care manager should have the skills to talk to supporters on social media;
• a marketing or fundraising officer should be able to design and manage an email campaign;
• a campaigner should know how to create online supporter journeys and manage online actions;
• an information or help line person needs to learn how to provide information/support to people contacting the organisation on social media.

HR teams need to understand what digital skills are needed and what behaviours encourage culture fit for a 21st century, digitally mature organisation.

Salary grades can be an obstacle for recruiting digital talent. Grades need to keep pace with the digital shift in the job market. Otherwise, it can be difficult to attract the people with the right digital skills and knowledge and the commitment to the organisation.

Digital capacity can be developed through the recruitment of new people or through staff development and training.

Things to think about

• Are digital capabilities (skills, attitudes and behaviours) required for all roles?
• Is your digital lead involved in the creation of job descriptions or the recruitment of roles in other teams?
• Does your HR team know how to find digital experts and people with ‘digital’ mindset?