Wednesday 20 June 2012

Cultural Inertia


IT Transformation programmes represent particularly large investments for most companies. The business cases for these programmes, some of which can last up to 3 years, are often compelling with significant financial returns based upon IT rationalisation, business process optimisation and reduced headcount. Technology requirements can be planned and costed and consultants with the required skills can be sourced from inside or outside the business, but this does not ultimately dictate the likelihood of success or failure. The effect of the organisational culture represents a significant risk to large IT programmes and will be ignored at your peril.

Firstly, it needs to be accepted as a risk during the chaos of initiation. During this time management need to obtain an objective view of how employees could potentially react to the change and potential effects on the programme identified (this may require an external view). In my opinion this should be a separate work-stream with dedicated resources, closely linked with training and communications but crucially independent. It is only in this way that a considered plan for cultural change can be assembled and followed. Changes to working culture are slow and the inertia that can exist within large organisations mean that progress initially can be difficult to measure. However, there will be successes and the pace of change should gather momentum as the programme continues.

This is not often the approach taken by organisations who initiate programmes with a flurry of ill-conceived communications about the glory of the long term corporate vision, along with lots of dramatic representations of a new technical dawn which leave many employees feeling intimidated. Much later as the programme itself begins to lose momentum, the head-scratching starts, and urgent soulless communications about the importance of change are issued fortnightly to a workforce who no longer have faith in the long term objective. This is all too late and ultimately the programme will fall short of its original objectives or take much longer to deliver. This does not include the long term effects on morale and culture that will impact significantly on the chances of success for future programmes and create yet more inertia.

Sometimes the only way out of the loop is outsourcing and we have all discussed the problems associated with that decision. Let us hope we can raise the profile of cultural change and improve future programmes of work so that the workforce can feel proud of their achievements and not resentful of an enforced transfer to an anonymous third party.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

When is a Project Manager not a Project Manager?


I have been interviewing project managers for a specific assignment with one of our most important clients. The CVs that I shortlisted were very similar in terms of background and on paper any of them would have been more than suitable for the role. It soon becomes apparent on interview that these are significantly different candidates with varied levels of experience. The art of interviewing comes into its own together with the ability to establish the levels of detail that each person has worked to. Getting accurate information seems to become more difficult. The more senior the individuals become as they have already developed good communication skills and confidence in order to achieve their current status.

When it comes to interviewing there is no alternative to experience, natural judgement of character and a detailed understanding of the environment into which you intend the individual to work. A golden rule that I work to when meeting associates or interviewing for specific assignments is that the interviewer should not be doing all the talking. If this is the case then the questions asked are not open enough. Secondly, do not accept the first level of detail as satisfactory if you require more detail for your role, ask for more examples and more depth. This does not need to be an interrogation and all of the information that you need in order to make a decision can be gained in an informal and relaxed atmosphere.

Finally, the answer to the question posed in the title of this blog is when the candidate turns out to be an engineer, business analyst, support analyst etc etc……