Customization

Yesterday I was meeting with IT leaders from a very large company with a global footprint.  When we talked about their lessons learned in a recent CRM implementation, they shared that after purchasing the software and spending one year and $12 million on implementation, they canceled the project due to a timeline and cost that was no longer feasible.  They sited the root cause as customization ‘requirements’ that had become too complex.  Oddly though, after canceling the project the company adopted a Software as a Service solution that allowed zero customization and forced the company to change all its processes and policies to fit what the software would do.  These leaders reported that their company has been using a global implementation of this software across all divisions for the past 18 months and it is a huge success.  In fact their top salesperson is the largest user of the software.

I find it interesting that the failed first implementation was caused by trying to customize the software to fit the processes rather than fitting the processes to the software and that this company was later able to put their ‘requirements’ aside and find a way to fit all their processes to an inflexible solution when there was no other option.

What does this story teach us about IT enabled projects?  Should we be spending less time gathering requirements and more time learning how to use the standard application?  What would we ultimately lose if we did?  How much time would we save?  How much money would we save?  Would our processes become more effective or less effective?  Where did today’s processes come from?  Are they the result of an engineered solution for the best way to accomplish a task, or are they the result of ad-hoc decisions over a number of years that incorporate work arounds to limitations in tools and information?

What do you think about this story and these questions?  What can we learn?

Passion, Creativity, Initiative

“One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested” – E.M. Forester

Passion is an amazing emotion that unlocks incredible ability.  People with passion refuse to give up and can overcome huge obstacles to turn intent into accomplishment.  Passion can transform one person’s convictions in to a mass movement.  Campus Crusade for Christ is a perfect example of that.

Passion, creativity, and initiative are gifts that people choose to give or withhold day by day and moment by moment.  Engaging these gifts requires managing less not more.  It means less directives, less checking up, and less bureaucracy. The more constricting the oversight, the less passionate people are going to be about their work and the less creativity and initiative they will give.

Inspiring people to give generously of their talents requires that they be entrusted with the mission and equipped with the tools, training, and systems to be successful.  To succeed we must let go of the managerial paradigms of the industrial age and embrace new ways of leading that engage passion, creativity, and initiative.  For example, most people are unlikely to get excited about a task that has been assigned to them versus one they choose for themselves.  So why do we still assign tasks?  Sure the work still needs to get done, but a highly committed team should be entrusted to communicate and voluntarily select tasks that accomplish the service levels, goals, and mission of the organization.

What do you think?  Which environment would you most likely flourish in: one with high levels of managerial oversight or one where people are entrusted and equipped?  What thoughts do you have about how the scope of people’s freedom should be broadened by managing less and entrusting more, without sacrificing service levels and accomplishments?

Inspired by Gary Hamel in The Future of Management

Chai Wallah vs. Versatilist

Seth Godin’s blog on the Chai Wallah got my attention because it struck me that we in the Information Technology Group of Campus Crusade for Christ are trying to accomplish the exact same benefit he describes with exactly the opposite strategy.  Seth talks about the benefits of your success living and dying on the performance of just one task and how when you go all in, it focuses your attention and effort.  The example given is the Chai Wallah whose only job is to make tea.

In IT circles that could be interpreted as having an entire staff of specialist.  That line of thinking works great if you have enough specialized work to keep all those specialist busy.  It also works if you have enough specialist to address any need that may arise.  In India where there is a huge population and demand for Chai tea, the Chai Wallah is a great fit.  What is the resource pool of staff is small and the demand varied across a broad spectrum though?  What if that demand moves quickly and in high concentration across varied types of needs?  What if the true measure of success is not how skilled an individual is at one single task, but actually in the organization’s ability to focus it’s attention and effort on accomplishing a strategy that leads to missional success?

The Information Technology Group has focused on missional success.  As a result we have intentionally moved away from the Chai Wallah specialist and toward the IT Versatilist.

“Versatilists are able to apply a depth of skill to a progressively widening scope of situations and experiences, equally at ease with technical issues as with business strategy.” - Gartner

Having a staff of versatilists who deeply understand our organization, it’s priorities, it’s processes, and it’s people allows us to have greater agility and to deliver more effective solutions.  It allows us to move our staff resources to the highest priorities of the organization rather than increasing staffing with large numbers of costly IT consultants because we don’t have enough staff with the necessary IT skill sets.

Interestingly though, the versatilist model also leads to greater success for the individual as well.  Because we are intentional about finding staff that posses specific versatilist character traits and we continually invest in their training and development,  our staff thrive in an environment where they get to solve a variety of interesting problems and work with a variety of leading edge technologies.  In addition, their broad technical and leadership experience enhances their advancement opportunities.

While I may enjoy having the Chai Wallah make my tea, I’d rather have our IT staff be Versatilists!

Changing Results

I recently heard the statement “What gets measured gets improved“.  I have heard a version of this statement hundreds of times.  I have even said something to that affect many times.  As I heard it this time though, I thought to myself “Is that true?”, “Is that my experience with measurement and change?”

If I want to loose weight, I can stand on the scale every morning and my weight probably won’t change at all as a result.  In fact if I have been gaining weight over time, I will likely see my weight get worse not better.  To lose weight I have to do more than check it on the scale.  I have to make dramatic long term changes in my diet, my exercise, and how I think about caring for my body.

This is true of organizations as well.  You can’t change the results just by measuring the results.  To change the results you have to change what is producing those results. Like the weight loss example, change must occur in the way people think and act.  Because change is so hard, I have found it very helpful to utilize a change model.  In particular, I really like Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model.

Looking ahead in Campus Crusade for Christ I see a number of projects that are currently being implemented that will require major changes to our culture to have their full value realized.  For most of those projects we are in steps 4 or 5 in the change process.  We will need to keep the change model in front of us and be intentional about working toward all 8 steps of successful change.

SET THE STAGE

1. Create a Sense of Urgency.
Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.

2. Pull Together the Guiding Team.
Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change—one with leadership skills, bias for action, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills.

DECIDE WHAT TO DO

3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy.
Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how you can make that future a reality.

MAKE IT HAPPEN

4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy-in.
Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and the strategy.

5. Empower Others to Act.
Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.

6. Produce Short-Term Wins.
Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.

7. Don’t Let Up.
Press harder and faster after the first successes. Be relentless with instituting change after change until the vision becomes a reality.

MAKE IT STICK

8. Create a New Culture.
Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become a part of the very culture of the group.

Giving Your Very Best

What kind of environment would unlock your passion and inspire you to bring your very best to work everyday?

This is the question on my mind.  It is one that stirs my soul as a leader.  It does not have an easy answer though because there are very few good examples to reference. A 2005 global survey by Towers Perrin found that while 14% of employees were highly engaged, 86% were giving less of themselves than they could.  In fact 24% were completely disengaged.  Sadly, most organizations are rather uninspiring places to work.

What if things could be different?  What if our work environment was so engaging that we were inspired to give our very best?  What would change?  In the movie Facing the Giants, there is a great scene where an influential player is tested to give his very best.  The result is that he accomplishes more than he, his team, and even his coach thinks is possible.

Looking ahead, I will be dedicating large amounts of time and energy in pursuit of a truly inspirational work environment in the Information Technology Group of Campus Crusade for Christ.  It will be an environment that merits people’s intellect, initiative, creativity, and passion.  A fun and innovative place with a mission that warrants people giving their very best…for God.

StrengthsFinder 2.0

“Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong…And yet, a person can perform only from strength.” – Peter Drucker

This week I read StrengthsFinder 2.0 and took the accompanying assessment. Several comments from the book stood out to me. As I look ahead, I am pondering how they can teach me to be a more effective leader and the Information Technology Group and stronger organization.

“People have several times more potential for growth when they invest energy in developing their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies.”

“It is relatively easy to describe our acquired expertise, but most of us struggle when asked to describe our natural talents…take a step back and you’ll see that talents often have something in common – a shared them – that connects them.”

StrengthsFinder measures talent, not strength. The authors state that knowledge, skills, and regular practice are most effective as amplifiers of talents and therefore create strength.

Talent X Investment = Strength

They state that the purpose of the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment is simply to help us find areas where we have the greatest potential to develop strengths. It measures the presence of talent in 34 categories called “themes.” Incidentally my top five themes of talent are:

Futuristic
People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

Learner
People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

Achiever
People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Strategic
People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Focus
People who are especially talented in the Focus theme can take a direction, follow through, and make the corrections necessary to stay on track. They prioritize, then act.