What is your “engagement model” with your internal business partners? Take a look at the graphic below. Where do you fall on this spectrum? Does it vary by the business unit you partner with, or even project/initiative?
I have found that there is tremendous variation in engagement models across companies, both large and small. If the engagement model is even discussed within your organization, you may find that it is viewed as a win/lose equation, rather than as a real partnership between you and your business units.
IT Influence drivers include:
- Your record of success may enable you to drive the IT/business partnership within your organization.
- You may see yourself as owning many decisions that affect your business partners, and are busy implementing them as you see fit, perhaps leaving your partners in “catch up” mode for your decisions/investments made.
- Your business partners may not be able to articulate their needs/requirements at a level that enables real partnership and solution definition, leaving you to pick up the slack.
Business influence drivers include:
- Your organization has historically placed the IT function in a purely execution/support role rather than viewing IT as a real strategic asset.
- Your business units have built up their own IT-like roles over time, including titles such as “business analyst” that may really be doing systems analyst work, and IT is now crowded out by a shadow IT team residing in the business.
- IT has lost its credibility for partnership and/or execution over time, leading business units to build and rely upon their own teams to ensure success.
- IT has voluntarily given up its value-added role in planning with business partners, perhaps because that partnership is viewed as a lot of work.
The IT Order Taking role carries many risks, and sub-optimizes the value that IT should be bringing to your organization. Do you find yourself being late to the game in your business partner’s planning phases? Are you expected to add real value to conversations, for example presenting alternative solutions to challenges, or just implement once the planning is done? Are you able to add a critical oversight role for purchases made?
What steps will you take to establish your new footing in the middle of the field?
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