Enabling The Connected Organization

As a young

programmer working at Columbia University, I heard a story that may be useful to

recount here. Dwight Eisenhower, before becoming the President of the United

States, served as president of Columbia, a University which, like all Ivy League

colleges, took pride in the well-manicured lawns of its campus.

One

day, Eisenhower received a frantic appeal from the head groundskeeper. The

students, ignoring multiple warnings to please stay off the grass, were wearing

unsightly paths through the lush grass of the main quadrangle.

"Why do they walk on the

grass?" Eisenhower asked.

"Because it is the quickest

way to get from the main entrance to the central hall," the groundskeeper

said.

"If that’s the way the

students are going to go," he said, "then put a pathway there."

Problem solved.

Every army general in history

learns one thing about leadership–a leader is the one who notices which way

the troops march and then gets out in front. Eisenhower knew it is folly to

resist people validating the fundamental principle that the shortest distance

between two points is a straight line.

The evolution of the connected

organization is another of those fundamental forces in the affairs of men and

women. The changing shape of this new organizational structure can and should be

channeled, but the reality that it is changing cannot be blocked or argued away.

Significance of change

As a CEO, I

believe the job must start at the CEO level. As a technologist, I am certain of

it. While the work of eliminating the disconnect involves every corner of the

organization and must engage the talents and resolve of every participant, the

task must begin with the chief executive. The CEO must be the main advocate of

any meaningful transformation. The buck not only stops here, it starts with the

CEO.

CEO of a connected

organization

ARTICULATE A

VISION THAT IS GERMANE TO THE BUSINESS:

Without a bold vision of business, clearly articulated and effectively

implemented, well-aligned IT is irrelevant. However, technology is the necessary

base and business enabler. If that base is not conspicuously in place or does

not work reliably, there is little if anything to enable. The vision must have

hooks at every level. It must be broad enough to inspire buy-in from everyone in

the organization, leaving no one out, yet specific enough to inspire IT

initiatives at the grassroots level.

THERE IS A FINE LINE BETWEEN

VISION AND HALLUCINATION: Steve Jobs, has

a forceful, visionary outlook that changed the face of the computer industry and

perhaps the world. He pressed everyone, especially doubters, to align with his

vision. Sometimes Jobs’ persistence paid off. More often, it failed. Job’s

leadership did not allow for collaboration, his colleagues eventually suspended

their own judgment when they entered what was termed Jobs’ reality distortion

field. My point is that CEOs of the connected organization need all the help

they can get. Teamwork cannot be sustained in an environment that shouts down

naysayers. If your vision cannot survive attack, it may not be worth defending.

There can be no assistance from colleagues whose best judgement is suspended in

deference to your vision.

AN OUNCE OF APPLICATION IS WORTH

A TON OF ABSTRACTION: I have a bias for

action. Do something and see if it works. I admire one company with a creative

program for getting executives and computers together. This company invites the

teenaged sons and daughters of executives to come into the office on weekends

where they are trained on the various office information systems. At that point,

the company sends the systems home with the teenagers so that the kids can train

the executives in the comfort of their homes. The systems are already loaded

with relevant corporate data. As the executives learn the system, they work with

real corporate data so they can immediately see the value of analyzing data.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A

TECHNOLOGY-NEUTRAL DECISION: The IT

element of businesses is becoming dominant and transparent. IT per se can no

longer be divorced from the myriad decisions CEOs have to make. Organizations

are pure information-processing machines. Their job is to capture, massage and

channel information. The information processing infrastructure you enable, will

increasingly differentiate your company from the competition. Only IT will

create the connects between your product and service and the customer. Because

every decision you make has an IT implication, it is vital for you to be

informed and comfortable with the strategic issues. The quality and quantity of

information comprehended per unit of time may now determine who wins or loses,

whether the issue is a customer order or a national war.

IT DOES NOT SUPPORT THE BUSINESS,

IT IS THE BUSINESS: Give up any idea you

may have about how IT can support your business. Your business is information

and information is your business.

IT changes everything you have

ever learned about business management. It has changed the very meaning of

management and the skills needed to do it well. IT flattens management. IT has

already flattened millions of managers who have failed to accommodate themselves

to the inevitable. Forces like this make no exceptions, even for you.

You are in good company. People

all around you–your colleagues, your competitors, even your customers–are

reeling. Thanks to the renegotiation.

So deeply embedded in every

process, IT will underlie every business activity in the connected organization.

IT will not be considered a tool or even a way to leverage human knowledge. It

will become an expected utility, much like electricity, noticeable only in the

rare event it is withdrawn.

NEW ROLES FOR THE CIO:

Look for a new model of the CIO’s role in the connected organization. The new

CIO will be more focused on the enterprise infrastructure (in fact, the CIO may

well be redefined as Chief Infrastructure Officer). The primary job of the CIO

will be to guard and control the process of acquiring knowledge. The CIO will

help learning organizations remain flexible by designing highly adaptive

information processes and systems. As ambassadors working closely with the

business units, CIOs will help rethink and transform operations through IT.

CEO AS CHIEF NUDGER:

If you never hear the CIO say "No!" during the realignment, you are

not pushing hard enough. To the extent the organization has a technology vision

it must be the CEO’s vision. Moreover, the vision should be outrageous. I

believe it is deadly for a CEO to articulate an IT vision, or any vision, for

that matter, that turns out to be too easily attainable. People or organizations

rarely attain goals higher than those they set for themselves. They look to the

CEO for scope. It is the job of the CEO to recalibrate the objectives of the

enterprise such that there is no possibility of the organization ever exceeding

them.

IF ALL OBJECTIONS MUST FIRST BE

OVERCOME, NOTHING WOULD BE ATTEMPTED:

There are, no doubt, many objections against embracing the connected

organization. More than a few people will defend the status quo. Opposition and

protest will fly fast and furious from those who are scared or threatened, as

well as from those who are sincere and occasionally even accurate. The committed

CEO will not feel the need to have an answer for every objection. Some changes

cannot be completely planned. They have to unfold.

IN THE LONG TERM, PUT FIRST

THINGS FIRST: CEOs must combine two

attitudes that do not often come easy–taking the long-term point of view and

putting first things first. CEOs must decide to resist that pressure and

cultivate the payoffs that come from research and development, quality

initiatives, strategic partnerships and other long-term activities. For many

CEOs this will mean evolving a more balanced approach to measuring progress. A

balanced scorecard not only reflects traditional values such as financial

results and shareholder value, but strategic technical, sociological, and

environmental considerations as well.

ENDING THE DISCONNECT REQUIRES A

MIND-SET, NOT A SKILL-SET: In the last

analysis, ending the disconnect is a decision that starts with the CEO and is

sustained by every participant in the organization.

Do not kid yourself. The unavoidable truth is

that all change comes at great cost, for the guilty and sometimes for the

innocent. The approaching business transformation will not be different. The

transformation will require all participants to revise the way in which they now

deal with one another and with the outside world. The lines defining the

disconnect do not simply go away. Someone has to erase them. But eliminating the

disconnect is not, by itself, a goal worth fighting for. Our efforts will be

measured not by what we erase but by what we build.

Excerpted

from Techno Vision II By Charles Wang 



Published by McGraw-Hill 



Courtesy:Computer Associates