Take control of your ABCs to make your governance initiatives successful!

What is your company culture? How does your organization view change? Is change accepted or do employees drag their heels and fight it like a child throwing a temper tantrum? COBIT5.0 talks about seven enablers; one of these is “Culture, Ethics and Behavior”. Today I want to discuss Attitude, Behavior and Culture (ABCs) and discuss their impact on your organization.

Why is culture important?

The adoptability of change is determined by the culture of the organization. This adaptability can include:

• Enterprise risk appetite
• Organizational appetite to change enablement
• History and legacy of the organization
• Deep rooted values and principles governing the business
• And many other factors

With many organizations having global presence, one size does NOT fit all and initiatives have to be tailor-made to suit to the culture. This is the only way to gain acceptance and facilitate institutionalization.

Culture has a bearing on the communication methodologies to be adopted (Vocal/Non Vocal), preferred leadership styles and above all, understanding what appeals to the task force to get things done. When I conduct Management of Organizational Change (MoC) programs, I spend considerable time and effort understanding the culture of the organization. When I design a facilitate approach for enabling change, I look at their previous success with enabling change, their organizational structure and leadership styles.

How do Ethics and Values contribute?

Ethical behavior cascades from the CIO or executive board of the organization down to the people. Employees closely follow how the senior management addresses unethical behavior as they conduct business with customers/partners and fellow employees. When upper management takes serious actions against undesirable behavior and immediately communicates it to the task force, it sends a strong message. Employees hear, “Be vigilant and on-guard; or else be ready to meet dire consequences.”

Many organizations have mandatory trainings and refresher courses on “Ethics and Compliance” every year to reinforce the standard of business conduct and encourage people to conduct business in fair and ethical manner. The CEO and the leadership team must walk the walk and implement the values of the organization in all dealings. This helps to institutionalize it as part of the organizational culture

The spirit of upholding the organizational values must be acknowledged and rewarded among employees to set the precedence and follow in day-to day practice. In addition, there has to be an Ethical and Compliance Team that provides assistance for employees and people to solicit advice anonymously and take decisions appropriately. These aspects will strengthen the code of discipline and institutionalize a value system throughout the organization culture.

How do you inculcate desirable behavior?

Behavior of the people is driven by four essential parameters:

• a) Policy
• b) Process
• c) Values
• d) Objectives

These have to be linked together and feedback has to be solicited to promote desirable behavior. If there is a report of non-adherence, it is important to identify the true reason and rational behind not following. Then work on a consensus to make amendments for people to adopt and follow without inhibitions.

A good starting point would be to have a mandatory training on “Professionalism and Etiquette of Corporate life” for all employees/partners joining the organization to illustrate desired behavior. A handy handbook at the local Intranet site would serve as ready reckoner. In order to demonstrate consistent behaviors, it has to become a habit to get the desired behavior. This means providing a platform to reward employees with the right attitude. Remember, you can train people and get them the required skills and competencies, but attitude has to come from within. With this understanding, an organization’s hiring process should lay emphasis on attitude more than aptitude to recruit the right resources with positive attitude and reliance on team work.

You need to take control of your ABCs (Attitude, Behavior and Culture) to make your Governance Initiatives successful

What has been your take on Culture, Ethics and Behavior in the context of IT Governance? I want to hear about your experiences, share them in the comments section below

This article was published at HP Software Blog on 25th January
 http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/HP-Software-Solutions-Blog/Take-control-of-your-ABCs-to-make-your-governance-initiatives/ba-p/5944231
 

Enhancing your Stakeholder Management Experience

As you are well aware, every project stakeholder (project sponsor, project leader, team member, employees, project manager and shareholders) is different and has a vested interest in the outcome of the projects. Are we doing things correctly to address these expectations or will we continue to have gaps?

The following eight aspects will help you toward creating a good stakeholder management experience that results in successful project outcomes.


1. Setting the context, objective and expectations—priority number one.
Project kick-off meetings are exciting and everyone leaves energized—but that energy often wanes. While we religiously follow the kick-off meeting for the project assigned, it takes more than simply a meeting for the context, objectives and expectation to sink in. It is worthwhile to have the context, objectives and expectations as your basis for all the discussions of project meeting. As we reinforce them, they become a part of employee internalization and then act as a magnetic compass to shape desirable behavior.

When considering your project stakeholders and your expectations for them, remember every stakeholder is different. Some are looking for a learning experience, some for a challenging task and some are hoping for better networking opportunities. Encourage your stakeholders by listing the benefits of the project to gain the necessary commitment and interest among stakeholders (employees and others).

Courtesy of Oxford Creativity

2. Understand the background, experience and attitude of stakeholders

This is a key aspect for every PM to understand the stakeholders better. This is by no means an easy task. There is a huge amount of homework and data to be collected; but in the end it is worth the effort. In the end you can deal better with the respective stakeholders because you have background information and can frame appropriate responses.

3. Everybody wants to be a part of the winning team

Stakeholders play diversified roles like sponsor, project leader, team member depending on the project. But one truth remains; they have an earnest desire to be part of a winning project. So as a PM, it is your responsibility to create the mental picture of how important this project is for the organization and your customers. Assure the stakeholders that they have been hand-picked based on their expertise and experience, and there is no doubt that this creates a winning combination. This makes those involved feel empowered and creates a sense of true belonging to the outcome of the project.

4. The power and influence matrix is only the beginning

We have been conditioned to start the stakeholder management exercise by developing a power vs. influence matrix to determine the necessary people to be satisfied for project outcomes. While this is a good start, it does not address the fundamental aspect of emotional disturbance. Discounting people because they neither have power nor influence only makes the situation worse. Remember, even when the numbers add up – a silent revolt or non-cooperation can break a smoothly running project.

5. Communication is key

As you know, 60 percent of projects fail miserably due to ineffective communication among the project team and stakeholders.
I have seen more vocal shareholders while some prefer not to disclose anything during a meeting. With this in mind, the communication strategy should have different channels and methods to understand, what each stakeholder mean at a deeper level. More often, this deeper understanding comes through informal coffee talks and personal rapport. While co-location is a boon, most of the time we need to deal virtually with others and so adopt one-on-one calls to personalize the connection. The tone of the communication has to be just right to convey the message without being dictatorial.

6. Recognize stakeholder suggestions

Acknowledging stakeholders for valuable insights and recommendations is important to successful project outcomes:

• It sets the tone for people to share and contribute to the success of the project
• It brings in the concept of collective ownership as a team to make it a success.

In my experience, the biggest insights and recommendations have helped me do Risk Management effectively and be better prepared to steer projects successfully.

7. Be open and solicit help

Projects irrespective of deal size and magnitude can be demanding. All projects might need a lot of support and cooperation from stakeholders to turn the course into the right direction. The best way to approach this is to be open to all stakeholders and say, “We have a problem and I need all your support and suggestions to overcome.” When you give people the freedom to voice for a cause, they participate actively and are willing to take on additional responsibilities.

8. Trust and commitment makes it happen!

Experience shows that the most complex projects have been successful because of the commitment of stakeholders and their trust in the project leadership. This is a sign of transcending the boundaries and making things happen against all odds. For this to happen, the whole project environment must facilitate open and honest communication without a “blame-game”. If something is not working, it is recommended to condemn the act—not the person—and help them overcome the obstacles. When the PM starts fostering an environment of collective team work and complements, it helps build trust and commitment for winning big!

I would love to hear about your experience with project management and stakeholder involvement. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below.