This is the third of a series of ‘conversations’ centered on avoiding failure when it comes to Digital Customer Experience and/or CRM. The first ‘conversation’ dealt with articulation-understanding-ownership of requirements. The second ‘conversation’ dealt with the challenge of integration. This third conversation deals with the matter of thinking/collaboration that necessarily comes with a transformation programme.
Thinking & Collaboration: Christmas Day
Yesterday was Christmas Day and we (our household) celebrated it. The day turned out great and it didn’t just happen. For the day to turn out as it did (workable, enjoyable) required thinking/collaboration: the five members of the family had to think, make decisions, and collaborate in making happen that which we decided upon.
Let’s start with thinking/decision making. We had to decide (as a family of five) where we wanted to spend Christmas. With the children’s grandparents in France in their main home in the country? With the children’s grandparents with their winter home in the Alps? With the children’s uncle Ralf (and his family) in France? With my sister in the New Forest? At home?
Where did these series of conversations centered on this question/decision take place? Around our dining table – as that is the place where we sit, eat, talk things through ever since the children were toddlers. After listening to one another and thinking things through we came to a mutual decision: we will do Christmas at home!
Next decision: Do we do Christmas as a family or do we invite guests? Once we had made the decision that we wanted guests for Christmas, we had to agree upon who and how many people to invite given the demands on shopping-cooking-seating-sleeping that necessarily comes with inviting guests. How did these decisions get made? Through a series of conversations. Where did these decisions get made? Around the dining table.
Did the thinking and decision-making stop here? No. Next, we had to decide (as a group) what it is that we wanted to eat/drink and the dietary requirements of our Christmas guests. The challenge? To come up with the minimum number of dishes as some wanted to eat meat, others fish, others had vegetarian/vegan requirements. And ensure that these dishes are the ones that folks want to eat. Where did this thinking through (as a family) and decision making occur? Around the dining table.
Once the thinking through/decision making) had happened it was time to formulate a plan of action: Who would do the food shopping and by when? Who would go and buy the wine/drinks and by when? Who would prepare the food? Who would do the cooking? Where did these matters get thought through and decisions get made? Around the dining table. Then on the day itself, we collaborated with one another to make happen that which needed to happen: setting the table up, clearing up the table, doing the washing up etc.
Thinking & Collaboration: DCX/CRM Transformation Programmes
Now think of your transformation programme (DCX/CRM): the elements, the actors, the interplay between the various elements/actors, the sequencing of work, the design of the end-to-end solution, orchestrating dependencies, dealing with the arrival of the unexpected – challenges, opportunities… Ask yourself these questions:
1-Is thinking (and decision-making) required?
2-Is this thinking (and decision-making) a one-off event or an ongoing series (a process)?
3-Is the thinking (and decision-making) that is called for, simple/easy – as in here is a round block of wood, here is a round hole, insert that block of wood into that hole?
4-Is the thinking deep, intricate, multi-dimensional – the kind of thinking that comes up with options, thinks through these options, considers the advantages/disadvantages of promising options, and identifies the impact of an option on the wider transformation programme?
5-Is the thinking (and decision making) an exercise for one omnipotent person? Or does the ‘nature’ of the thinking, decision-making, action planning, and execution necessarily require the active participation/contribution of a group of people?
6-If the thinking is not superficial/simple and cannot be done (or should not be done) by a single person then ask yourself this: Have we created a suitable context & space for the kind of thinking/collaboration that needs to occur in order for this programme to deliver on the promise?
Of What Do I Speak When I Speak ‘Context’?
What is it that I mean by ‘context’? Imagine that you open your mail and find a wedding invitation for someone who matters to you. What happens? You automatically know the context by having attended (or seen if it is via the movies) the context that goes with a wedding: the mood, the music, the place (most likely a church for the wedding service), the actors, clothing, the sequence of events, what actions are expected etc. Now imagine you open your mail and learn that a friend has died and you are invited to his/her funeral. Again, you know (almost immediately) the context that goes with a funeral – for example, the mood (and setting) will be dramatically different to that of a wedding and the expected behaviour/clothing will also be radically different.
Of What Do I Speak When I Speak ‘Space’?
Imagine that you are charged with staging a soccer game, in a foreign country, between two well-known soccer teams. On the day of the match, you, the soccer teams, and the fans turn up to the venue What do you find? The pitch, the space, is set-up for cricket! There are no goal posts. There are none of the markings that a game of soccer requires e.g. half-way line. Instead, the space has been set-up and thus calls forth (supports) a game of cricket as there are wickets. And there are the markings that go with a game of cricket e.g. the crease.
Avoid Failure By Cultivating a Context-Space That Calls Forth Deep Thinking and Collaboration
Time after time I come across transformation programmes where the space in which the actors show up and operate is that of a large call-centre. Have you spent time in a large call-centre? If you have, it cannot have escaped your notice that the environment is like that of a large warehouse. What is warehoused? The people who answer calls!
The kind of space that one finds in a large call-centre operation is suited to the context of almost all call-centres. Why? Because the context is one where ZERO original thinking is required. And ZERO collaboration is required. Everything of significance has been thought through and turned into a script: for call type X follow script X, for call type Y follow script Y.
If you wish to avoid failure in your transformation programmes then it is essential that you create a context that signals, to all actors, that here we have to think (deeply) and collaborate – this is the default. And, you have to create the space to support this signaling and enable this deep thinking/collaboration to occur. Specifically, this means:
1-Plenty of meeting rooms – where the availability of these meeting rooms is kept up to date and made visible (electronically) to all working on the programme;
2-Range of meeting room sizes – from four people working on a challenge through to 20 people working on a challenge;
3-Each of these meeting rooms equipped with the equipment that goes with the kind of thinking/collaboration that the meeting room is designed for e.g. whiteboard/s, pens, ‘erasers’, sticky notes, audio-visual equipment…
Heed My Warning For The Transformation ‘Game’ Is An Unforgiving One!
I consider this to be a MINIMUM requirement. Since 2016, I have worked on (and or witnessed) four transformation programmes. Of these, only one company (global Oil & Gas operator) has provided the context and space I have set out here. The rest, in my view, failed – the degree of failure varied from one company to another. Allow me to end by saying this:
1-If you fail to provide a context-space for deep thinking to occur then I guaranteed you that your transformation programme will end up with superficial thinking;
2-If you fail to provide a context-space for collaboration to occur then I guarantee you that you will get silo-based thinking (and actions) and you will end up with requirements that do not gel across the elements of the programme, solution components that will not fit/integrate with another, and dependencies that are not identified early enough nor orchestrated effectively;
3-Where there is lack of context-space for deep thinking and collaboration there you will find a lack of effective leadership and programme management; and
4-The transformation ‘game’ is unforgiving as in failures in effective leadership and programme management will be punished through missed milestones, rework, escalating costs, demotivated actors, finger-pointing, scapegoating, and a sub-optimal ‘solution’ from the perspective of end users – your prospects/customers, your distribution partners, and the people on the front line of your organisation dealing with prospects, customers, and distribution partners.
Enough for today. I thank you for your listening and wish you the very best for 2019. Until the next time….
