Super Hero
Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we really listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other. We are constantly being re-created.
-Brenda Ueland
So far we’ve explored various aspects of our physical world, the physics behind them, and the implication to IT organizations. We looked at the various ways we can think of mass (people, assets, capabilities). We also looked at acceleration with it’s related constituents of displacement and velocity. Finally we looked at force, and a sampling of the types of headwinds which an IT organization faces.
Achieving meaningful change is hard – and the greater the mass, or greater the force of headwinds, the more difficult it is to succeed. It begs the question of “what forces can we marshall to achieve the change we need?”
Not only the greatest force, but table stakes for meaningful change is leadership. IT leaders have a very broad audience of customers, a diverse set of needs to satisfy, and in many cases operate in a world alien to their peers around the board room table. The also are expected to keep one foot in the future while satisfying today’s demands. It’s a tough job. In order to make meaningful change in this environment, a strong leader is required. Someone that inspires confidence in everyone in the company. Lead everyone from the IT department, to the business units, to the functional departments (and possibly the CEO and Board of Directors). Lead them to a better place and through the dark passages they have in front of them. Without this, there will be no meaningful change.
With leadership comes vision. The force of vision is very powerful as it crystallizes not only the problem in it’s essence but the desired future state and how to get there. It crosses organizational and functional boundaries. It overcomes internal politics, provides the juice, and catalyzes a company to action. The best tool I know of for describing and selling a powerful vision is a simple, highly tangible (possible quite large) sheet of paper that graphically describes the journey, end state, benefits (what’s in it for me / us) and allows all cross functional stakeholders to get their fingerprints on the “map” – which makes them a part of solution and gains leverage into their organizations. This vision, should it be powerful enough can activate change both formally and informally.
Formal change will muster the force of a business case. I categorize business cases as a force because with an approved business case comes a number of other forces.
Informal change will leverage the force of enabling technology. As Clay Shirkey describes in “Here Comes Everybody”, mankind is a highly social species and the technological tools of today extend the reach and amplify the message of those using them. Common communication tools of mobile phones and their cousin the instant message services, and applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn remove formal barriers. Seth Godin, in his book “Tribes” elequently shows how anyone can be a leader, not just those with the VP or CxO titles.
Execution is another required force. I’m not referring to a one time successful execution of a project, but a culture of execution. A culture which operates at a high level will not only deliver results quicker, but far more predictably. It will also inherently avoid many of the crisis that others stumble into.
Cash is another force at the disposal of the IT organization. Cash unto itself does not provide a force, but it does enable the acquisition of the above forces and in doing so compensate for any weakness of inadequacy. While leadership is essential, cash will allow this leadership to be supported by coaching and guidance, new and fresh thinking and approaches can be brought to bear, enabling technologies can be introduced / unleashed, and investments made to better align the culture and move it closer to one which executes at a high level.
These forces can move mountains. What is not on the list of forces an IT organization can bring to bear is the classic ERP, CRM, BI system. Like so many things, I believe it all comes back to people.
