Reframing Key Business Concepts
Our FlexPoint team meetings regularly turn to topics that have a very specific context in business transformation… and that we’d like to reframe the conversation on. This post includes some of our favorite “reframing” topics:
Integration: it’s not just for mergers and acquisitions
Enterprise architecture: from the “Architecture Police” to the “City Planners” of the modern enterprise
Work/life balance: rather than aiming for “balance,” we’re constantly prioritizing and negotiating which aspect of work or life to focus on
ERP implementation: an organization-wide digital modernization effort, not just a narrow technology project
Career progression: creating a career path of building, demonstrating, and sharing expertise, rather than managing teams
We hope a change in perspective on these will allow space for new insights and improve the chances of success going forward.
Reframing Integration
We typically use this word in the context of mergers and acquisitions: we often seek to integrate the two entities into one. This has process, technology, team, and culture considerations.
We need to understand how each side does things, weigh options and considerations for leaving them separate or bringing them together. And if we’re bringing things together, are we choosing one entity’s process/technology/org structure, or are we blending them?
In the mix, even if it’s not said out loud, is the culture of each organization. It’s almost guaranteed that there are meaningful differences in how the two groups have operated, particularly in the realm of unwritten rules. Honoring and melding the two cultures is a considerable portion of integrating two distinct entities.
But what if we didn’t think about integration only in the M&A context? We can benefit from being more cohesive and connected in many aspects of business. If you’re feeling a bit of friction between departments, or have someone manually entering information sent from across the organization, or notice disconnection or talking past each other, you may benefit from greater integration.
Follow the same checklist of the M&A integration: look at processes, technologies, team, and culture. Working within the same organization, you may have to dig a bit deeper into the unwritten versions and unacknowledged practices of these, since the disconnect may be in the places where some of us aren’t following the procedures as prescribed (or maybe we’re not using the enterprise solutions!).
Zero in on the symptom that caught your eye and then zoom out a bit.
How do you see different assumptions, philosophies, or non-negotiables at work? You may need to work with the other team’s leader to get clear on some unspoken aspects of culture or priorities.
Where do you see practices differ, or handoffs break down? This can be an opportunity understand why some of us aren’t following the prescribed processes or technologies. Maybe they weren’t efficient at a key point. Perhaps they didn't serve an external or internal customer well. It’s worth examining the why of differences before seeking to integrate them.
As with M&A, we have the opportunity to look not just at culture fit but culture add. Where can melding the two teams/organizations’ ways of doing things create something that's greater than the sum of their parts? This is where the magic happens.
Reframing Enterprise Architecture
This section was contributed by Michael Daehne.
While many large organizations have Enterprise Architecture (EA) functions, very few maximize the value of EA. In fact, many EA functions are viewed as “blockers” or the “architecture police” instead of partners in value creation.
Why is that?
EA functions sometimes struggle because of internal gaps and challenges: things like inflexibility in approach, overly complex models, or an excessive emphasis on documentation over actionable strategies.
But more often than not, EA functions struggle because of things outside their control: things like lack of leadership support, unclear goals and charter for the EA team, poor communication, and a general tone of negativity and dismissiveness towards Enterprise Architecture.
That means that empowering the Enterprise Architecture function to thrive requires everyone – from the C-Suite to the front lines – to understand and embrace the value of EA. And it starts with reframing our understanding of EA.
What if we quit thinking about EA as the technology “police” – issuing citations for going too fast or failing to abide by certain standards – and started thinking about EA as the City Planning Department?
Just like a city plan outlines where roads, parks, and buildings should go, EA defines how different parts of a business—like processes, technology, and people—fit together.
Just as city planners ensure that the infrastructure (like water, electricity, and transport) supports the needs of the community, EA ensures that the technology and processes support the organization’s goals.
Just as cities need to adapt to growth and change, such as new buildings or roadways, EA allows a business to be flexible and responsive to market changes or new opportunities.
Just as city planners work with different stakeholders (residents, businesses, government), EA fosters collaboration among various departments in a business.
In essence, just like a well-planned city thrives, a well-architected enterprise can flourish, making it more efficient, adaptable, and aligned with its goals.
So the next time you encounter the Enterprise Architecture function in your organization, be nice and embrace their efforts to collaborate; it might just help you avoid a “traffic jam” or “critical outage” in your organization’s technology footprint!
Reframing Work/Life Balance
In the spirit of adding nuance to common business practices, the FlexPoint team doesn’t really use the word balance when talking about managing the push and pull of everyday priorities. Rather, we talk about work/life tradeoffs to make it clearer that we have a sliding scale of which takes more of the priority at any given point.
Frankly, work and life aren’t always in balance. When we’re nearing a major program milestone or putting the finishing touches on a big deliverable, we work hard. We put in extra hours, we may reschedule a personal commitment, and we focus on the task at hand.
When we have something happen with a loved one or wake up to a home emergency, we support each other. We immediately say “we got this; go take care of your family” to the teammate who needs to flex up the life part of the equation. We take seriously that we all have responsibilities outside of work, and managing them well is important.
Let’s also not make this seem too binary. For those of us with multi-faceted home or work lives, this is a many-pronged consideration! Life may include investing in your health, caring for others, managing the household, coaching a basketball team, and more. Work may include multiple client projects, internal efforts, or even a side hustle.
We look at tradeoffs across all of these dimensions. We’re constantly prioritizing and negotiating which aspect of work or life to focus on. And, at the end of the day, we aim to be satisfied with what we directed finite attention, time, and talents on.
Reframing ERP Implementations
An ERP implementation can be downright frightening! We’ve all experienced or heard about enterprise resource planning implementations that go on for many months longer than expected with budgets ballooning and scope somehow decreasing.
But we can set ourselves up for success by reframing an ERP implementation as an organization-wide digital modernization effort, not just a narrow technology project. Expanding our reach may seem counterintuitive, but by engaging business leadership, people management, operations, product teams, and IT from the very beginning, we’re far more likely to:
Set a compelling vision for the ERP that’s worth investing in
Dedicate more, deeper, and broader resources to the effort
Bring the ERP implementation into company-wide focus, rather than relegating it to a few teams
Without a compelling vision, it’s more difficult to persevere through the ERP implementation and to bring creative thinking and sharp problem-solving in the moments that count. Without resources from across the organization, it’s too easy to solve the same sets of challenges in the same sets of ways, instead of taking a fresh look at how to delight external and internal customers. And without making the ERP implementation a program that the entire company cares about, we’ll be tempted to deprioritize it in tradeoffs when the next exciting project idea comes up.
Reframing Career Advancement
Many of us are familiar with moving up the IT org chart by taking on more people leadership responsibilities, extending what we know and learning new skills to keep advancing.
But we want to shine a light on how to progress through your career by building and sharing expertise. This doesn’t exempt us from knowing how to lead and manage, but there’s a compelling advancement path through the technology ranks in mastering techniques, consistently demonstrating capabilities, and becoming the go-to person on a specific set of topics or practices.
Say you begin your career as a technical analyst. If you’re not drawn to the management side of the career track, you can go wide in an area of interest, see where your interests intersect with providing value for teammates and customers, and then go deep in that area of intersection. If you repeat this process, building your expertise and figuring out how to effectively share it with others in a way that provides value, this is a great recipe for advancement.
If you are more interested in solving technical puzzles than in managing people, we recommend four steps to move up outside of the management track:
Look at the products, projects, challenges, etc. in your sphere of influence and pick one that you can really dig in on. Start by getting a solid, wide foundation of understanding, and then share what you're learning with those around.
Find someone in your organization who’s successfully advanced through expertise and learn more about how they took early steps. Maybe this person can be a mentor (helping you lean into strengths and avoid derailers) or a sponsor (vouching for your value to the organization), but at least they can be an example to you.
Survey opportunities to share what you’re learning with teammates. Maybe this is volunteering to present at a lunch and learn. Maybe it’s contributing to an internal explainer or white paper. Find some way to demonstrate your expertise in a lower-stakes environment.
With rising confidence from sharing expertise with teammates, look for ways to invest your expertise in ways that are valuable to the organization overall. Raise your hand to draft a blog post. Use accessible resources to understand the way your area of expertise shows up in customer-facing work, and be quick to contribute when relevant questions arise. Ultimately, we’re aiming for your voice and actions to be visible and highly valued.
If you’re aiming for a career path of building, demonstrating, and sharing expertise, know that the FlexPoint team is cheering you on!
