Are you too busy to help yourself?

Is it just  me, or are people at work more frenetic than ever?  In an earlier post, one of the main reasons for resistance to adopting new ways of doing things (tools, software, etc.) was that they were already overwhelmed.  But, if you are overwhelmed, doesn't that mean that something's not right to begin with?  

Perhaps there was an influx of capacity that may or may not abate?  Or are processes outdated and not keeping up with what technology can offer in the form of escalation management, so that you are always working on the hot topics and not spinning your wheels on items that can wait? 

Regardless of what conclusion yet get to, the fact is that you're consistently inundated.  Doesn't it sound logical to push back on the normal flow of work to do some analysis so that the problem can be fixed?  I find the problem analgous to dealing with a bursted waterpipe main.  Imagine sending everyone downstairs with pots and buckets to catch the water coming out so that it doesn't flood the building.  If there's a surge in the water coming out, everyone has to run that much faster to handle the load.   Due to the physical issues, the landlord cuts off the water and gets the problem fixed.

Obviously, you can't just shut down your operations completely.  Doesn't it make sense to schedule some capacity for re-tooling or better yet, tap some key personell as efficiency experts that are tasked with finding new and better ways of dealing with the ever increasing demand?

Are you still using outdated communications or processes?  Or are you cutting edge?  What's working?  How big an organization do you have to be before you can afford to hire someone whose entire existence is finding internal efficiencies?

Welcome to the Service Management Group

 We'll be discussing how to best change IT organzations into valued business partners rather than simple support organizations in this group dedicated to Service Management issues.  Specifically will be looking at how to:

• Align with an ever changing business
• Proactively stay ahead of the business' need
• Communicate IT effectiveness back to the business
• Handle the daily operations of IT organizations

 I look forward to our discussions.

About the Moderator

My name is John Manser, and I am privileged to moderate this group.  I’m based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and own GovernanceIT, Incorporated, a consulting firm focused on Governance and Service Management consulting services.  As both a certified governance solution implementer and ITIL consultant, I live and breathe efficiency, effectiveness, and IT perception.

Should you want to take a question or issue offline, feel free to contact me at any of the below: 
 John Manser
Principal,  GovernanceIT, Incorporated
jmanser@governanceit.com
http://www.governanceit.com/

Governance .... not just for IT anymore

Governance in the business world can be defined as the complex inter-workings surrounding the alignment, method, and measurement of a company’s business goals throughout its organization.  As an environment rife with the need for repetitive methods to support business needs, IT has become the poster child for governance solutions … so much so that many cannot say “governance” without prefixing “IT” to it.  However, those thinking governance is only for IT are missing the opportunity to extend true governance benefits throughout their entire organizations.

Governance has tended to manifest itself in IT for several reasons:

·        Strategic projects follow some type of methodology (even if it’s a “code and hope” strategy) as it goes from definition to deployment

·        IT Resources are expensive line items on any company’s balance sheet.  Coordination between what the business needs and what IT is doing is an imperative to spending money effectively

·        Governmental compliance has created challenges in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley and Statement of Position (SOP) 98-1

·        IT tasks tend to be more definable than those in other departments.  Therefore, they have more concrete begin and end times for resource management.

·        IT resources are more specific with regards to skillset.  Knowing when the right skills are available is a prerequisite to effective planning.

The beneficial effects of governance processes and the tools that enable them in IT can lead to improved:

• Alignment with business and stakeholder objectives
• Stakeholder and Project Management visibility
• Compliance and Auditing
• Demand/Idea Management
• Portfolio Management, and
• Asset Management

These benefits allow the CIO to be finally a key player at the executive level deserving a place as a peer to the CFO/COO, not as an underling.  A CIO can now shows business objective-based value rather than simply communicating project statuses.

It can be argued that Sales Force Automation is a form of governance solution.  It codifies sales stages as part of its sales lifecycle, which is directly analogous to a project’s development lifecycle.  It allows for visibility and collaboration.  It helps determine which opportunities to work on and which ones to pass on.

The key concept here, then, is to realize that governance processes can work in non-IT environments where repetitive process, prioritization, and/or collaboration are desirable.  Let’s take a look at each of the governance benefits and see how they can work in a “Marketing Governance” scenario.

As an example, let us create a fictional corporation with an organization layout like the one above.  Marketing Services is responsible for handling all of the disparate demand coming from the different product management groups.  This demand may include day to day web content issues as well as the unveiling of a new product line (strategic demand).  As for the more strategic initiatives, they will also have to manage the diverse factories within their IT and any outsourcing they do.  But before doing that, they will need review and sign-off from Finance and Legal.  The corporate compliance officers will need necessary documentation.  Engineering may need to prototype the idea to ensure success.  Sales, Channels, and Support need to know what to expect so that their teams are prepared to hit the ground running with the new message or product.  Finally, the executive suite may want more unfiltered oversight to ensure their key projects are progressing. 

A main challenge for this marketing group is to determine how to take an idea and make it available in less than the year it is currently taking.  Communication of value to the groups and getting proper priorities among the dozens of key departments is both tedious and time consuming.  A secondary challenge is to ensure that interdependencies between projects are understood.  On more than one occasion, IT has cancelled a task that not only interfered with the campaign tied to it, but another campaign that was not readily apparent.

A governance solution would help in the following ways:

·        Alignment with business and stakeholder objectives – All strategic and day-to-day demand would go through a process filter that would help to determine the business objectives each request was aligned.  All affected parties would understand the priority placed on the overall project and the tasks they are to complete.  At the end of the year, marketing would be able to tell by objective, where there efforts were being invested, whether it be brand innovation, new product introduction, or simply content maintenance.  An interesting by-product of this functionality would be the ability to track those strategic demands that weren’t acted upon and the reason for it.  This could result in the business case for enhanced support or perhaps, a new organizational unit.

·        Stakeholder and Project Management visibility –Marketing has historically thrown their needs “over the wall” to IT.  As the figure shows, multiple departments within IT may be instrumental to the final marketing solution.  Each of these resources, therefore, is critical to the success of the project.  If one cancels or pushes back the schedule, it can affect the entire project, wasting effort and expense.  Creating interdependence between projects may also allow escalation of cancellations so that a domino effect of waste can be averted. 

·        Compliance and Auditing – Process workflows ensuring compliance makes systems easier to adopt as users have little choice in “working around” the system.  Auditing becomes a natural by-product of such a system.  Non-compliance sensitivity can be set as the user sees fit.  

·        Portfolio Management- used for strategic demand, this helps focus efforts on those projects with the most benefit and least risk.  It would also help develop the marketing roadmap by planning when those projects can be started based on budgets and resource capability.

·        Asset Management- Developed campaigns can be tracked and later compared against the original estimates.  This will either prove marketing value or give unmatched lessons learned for developing upcoming ideas.

So, can you see how the idea of governance could profit through your entire organization?  The call to action then would be to invite your Chief Marketing Officer, your Director of Sales, or your C-level team in general into a dialogue for the overall benefit of your company.

I would be interested in the feedback you receive.

John Manser

GovernanceIT, Inc.

678-642-8046

jmanser@goverannceit.com

www.governanceit.com

Facilitating Cultural Adoption

OK, so we’ve talked about the crucial need for cultural adoption and why we have resistance to change. Finally, here’s the money post that outlines what you can do facilitate adoption. Below, in no particular order, is list of potential strategies, some or all of which can be used in concert. For any international viewers of this blog, be aware that this is a very American-centric discussion, I would ask that you share with us cultural adoption techniques that work in your country. Or at least make fun of what works for us. ;-)

• Find your early adopters – In every organization, you will almost always have varying degrees of adoption boldness. You normally know who these groups are already. I haven’t worked the equation out completely, but you’ll find your early adopters are those that fit one or several of the following attributes:

o Those that have specific challenges or pain with the current solution

o Those that are relatively new to the organization and haven’t formed habits

o “Gadget People” – for the lack of a better term, this group includes the guy with the new Bluetooth technology and can already turn on his dishwasher from work or the woman that has the latest wireless thingamabob (technical term) that also accessorizes. They get technology and understand that change is inevitable, or at least are used to change and don’t mind learning something new.

• Find those most likely to oppose – just as important as finding those that want to get on the bandwagon early, know and make contact with those that may oppose the needed change. According to the adage, “One bad apple can spoil the whole apple cart”, and it remains true when your team chats about work. It’s important for them understand why the change is happening and equally important that their views be heard, if not acted upon. It is a also good thing to test ideas out before a huge investment. Perhaps there is some practical middle ground on which to gain consensus, making everyone a winner.

• Stay on point when discussing the change – some may try to draw other frustrations into focus of what you are trying to achieve. Draw the line when issues that this specific change can’t readily solve are surfaced. If they intertwine, it will be harder to gain acceptance.

• When the good of the company, just isn’t good enough – find personal reasons why each employee should want to get on board. While we all want to think optimistically, if you want to achieve thorough success, find the individual reasons why the change should be adopted (e.g. better quality work, less work hours needs, reduction of repetitive tasks, etc.)

• Continued executive presence – there will be a segment of the workforce that will follow leadership without asking questions … as long as the leader is seen to following the path prescribed. Ensure that key people are visible and vocal about the change that’s happening.

• Allow your teams to have some ownership - Ask for guidance from your teams and show openness to compromise whenever possible. By being a part of the solution rather than having it thrust upon them, you’ll find much easier adherence. Which leads to the next point:

• Communicate early and often – The earlier your teams know about the upcoming change and the more often they know how it is progressing, the more onboard you allow them to become.

• Treat this as a sales and marketing engagement – Although you shouldn’t have to, group dynamics insists that you’ll have to sell this to your teams. Not your strong suit? Enlist the professionals (your internal marketing group may be able to help) to aid you in finding the benefits both for the company and for the individual and how that information should be framed and meted out.

• Don’t “boil the ocean” – Make sure you don’t create too much change all at one time. Focus and prioritize what needs to be done, do it, and then move on to the next item. It’s OK to have a roadmap and park issues that your organization may confront you with as part of the change process.

• “The things that get measured, get done” – I thought Deming said this, but I can’t verify the quote. However, studies have shown that putting metrics around a behavior lead to quicker adoptation of it. Which gets into a completely new posts and how to be careful in choosing your metrics so that they don’t get gamed. For instance, by making time entry every Monday by noon a necessary item and then being able to objectively measure it and tie it to their annual review, can get people’s attention, although they might not initially be all that intrigued over doing it. By displaying a report of their compliance to this rule (think red/yellow/green dashboard) during the year can also help change behavior in a passive way.

• Document financial reward – Create a before and after picture so that future change is more readily adhered. If it is a great enough reward, you may want to offer some type of bonus to groups or individuals that adhere to the change. • Work in a small group to show success – Some groups not only need the vision, but a working example of how the change will work before coming on board. Find a suitable candidate, whether it be a new project, a newly created group, or simply a challenged department where morale is already in the gutter. In many cases, there’s no place to go but up!

Designate an ‘Agent of Change’

For any or all of the above strategies, you will want to determine who is going to carry the torch for the needed change. Regardless of whether you pick someone from within or external to your organization, ensure that they have the following qualities:

• A clear understanding of the change and all of the benefits it brings with it

• Good listening, written, and verbal skills

• The ability to think quickly on their feet

• Organizational political awareness

• An understanding of the history of the organization

• Has respect or can gain it by the organization

• Patience

• Optimism

• Sensitivity

• Thick skin

This will be a demanding task and may place great pressure on an internal employee / team which will have some baggage going into the position. You can run into issues with an organization member that wanted the position for them and ends up disrupting the initiative. You’ll need to watch out for personal agendas. Sometimes a group is best because it can police itself, but groups can take longer to enact change. You may want to think about going outside the department or organization to find a more “objective” agent to be completely successful.

So what’s worked in getting change instituted in your organization? Please respond to share those activities that are working and why you think they work.

Why we resist change

In a previous post, I noted that there were some specific things that you can start doing to create a more adaptable environment. But one of the questions you might be asking is “Why do I have to do this in the first place?” Why can’t I take on the attitude of the ‘Borg’ alien of “Star Trek” fame? “Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.”

The reasons are numerous, varied, and sometimes interconnected. Here are some that you can proactively handle:

• Misunderstanding or No Understanding of the impending change – basic fear of the unknown. How can you trust something you know nothing about, or simply heard incorrectly? Although you may trust the people making the change, they are there to look over the well-being of the company, not you necessarily, right?
• Fear of having the competency to meet the new challenge – some of your team may have been doing things the same way for so long that they can’t imagine ever doing it any differently. What if the change expects them to be expert in something they’ve never heard of? For instance, let’s say you are project manager that has been able to get by on extraordinary spreadsheet skills. It has been decided that a new project tool will be put in place that takes into account advanced topics like critical path, PERT Charting, delayed lag, and resource leveling. Depending on each members confidence level in taking on new skills, anxiety can lead to resistance.
• Fear of being left out or made less important – Again, taking an insecurity to an extreme. Many people like being a ‘hero’ in their organization. They are the one that stays late to handle a crisis, or may be the only one with the knowledge and/or experience to fix a specific problem. Putting a process or tool in place that shares knowledge or escalates issues before they become a crisis can take away from the hero’s sense of self worth. Now why would they want to adopt something like that?
• Believes change will be deleterious to the company – Those who hold this belief may have a valid argument. You’ll need to hear them out and help them understand why the change is happening.
• Too busy to change habits – It takes extra energy to change. That’s one of the reasons we habituate in the first place, to conserve mental energy. We can go through our daily morning ritual, for instance, not really concentrating on the brushing of our teeth or the washing of our face. It’s getting done while we are mentally projecting the days activities, or simply zone out. And because most of us are already at capacity at our job, taking on the extra item of breaking an old habit may be too much to bear.

So what can be done to overcome these challenges? Check back later to discover a dozen ways to gain mindshare.

Potential Cultural Adoption Strategies

OK, so we’ve talked about the crucial need for cultural adoption and why we have resistance to change. Finally, here’s the money post that outlines what you can do facilitate adoption. Below, in no particular order, is list of potential strategies, some or all of which can be used in concert. For any international viewers of this blog, be aware that this is a very American-centric discussion, I would ask that you share with us cultural adoption techniques that work in your country. Or at least make fun of what works for us. ;-)

• Find your early adopters – In every organization, you will almost always have varying degrees of adoption boldness. You normally know who these groups are already. I haven’t worked the equation out completely, but you’ll find your early adopters are those that fit one or several of the following attributes:

o Those that have specific challenges or pain with the current solution

o Those that are relatively new to the organization and haven’t formed habits

o “Gadget People” – for the lack of a better term, this group includes the guy with the new Bluetooth technology and can already turn on his dishwasher from work or the woman that has the latest wireless thingamabob (technical term) that also accessorizes. They get technology and understand that change is inevitable, or at least are used to change and don’t mind learning something new.

• Find those most likely to oppose – just as important as finding those that want to get on the bandwagon early, know and make contact with those that may oppose the needed change. According to the adage, “One bad apple can spoil the whole apple cart”, and it remains true when your team chats about work. It’s important for them understand why the change is happening and equally important that their views be heard, if not acted upon. It is a also good thing to test ideas out before a huge investment. Perhaps there is some practical middle ground on which to gain consensus, making everyone a winner.

• Stay on point when discussing the change – some may try to draw other frustrations into focus of what you are trying to achieve. Draw the line when issues that this specific change can’t readily solve are surfaced. If they intertwine, it will be harder to gain acceptance.

• When the good of the company, just isn’t good enough – find personal reasons why each employee should want to get on board. While we all want to think optimistically, if you want to achieve thorough success, find the individual reasons why the change should be adopted (e.g. better quality work, less work hours needs, reduction of repetitive tasks, etc.)

• Continued executive presence – there will be a segment of the workforce that will follow leadership without asking questions … as long as the leader is seen to following the path prescribed. Ensure that key people are visible and vocal about the change that’s happening.

• Allow your teams to have some ownership - Ask for guidance from your teams and show openness to compromise whenever possible. By being a part of the solution rather than having it thrust upon them, you’ll find much easier adherence. Which leads to the next point:

• Communicate early and often – The earlier your teams know about the upcoming change and the more often they know how it is progressing, the more onboard you allow them to become.

• Treat this as a sales and marketing engagement – Although you shouldn’t have to, group dynamics insists that you’ll have to sell this to your teams. Not your strong suit? Enlist the professionals (your internal marketing group may be able to help) to aid you in finding the benefits both for the company and for the individual and how that information should be framed and meted out.

• Don’t “boil the ocean” – Make sure you don’t create too much change all at one time. Focus and prioritize what needs to be done, do it, and then move on to the next item. It’s OK to have a roadmap and park issues that your organization may confront you with as part of the change process.

• “The things that get measured, get done” – I thought Deming said this, but I can’t verify the quote. However, studies have shown that putting metrics around a behavior lead to quicker adoptation of it. Which gets into a completely new posts and how to be careful in choosing your metrics so that they don’t get gamed. For instance, by making time entry every Monday by noon a necessary item and then being able to objectively measure it and tie it to their annual review, can get people’s attention, although they might not initially be all that intrigued over doing it. By displaying a report of their compliance to this rule (think red/yellow/green dashboard) during the year can also help change behavior in a passive way.

• Document financial reward – Create a before and after picture so that future change is more readily adhered. If it is a great enough reward, you may want to offer some type of bonus to groups or individuals that adhere to the change. • Work in a small group to show success – Some groups not only need the vision, but a working example of how the change will work before coming on board. Find a suitable candidate, whether it be a new project, a newly created group, or simply a challenged department where morale is already in the gutter. In many cases, there’s no place to go but up!

Designate an ‘Agent of Change’

For any or all of the above strategies, you will want to determine who is going to carry the torch for the needed change. Regardless of whether you pick someone from within or external to your organization, ensure that they have the following qualities:

• A clear understanding of the change and all of the benefits it brings with it

• Good listening, written, and verbal skills

• The ability to think quickly on their feet

• Organizational political awareness

• An understanding of the history of the organization

• Has respect or can gain it by the organization

• Patience

• Optimism

• Sensitivity

• Thick skin

This will be a demanding task and may place great pressure on an internal employee / team which will have some baggage going into the position. You can run into issues with an organization member that wanted the position for them and ends up disrupting the initiative. You’ll need to watch out for personal agendas. Sometimes a group is best because it can police itself, but groups can take longer to enact change. You may want to think about going outside the department or organization to find a more “objective” agent to be completely successful.

So what’s worked in getting change instituted in your organization? Please respond to share those activities that are working and why you think they work.

Welcome to the Unica Changepoint Cultural Adoption Community!

Team Unica,

 To get the most of the Changepoint implementation, we may want to discuss these potential resistance to change issues:

• Misunderstanding or No understanding of the upcoming change creating fear, supposition, and doubt
• General Fear over:
• Having the skillset to take on new tasks or process
• Of being left out or made less important
• Honest belief that the change is not in the company's best interest
• Current workload prevents them from taking on anything new or extra
• Hidden agendas

And potential solutions:

• Communication plans to teams (Why we're changing, Expected benefits, how your job changes for the better, etc...)
• Early-adopter pilot
• Necessary additional training (Project Management 101, etc....)
• Before / After benchmarking metrics

I look forward to meeting with you in person and in using this medium to discuss solutions to getting your new tools and processes adopted as painlessly as possible.

 Regards, John

Why we resist change in our organizations

In a previous post, I noted that there were some specific things that you can start doing to create a more adaptable environment.  But one of the questions you might be asking is “Why do I have to do this in the first place?”  Why can’t I take on the attitude of the ‘Borg’ alien of “Star Trek” fame?  “Resistance is futile.  You will be assimilated.”

The reasons are numerous, varied, and sometimes interconnected.  Here are some that you can proactively handle:

• Misunderstanding or No Understanding of the impending change – basic fear of the unknown.  How can you trust something you know nothing about, or simply heard incorrectly?  Although you may trust the people making the change, they are there to look over the well-being of the company, not you necessarily, right?
• Fear of having the competency to meet the new challenge – some of your team may have been doing things the same way for so long that they can’t imagine ever doing it any differently.  What if the change expects them to be expert in something they’ve never heard of?  For instance, let’s say you are project manager that has been able to get by on extraordinary spreadsheet skills.  It has been decided that a new project tool will be put in place that takes into account advanced topics like critical path, PERT Charting, delayed lag, and resource leveling.  Depending on each members confidence level in taking on new skills, anxiety can lead to resistance.
• Fear of being left out or made less important – Again, taking an insecurity to an extreme.  Many people like being a ‘hero’ in their organization.  They are the one that stays late to handle a crisis, or may be the only one with the knowledge and/or experience to fix a specific problem.  Putting a process or tool in place that shares knowledge or escalates issues before they become a crisis can take away from the hero’s sense of self worth.  Now why would they want to adopt something like that?
• Believes change will be deleterious to the company – Those who hold this belief may have a valid argument.  You’ll need to hear them out and help them understand why the change is happening.
• Too busy to change habits – It takes extra energy to change.  That’s one of the reasons we habituate in the first place, to conserve mental energy.  We can go through our daily morning ritual, for instance, not really concentrating on the brushing of our teeth or the washing of our face.  It’s getting done while we are mentally projecting the days activities, or simply zone out.  And because most of us are already at capacity at our job, taking on the extra item of breaking an old habit may be too much to bear.

So what can be done to overcome these challenges?  Check back later to discover a dozen ways to gain mindshare.

As to this post, I would like to hear about issues you’ve run across in organizations that you have seen that made change a challenge.

John Manser

GovernanceIT, Inc.

jmanser@governanceit.com

678.642.8046

www.governanceit.com

Welcome to the IT Governance Group!

This group will focus on effective governance best practice and how to get it implemented effectively and adopted completely.  In short, anything that would include ensuring that the right work is being executed in the right way with the right people in the right priority.  We will be exploring all facets of governance, including: 

·          Portfolio management and it’s prioritization (candidate work, current projects, and deployed assets) – understanding demand versus capacity and ensuring alignment to the business

·          Project management and the PMO – executing effectively on the work at hand

·          Resource management – getting the right mix and making our teams as productive as possible·          Business Process Analysis – complying as need and working efficiently to reduce latency

·          Service Level / Request Management – ensuring non-project activities are handled and planned for proactively, and

·          Cultural Adoption – ensuring that the changes your organization needs are made as painlessly as possible. 

And cultural adoption is where we’ll start as it gives the clearest example of why you might be here:  to determine the different ways Community can be of benefit.  This group will endeavor to spark thought, give guidance, and sponsor friendly, respectful debate with the end goal being to make your organization as efficient and effective as it can be.  Please feel free to add content or forum topics as this is the true value of Community.  I look forward to sharing ideas with you.

About the Moderator

My name is John Manser, and I am privileged to moderate this group.  I’m based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and own GovernanceIT, Incorporated, a consulting firm focused on Governance and Service Management consulting services.  As a certified governance solution implementer, I have lived and breathed governance for many different types of companies, which has allowed me an interesting perspective on the subject. 

Should you want to take a question or issue offline, feel free to contact me at any of the below: 
John Manser
Principal
GovernanceIT, Incorporated
m) 678.642.8046
w) 770.941.1464
e) jmanser@governanceit.com
http://www.governanceit.com/

Welcome to the IT Governance Group!

Principal

GovernanceIT, Incorporated