You're probably familiar with IQ and EQ, but what about technology quotient or TQ? Defined as the ability to use technology to make a difference, TQ is more than just knowing technology. It's about technology fluency and how we talk to each other about it.
Achieving high TQ is extremely important in construction, especially if you want to continue innovating and ensuring a high ROI from those innovations. However, in his 25+ years working in the technology industry, he has never seen her TQ for all IT and business professionals lower than this.
Yes, we have invested in these digital tools for 10 years, so our team still has them to use successfully. But the question is, why aren't we seeing the productivity gains and return on investment that we built in our business case?
One reason for this may be that teams struggle to extract information from the technology they use and have difficulty communicating insights to others. Industry data shows that the average construction manager spends more than one-and-a-half days each week just searching for the data they need to perform their jobs. Additionally, 80% of construction businesses have entry-level or emerging data capabilities and data maturity.
Without the right data, we won't be able to speak the same language and will struggle to have practical conversations. High TQ allows you to use a common language to translate information and achieve a common understanding across the organization. This is especially important as emerging technologies such as AI continue to transform industries.
So how can you increase your overall TQ? I recently spoke on stage at AU 2023 to discuss the technology quotient in the construction industry and what teams can do to improve.
Check out my recent talk at Autodesk University 2023.
How to increase your organization's TQ: It starts with momentum
Increasing an organization's TQ requires specific drivers (events, policies, incentives, etc.) that encourage people to change their technology practices.
Factors come in many forms, but two of the most powerful are life-changing events and money. Let's take a closer look at these below.
Big events that force people to learn and adapt
I think everyone remembers what happened in March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone home and forced companies to transition to remote work.
For Burns & McDonnell, this meant moving to video conferencing using Microsoft Teams. Before the pandemic, we were moving to Teams. As an IT leader, I spearheaded the effort to migrate from Skype to Teams and faced a lot of resistance. After we were all sent home, it was amazing to see over 12,000 people adopting technology so quickly to ensure business continuity. COVID-19 was the key event that drove this dramatic technology adaptation and TQ enhancement.
Remember that while people have the ability and desire to improve and increase their TQ, they often need the impetus or desire to do so.
The universal language of money
Another type of driver is the universal language of money.
Increasing TQ requires making better technology decisions based on the business outcomes everyone is trying to achieve. The problem is that most people don't have the digital acumen when it comes to technology adoption and the costs of making it happen.
I would compare it to adopting a puppy without the understanding of the family. It's easy to sign the adoption papers and bring home that cute fur baby. But once you bring home a puppy, reality sets in and you realize that adopting a puppy is not a one-time expense. There are ongoing expenses such as food, vet fees, toys, and other family members will also need to care for the puppy.
The same goes for software. Without a high TQ, there will be a lack of digital judgment over the technology lifecycle, not to mention the human interaction, support, and financial investment necessary to achieve the ROI that the business case had planned for. .
Increasing TQ involves increasing awareness of total cost of ownership (TCO). TCO is essential for clarity, and it is much more effective to perform a total cost analysis before a transaction. You can make a six- or seven-figure investment in technology. It's just an admission ticket. Getting value from that investment requires people with technology skills and, more importantly, organizations that are willing to adopt new technologies.
At Burns & McDonnell, we put TCO awareness into practice by providing transparency into our technology spend. Every quarter, one of my teams submits a so-called IT bill. Rather than treating technology as a simple line item, the bill provides a detailed breakdown of technology costs. We provide cost data to help business leaders determine the benefits and value they receive from our systems and technology.
I also lead the Cloud Financial Operations team, where I focus on monitoring product consumption. They have implemented a model where they bill our business units based on actual technology consumption.
All of this helps our organizations mature their understanding of technology, and they use the universal language of money to do so. These processes support decision-making for business leaders to understand whether their technology investments are delivering value. Overall, this improves TQ and improves digital decisions.
Improve overall TQ with learning and development
Like developing any other skill or trait, improving TQ should be a continuous process. We need training that encourages everyone to be open to learning about technology and innovation. One thing I would like to say now is that “learning is our job.”
Leaders need to find ways to embed learning and development into people's daily routines and make it easier for their teams to consume and absorb content.
I really like this example from Accenture. They have created a YouTube channel full of easy learning options. The videos are less than 2 minutes long and contain 101 levels of content. These are things that users can do asynchronously at their own time. It's simple, short and very easy to understand.
We're going to build this and give it to companies so that when we have conversations across the company, we're having a more common language. Looking to the future, we want to make sure people have access to the training they need, when they need it. For example, consider the people in the field. One of the challenges these teams have is finding the time to take classes and learn a completely new platform. Introducing snack learning can alleviate this problem by providing instant learning. After all, most people just need answers to questions or explanations of features. It doesn't necessarily require weeks or months of training.
Therefore, integrating continuous and accessible learning tools into your team's daily workflow can ultimately improve overall TQ.
The last word
As a CIO, my job is to enable and empower people outside of the IT organization to securely build and maintain digital capabilities.
Achieving that will depend on all of us having high TQ and sound digital judgment to make the right decisions. That way, people outside of IT can partner with us to help us build better and more secure solutions. And technology isn't just the responsibility of her IT department. Everyone has a role in shaping digital practices.
My goal is to improve everyone's learning ability and increase our overall TQ together.
