Building and Inspiring Digital Teams That Win

Start with the Work, Not the Titles

Before hiring, define the problems to solve:

• Can customers easily reorder?

• Can reps generate quotes on the fly?

• Is product data accurate and complete?

Those answers dictate roles—product owners, merchandisers, data analysts—not vanity titles.

Hire Translators, Not Tourists

Digital success comes from people who bridge departments, not code languages.

Look for curious employees who already “get it,” customer service reps who know pain points, and product managers who know the SKUs inside out.

Train them. Empower them. Keep them.

Organize for Execution

Choose a structure that fits your culture:

• Centralized Team: Owns roadmap and standards.

• Embedded Experts: Sits within departments but shares governance.

• Center of Excellence: Small senior group enables others.

Whatever the model, ensure weekly syncs across Sales, Ops, IT, and Customer Service.

Inspire Through Impact

Top talent joins missions, not companies.

Show them how their work drives margin and customer ease.

Involve digital teams in quarterly business reviews, product roadmaps, and customer feedback loops.

Give them visibility and credit. They’ll give you momentum.

Retain with Recognition

Celebrate adoption wins. Highlight team contributions.

Invest in their growth through training, certifications, and peer roundtables.

Digital teams that feel like owners act like owners.

AI as an Accelerator

Use AI to remove busywork, not replace humans.

Automated data cleansing and content generation free talent to focus on customer value and UX innovation.

AI makes your team more strategic—if leadership trusts them to use it.

Executive Play

Ask:

• Do we have a digital team or just a web admin?

• Can our team influence strategy, not just execute tickets?

• When was the last time we publicly celebrated a digital win?

If you can’t answer confidently, you don’t have a team—you have a task list.

Closing Insight

You don’t need a hundred developers.

You need ten inspired translators.

Build for impact, reward for outcomes, and your digital talent will build a business worth staying for.