What market boundaries are artificially set? Yes, artificially. Market boundaries are not concrete walls. It is just seen that way due to the way the industry lags behind what could be. Industry standards are just that…they are the common practices that all the participants have agreed to follow.

The first rule to effectively change your business strategy is to accept that boundaries are artificially set. It will not be easy. Exploring outside the accepted norm will bring the nay-sayers out in the open. “This is how we have always done it” is a red flag indicating how thick the perception of industry standard is in your company. Identify these individuals as you will need to address them (calm their fears) to be able to initiate the exploration of these boundaries. 

Artificial boundaries are implemented within the corporation by organizational structures and their associated IT systems. The tighter the systems are to the organizational structures and the more the data/information is tied to the detailed process will increase the pressure not to change.

Be prepared for these roadblocks. Acknowledge you are challenging the current boundaries. Acknowledge the risk. Acknowledge the challenges inherint in the current organizational structure and the supporting systems. Then, explain how where you want to explore can leverage what you already have in place. Address these risks in your research before you explain the opportunity to the masses.

The post title is a great quote from Blue Ocean Strategy (by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne). The authors of this approach (which is already at least 5 years old) couldn’t be more on point. If you haven’t read this book, buy a copy immediately! I’m sure your competition already has and is acting on it.

During a recession, it is the right time to start thinking differently. It is the time to take a close look at your strategy and identify ways that your business can be changed. Standing still, usually because of fear, is the wrong approach to be able to come out of the recession ashes and soar to new profitable heights. In order for any company to soar they must evolve…continuously.

It begins with taking a close look at your strategy. How can you change your company direction and the marketplace to make the competition irrelevant? What can you investigate outside your industry that will stop the current process of becoming a commodity?

This is NOT the time to keep using vertical industry experts (those that specialize in your industry). His or her deep industry knowledge will help you in the next stage when changes need to be made. Now you need a more horiztonal view. A Business Architect with broader exposure to multiple industries will force you to look at other options from a wider field.

Right now you are at the strategic level of discussions. Your CIO or a representative will benefit by hearing the new direction and offer data to help identify new markets and products. Other than that, you are too early for most of the IT organization to be involved.

A business analyst from the IT organization may not have the experience or the exposure that is needed. Use him or her after you have a high-level roadmap and projects identified to document the details of what needs to be done. A Technical Architect will be needed at that time as well along with an Organizational Architect. Don’t worry about all these different people from within (or outside) the organization. A holistic Enterprise Architect will coordinate their efforts when the time comes.

The point now is to make sure you have a Business Architect with broad exposure to multiple industries. He or she will facilitate the process of making the competition irrelivant. He or she will understand that you are not looking at the competition but at alternatives…how to turn a new non-customer base into customers. (If you not understand the difference…now is the time to go and buy a copy of Blue Ocean Strategy.)

Legacy systems (those systems that have been around for a decade or more) may have become the backbone of the company. Data is tied so tightly to the process that it may seem impossible to change direction. You will get push-back from your IT organization…stating that the impact of the change is too dramatic to initiate. You will get push-back from other business units (initiated sometimes by their IT contact) that the legacy system is too critical to the business-as-usual.

You can change direction. You can get buy-in to initiate technology projects. Whatever has been built, can be changed…it may not be easy, but it is necessary if you want your business to initate a new strategy.

First, you need to know what you have and how it is connected. It doesn’t have to be perfect with every detail. At this point you are looking from a high level to determine if the links are still valid or goes against your updated business strategy.

Contact your CIO to enlist his or her assistance. This high-level information may be available. If not, bring in a Business Architect will be able to help identify what information the business has, what’s missing and how it needs to work with your current strategy. The process will follow the tried-and-true…where you are today…where you want to be…the Business Architect will provide a roadmap on how to get there.

It won’t be an easy journey. Once you suggest tampering with the existing legacy systems, other business units will put up walls because of the fear of the unknown impact. The only way to combat the fear is to show what you have now and what the possibilities are with the change. It may require the assistance of an Information Archtiect and a Technical Architect. Your CIO can assign the right person to assist you.

In many cases that I’ve witness, the changes are not as dramatic as anticipated. Temporary bridges can be built to minimize the impact on other business units. In most cases, the changes can be implemented incrementally to spread out the cost of change. I’ve seen back-end storage (Data Warehouses/Marts) with front-end tools (Business Intelligence) installed to help navigate the migration.

What I have seen more offend than I care to admit is how avoidance leads to doing things the way that it has always been done…creating similarities among the competition…creating a commodity…leading to lost revenue opportunities.

If you don’t know your company strategy, try to document it from the direction it has taken over the last 5 years. Even if you do know your current corporate strategy, the reality may be very different (a sign of ineffective communication from the management). Either way, it is time to take a look.

Begin with a list 5 competitors. Answer the following questions to determine if you are a follower or an instigator in your industry…

1.  What products/services have been introduced? Does the competition have the same products/services? Which was introduced first (competitor/you)?
2. What new features have been offered? Does the competition have the same features? Which was introduced first (competitor/you)?

If your competitor offers the same products/services and/or features, you are becoming (or already are) a commodity. When products/services and features are the same (or very similar), price becomes the only real distinction. Price wars, if they haven’t already, will begin which minimizes rather than maximizes your ability to gain market share or make additional profit. You are in a no-win situation.

If your company is in a rut…following the competition…it is time to break out and think of alternate possibilities. This begins with looking at your strategy.

If your competition quickly follows your lead…you are not making significant advances that differenciate yourself.

If you can not answer these questions, it is time to call in your Business Intelligent contact in the IT department. He or she will help you work with your data to uncover the trends and answers to the questions. If the information is not available, he or she will help you initiate a project to fill in the blanks.

You can’t change direction unless you know what direction you have been taking.

Here’s a short video of someone talking to my favorite speaker, Patricia Fripp. She is right on. You don’t have to be a keynote speaker. You just need to be able to learn how to speak in front of a group of people. Learning how to create a speech and give it will be the tipping point for your career. She mentions Toastmasters as a great first step. I couldn’t agree more. Don’t wait until the new year…start creating a tipping point today!

1. Taking this simple step will help YOU engage with technologists, coworkers, executives, family, and friends.
2. Taking this simple step will help YOU write better.
3. Taking this simple step will help YOU lead your teams.
4. Taking this simple step NOW will prepare you for success in 2010!

Imagine Leadership by XPLANE & Nitin Nohria

This video presentation below is a result of XPLANE teaming up with Nitin Nohria and Amanda Pepper of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Initiative to stimulate a discussion of the value and importance of leadership. I found the video from the PresentationZen blog. It is worth watching…more than once.

You are the “Project Sponsor” for a big, mission critical project for your company. You’re the main contact for approval of tasks, budgets, and business requirements.

As a “Project Sponsor” are you a leader or manager?

Well, if you micro-manage the technology group (or your own business staff), the name of which represents your style is in the right there in the description. It is impossible for you to micro manage technology people when you do not have the technology skills. Remember your role…you are the project sponsor. That means you are there to “LEAD” both the business and technology team to achieve the goals of the project.

Leadership means:

• Clearly defining the objectives.
• Get people EMOTIONALLY involved in achieving the objectives.
• Rid any roadblocks that prevent anyone from achieving the objectives.
• Teach what you know. You don’t know technology but you do know the business. Or else, you know someone who knows the specifics of what the technologist needs to understand. Make the connection for the technologist.
• Be a coach. Again, not in the technology but in engaging. Business people have a better sense of how to engage people through relationships. Illustrate how to do this by setting a GREAT example. Engage the technologist. Coach them on the personal skills that you take for granted.
• Finally…be a leader: Encourage and inspire … is a continual process not a kick-off task.

If you are part of a mission-critical project, does it have a name? Does it have a tag line? Does the entire team (that includes the technology people) know it?

According to Seth Godin’s book titled: Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, tribes are a group of 3 or more people working towards a common goal. As the business person leading a project, you need to have all of the projects participants feel like they are part of the “tribe.”

One way to help simulate the specialness of a ”tribe” is to have a uniform. People proud to be part of a tribe will wear a “uniform” that lets others know they are part of the special tribe (of course you need to continually make sure people are proud to be part of the project).

Why not create a t-shirt with the project name and tag line. It’s easy to produce with the online stores like Zazzle. Purchase one for each member of the project/tribe. That includes the technology people. It will help make technologists feel part of the team, appreciated, and committed to success of the project.

I still have many T-shirts and Sweatshirts from the mission-critical projects that I was involved. Unfortunately, most of them were given to me at the END of the project. What a mistake. If they provided them at the beginning…I would have felt more appreciated and not just used.

When brainstorming ideas to solve problems with a product or service, don’t discount your technologist. In fact, call him or her in. Technologists are trained to solve problems. It’s in their DNA!

Problems do not necessarily need to be technologically focused. The problem doesn’t need to be solved only with technology.

Express the problem to the technologist. Ask him or her for ideas that both involve technology and do not.

You’ll be surprised … technologists can solve non-technical problems too.

Peter Drucker once said, “Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes.” 

What commitment is your technology community making?

• Is it to complete something by a certain date?
• Is it to produce a specific quality of product/service?
• Is it to respond to your phone calls within a specific amount of time?
• Is it to keep the network up by a specific percentage?
• Is it to spend only so much money to deliver a project?

Let me repeat: Peter Drucker once said, “Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes.” 

I do see many technologist give lip service to commitment. Each manager agrees and then misses every commitment (which is really a broken promise).

Things do happen. What needs to be determined is if meeting commitments has a higher percentage of occurence over broken promises. If it is the latter, you need to obtain a stronger commitment by:

• initially defining what it means to the technologist to deliver on the commitment (personally involved commitment adds an emotional tie and increases the possibility of the commitment being kept)
• providing regular signs of encouragement for the technologist to deliver on the commitment (you can’t just get a commitment and forget about it until the commitment is to be met)
• take personal responsibility to assist the technology any way possible to deliver on the commitment (remove any other roadblocks)
• plan for setbacks (real life does happen)

Commitment is a two way street. It requires your involvement to help the technologist meet a commitment made to you. Otherwise, it will end up being a broken promise.