Archive for the ‘Analysis’ Category

May.
8th

Setting GHG Targets: Achieving the Impossible

By Tom | No comments yet

Recently I was part of a class discussion on setting good targets for greenhouse gas emissions. The conversation turned to differences in organizational culture and how that influences the organization’s willingness to set aggressive GHG emissions goals.  Some organizations have a culture that focuses on rigid adherence to achieving targets (e.g., sales targets), and lots of pressure (for example, financial rewards and status) to reach them “no matter what”.  These organizations will tend to set targets that are lower and deemed achievable.  Other organizations are more tolerant of failure to achieve targets, and reward effort, experimentation and creativity.  These organizations tend to set higher, more aggressive targets.

This got me thinking about the nature of goals and targets, what they say about an organization’s values and aspirations, and how they influence dynamics and relationships within the organization.  A target of 20% reduction in greenhouse gases over the next five years, for example, and the rewards and consequences established for achieving or not achieving that target, tells everyone in the company how important  environmental sustainability, and specifically addressing global warming, are to the company. A 5% target communicates a lower level of importance and urgency than a 20% target. A target changes peoples’ awareness, understanding and response to a problem.  No matter what my opinion is about global warming, if my CEO sets an aggressive GHG reduction target, I will take the problem more seriously than if no target had been set.

The target also sets up a challenge to all those within and outside the company whose help is needed to achieve the target. The challenge to meet the target triggers a myriad of questions. How should our work processes change?  How can I re-negotiate with vendors for products and services that are less carbon intensive? The more challenging the target, the more intense and urgent the questions are, and the more serious the activity required to answer those questions, and implement solutions.

We might debate the pros and cons of aggressive and modest targets.  We need to figure out the best way to engage staff and stakeholders in getting our greenhouse gas emissions reduced as quickly as possible.  At the same time, the world’s climate system has its own limits which are not open to negotiation with humans.  Our ability to live within those limits, and to figure out how to meet the targets necessary to do that, will determine our success in living on this planet.  I don’t know of targets set by countries or companies which overshoot what’s necessary to effectively control and reduce global warming.  So it’s incumbent upon leadership—within companies, local communities, and countries—to communicate aggressive GHG targets in ways that invite and inspire people to achieve the “impossible”.

What are your experiences with setting GHG emissions targets?  What have you found successful in engaging people in your company, agency or community?

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Posted in Engagement, Greenhouse gases, Leadership, Targets, climate change, collaboration, sustainability

Oct.
19th

Creating Value in IT

By Tom | No comments yet
In our view, a critical requirement for IT project success is effective collaboration
between IT and the business unit(s) who rely on IT products and services to produce
value for the enterprise. This collaboration is not only needed in the planning and
execution of projects, but must a priori be a continuous and regular planning practice.
Collaboration, in turn, is impossible without three other factors: leadership, management
coordination and trust-based team mobilization. We believe that lack of excellent
performance in any of these three areas significantly contributes to the Crisis of Lost
Value described above. Let’s take a brief look at each of these three pillars of successful
collaboration between IT service providers and their customers.
Leadership. Effective leaders do two things: establish a compelling vision for the future,
and motivate and direct others to take effective action in realizing the vision. Far too
often, people with leadership responsibility speak of “vision” when they are really talking
about “alteration.” The difference is that the articulation of vision requires a leader to
declare a future that, in the present, could not possibly exist. Probably the best known
and most quoted example of this is the challenge issued by John F. Kennedy in 1960 to
enable an American to land on the moon and return safety within 10 years. However, the
ability to bring forth “impossible” futures is not the province only of presidents. There
are numerous examples in business literature; the reader can almost certainly think of
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several in his or her own experience. This kind of declaration does not merely require
that we imagine the world as “altered” in some way, for example, moving from the
number 4 spot in our market to the number 3 spot. The leader who articulates a
compelling vision may be asking us to redefine what we mean by “our market”. Almost
always, when a compelling vision becomes reality, the identities of those whose efforts
realized that vision are shifted in ways no one could have anticipated. Certainly the
identity not only of the U.S. Space program, but that of the United States itself shifted
profoundly as a result of the Apollo Mission successes. We emphasize here that the
Apollo mission contributed dramatically to a shift in the identity of the United States at
that time – what it meant to be an American, what was then envisioned as possible, and
how the rest of the world saw America.
What does this have to do with IT Projects?
We believe that in order for an IT organization to realize its potential, it must embody a
shift in its identity. In other words it must be seen very differently than it has in the past,
both from within and by its customers and its other partners in the enterprise. Moreover,
it must be seen as a different kind of possibility by those who rely on its products and
services to fulfill their own missions. This requires a shift of identity in IT leaders
themselves. Most IT work comes in the form of projects. What does an IT project leader
do?
In the world of information technology, project success can be achieved if the leader
presents a compelling technical solution to an important business problem or opportunity,
and effectively recruits and coordinates the activities of other business and technical
experts to develop and implement that solution.
However, this in itself, though resulting in technical and practical achievement, is no
longer enough. The leader must also elicit a vision of a world in which something that
the organization cares about, and which is now missing, will come into existence, thereby
contributing to a shift in the organization’s identity itself.

A critical requirement for IT project success is effective collaboration between IT and the business unit(s) who rely on IT products and services to produce value for the enterprise. This collaboration is not only needed in the planning and execution of projects, but must  be a continuous and regular planning practice.  Collaboration, in turn, is impossible without three other factors: leadership, management coordination and trust-based team mobilization. Lack of excellent performance in any of these three areas is a significant barrier to creating value in IT.  Let’s take a look at each of these:

Leadership. Effective leaders do two things: establish a compelling vision for the future, and motivate and direct others to take effective action in realizing the vision. Far too often, people with leadership responsibility speak of “vision” when they are really talking about “alteration.” The difference is that the articulation of vision requires a leader to declare a future that, in the present, could not possibly exist. Probably the best known and most quoted example of this is the challenge issued by John F. Kennedy in 1960 to enable an American to land on the moon and return safety within 10 years.  This kind of declaration requires more than imagining the world as “altered” in some way, for example, moving from the number 4 spot in our market to the number 3 spot.  Almost always, when a compelling vision becomes reality, the identities of those whose efforts realized that vision are shifted in ways no one could have anticipated. Certainly the identity not only of the U.S. Space program, but that of the United States itself shifted profoundly as a result of the Apollo Mission successes.

What does this have to do with IT services and projects?

In order for an IT organization to realize its potential, it must embody a shift in its identity. In other words it must be seen very differently than it has in the past, both from within and by its customers and its other partners in the enterprise. Moreover,  it must be seen as a different kind of possibility by those who rely on its products and services to fulfill their own missions, and to live their lives. This requires a shift of identity in IT leaders themselves. The IT leader presents a compelling technical solution to an important business problem or opportunity, and effectively recruits and coordinates the activities of other business and technical experts to develop and implement that solution.  But this is not enough.  The leader must also elicit a vision of a world in which something that the organization cares about, and which is now missing, will come into existence, changing the organization’s very identity.

Management Coordination. With the myriad of complex tasks and activities, and the multiple players involved in nearly all IT projects, coordination is essential and at the same time difficult for project managers to get their arms around. Successful coordination requires the following:

• the ability to manage intersecting networks of commitments

• the ability to resolve conflicts among different strategies for achieving the desired results

• the ability to elicit timely, open and honest updates about deadlines, costs, resources and unexpected changes

• the ability to renegotiate commitments if and when necessary

Trust-based Team Mobilization. Before committing money and resources to the project, business executives must trust that IT can actually deliver the goods promised. Before agreeing to dedicate a year or more to the project, possibly putting their careers on the line, IT managers and staff look for the same kind of assurance. How is trust built? By consistently making, managing and fulfilling promises. So the effective IT leader must have a history of promising and delivering technical solutions that work and are effective. On a smaller scale, but just as importantly, trust is built in the many daily exchanges among project team members. One of the most important things an effective IT Project Manager can do is respect others’ time and contributions to the project, and be accountable for requests, offers and promises which he or she has made. Showing up on time for meetings he calls, revising the project schedule to reflect the work estimates developed by technical staff, communicating both good and bad news about project progress to the Executive Sponsor—these are some of the small but important contributors to a trust-based project. However, leadership-by-example is not enough. Each member of the team must be made aware that he or she is contributing to the identity of the team by either managing commitments well. Much has been made of ”managing customer expectations.” The ability to do this is simply the ability to make, manage and fulfill promises made to the customer, and having done this, earned the right to hold the customer accountable for his or her commitments.

Let me know your thoughts on all of this.  For those of you with experience on IT projects, what practices did you find most effective for producing business value?   What are examples you have for creating great collaboration between IT and business managers, or among various IT organizations?

Posted in Information technology, Leadership, Value creation, collaboration, coordination

Sep.
13th

Leadership in committees (part 2)

By Tom | 2 Comments

Often committees are formed to help executives and senior management answer critical questions about the organization’s goals and future.  To be successful, the committee must have leadership that helps the members thoroughly understand and build commitment to answering those questions.  Here are some questions that group leaders (both formal and informal) can use to help guide and motivate the group to achieve its goals.

–What is the desired result? Do we have, or can we build and get agreement with our sponsor/customer around, an outline of the desired work product (document)?

–What is “good enough” for success, for the purposes at hand?  Who will use the result, for what purpose?

–Who has called for the result, has given the charge to the committee?  What are their critical interests, what’s their “bottom line” need or expectation?

–When is the desired result needed?

–To what extent are the product, criteria, and due date flexible?  What are consequences of not satisfying those expectations and needs of the chartering person or entity?

–How can the work be distributed among members, including making specific requests of individuals that include due date, desired contents, and quality criteria (what’s “good enough”)?  What is each group member ready and motivated to contribute? What does the group need from each of its members?

Each of these questions need continual attention by the committee.  A skilled facilitator will encourage the group’s leadership to ask these questions at the beginning of the project to build a common initial understanding of what is to be achieved, and will help the group develop its game plan for producing those results.  These questions can also be used throughout the group’s work to help it stay “on course”, to keep its members engaged, and to ensure it stays connected to the manager or governing body that commissioned its work.

What’s your experience with committees and boards, either as a facilitator or a member?  What questions, prompts and other techniques have you found effective in keeping the group focused and on-track?  What kinds of leadership techniques have worked best for you?

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Posted in Leadership, collaboration, coordination

Sep.
8th

Leadership in committees (part 1)

By Tom | No comments yet

Recent experience with a client reminded me of how subtle and yet strategic leadership can be within a committee tasked to create a new program.  Some symptoms of the leadership challenge in groups are: 

–Committee members spend their time on fine tuning document details, including wording and budget numbers.  This can push the important questions about goals and strategies to the very end of a meeting, with little time left to tackle them.

– When a large, significant task is in play, there are various interpretations and visions of the desired result and schedule.  These interpretations create various understandings about what it will take to achieve the result.  As a result, members get impatient with how long the work is taking, and others get frustrated that there isn’t more discussion allowed because of the need to stay on schedule.

–A small minority within the group takes on the bulk of the writing and other program development work.  Other members simply attend meetings, and it is difficult to get common agreement on the work products developed.

–The group ends up building a document that contains more or less content than was in the original outline.

In my next post, I’ll offer some suggestions for improving leadership within the committee.

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Posted in Leadership, collaboration, coordination