Pearl Zhu's Blog, page 1389
November 9, 2015
Three “T” Factors in Running a Digital IT
All these “T” factors can help IT rebuild the other big T-TRUST relationship with business.
With the exponential flow of information and accelerating disruption of technology, IT plays a more significant role in the organization than ever. However, most of IT organizations get stuck at reactive mode as an order taker, lack of talent people with the right mindset, capabilities, and skill set, running at a lower level of maturity. In order to speed up and shift to the proactive mode, there is an “alphabetic soup” in running a digital IT which must lead in reaching high-level performance and maturity. Besides triple “I”s - Information, Innovation, and Integration, triple “A”s - Automation, Analysis, and Agility, triple “C”s - Change, Collaboration, and Cloudification, triple “P”s - Principle, Process, and Performance, triple “E”s Enablement, Exploration, and Effectiveness & Efficiency, triple “V”s - Vision, Value, and Variety, triple “F”s - Fast, Flow, and Flexibility. Here we introduce three “T” factors in running a high-performing and high mature digital IT:
Transformation: As many organizations are at an inflection point in digital transformation, that transformation represents a break with the past, a high level of impact and complexity. Effective CIOs can help orchestrate such change in organizational structure (vertical), working structure (horizontal), and social structure through the latest digital technology. However, many firms see their incumbent CIO as the 'head techie' rather than a transformational executive who happens to be tech-savvy. This perception is largely the CIO's fault: if you talk about 'features' rather than 'benefits,' focus on IT efficiency rather than on business effectiveness, and don't invest in learning the business and then innovating... Why shouldn't you be seen as a techie? In order to run a transformational IT, CIO should indeed have the right vision and be able to collaborate closely with the rest of the C-Suite, and IT organizations need to focus on value and capability building. It will mean that the enterprise view, customer contact, GRC and vendor management are the most important elements of an IT organization. The focus of IT needs to get back to its root--the big "I" as Information, Intelligence, Innovation, Integration, and Improvement, in order to improve its maturity. It means IT should spend more resources upon crafting unique business capabilities and capturing business growth opportunities, beyond "keeping the light on." In this regard, digital IT should gain more strength as an innovation engine and governance champion.
Transparency: Digital technology makes the world more open and transparent than ever, at the organizational level, businesses are always on and hyperconnected, there is no shortcut, transparency is a must. But the word of caution: transparency can be a double edge sword if the audience doesn't understand and embrace the intent in the right spirit. IT is the steward of companies’ data and information. People use the information to push their personal agenda forward, and that could cause some extra work. Transparency is gaining in popularity as a component of leadership, but in uncertain times, the concept is complicated by managing paradoxes. Transparency with LOB leaders is a must and non-negotiable if CIO needs to be successful. What and how is the trick, can be mastered. But the intent behind transparency should always be connected to business performance. CIOs will spend time with executives one on one to explain the shift in thinking and ask for their help and guidance. Most of the time, these executives will help you row the boat. Transparency can help IT leaders tell a story of the journey from current state to future state, of improvements, of accomplishments, of enablement with business strategies, etc. It's definitely a great core competency to leverage.
Talent Management: Talent Management is throwing fresh challenges and calls for radical change to be embraced. There are large skill gaps existing in many IT organizations, they fail to keep up on standards within their domain that can lead to the holistic enterprise viewpoint, and execution of IT strategies that fit within that enterprise viewpoint. The best or the right people are the cornerstones of the best IT organizations; while the best teams with complementary thinking style, skills, and capability can achieve much more than any individual who performs on his or her own. Therefore, always bring in the right people, with the ultimate goals to build a high-performing team for archiving better-than- expectation result and improving overall organizational maturity. Often times projects are not cohesive and create more problems when done independent of the enterprise than they solve. To train up an intelligent staff, you have to start looking internally to your own skill set. It is hard to be a CIO, focusing exclusively on your organization and lacking the time to keep up on the broader views of IT as it rapidly changes, thereby leading to knowledge stagnation. Modern IT leaders need to be talent masters.
All these “T” factors can help IT rebuild the other big T-TRUST relationship with business. Organizational success comes when IT and business act from 'IT vs. business' to a true partnership. The business needs to have empathy and complexity mindset to understand IT better, and IT learns to listen to the business partner's pain points, groom IT employees with “T” shape skill set and develop a transparent approach with business units. Only through working seamlessly, business as a whole can achieve a high-performing result and make a smooth digital transformation.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
With the exponential flow of information and accelerating disruption of technology, IT plays a more significant role in the organization than ever. However, most of IT organizations get stuck at reactive mode as an order taker, lack of talent people with the right mindset, capabilities, and skill set, running at a lower level of maturity. In order to speed up and shift to the proactive mode, there is an “alphabetic soup” in running a digital IT which must lead in reaching high-level performance and maturity. Besides triple “I”s - Information, Innovation, and Integration, triple “A”s - Automation, Analysis, and Agility, triple “C”s - Change, Collaboration, and Cloudification, triple “P”s - Principle, Process, and Performance, triple “E”s Enablement, Exploration, and Effectiveness & Efficiency, triple “V”s - Vision, Value, and Variety, triple “F”s - Fast, Flow, and Flexibility. Here we introduce three “T” factors in running a high-performing and high mature digital IT:
Transformation: As many organizations are at an inflection point in digital transformation, that transformation represents a break with the past, a high level of impact and complexity. Effective CIOs can help orchestrate such change in organizational structure (vertical), working structure (horizontal), and social structure through the latest digital technology. However, many firms see their incumbent CIO as the 'head techie' rather than a transformational executive who happens to be tech-savvy. This perception is largely the CIO's fault: if you talk about 'features' rather than 'benefits,' focus on IT efficiency rather than on business effectiveness, and don't invest in learning the business and then innovating... Why shouldn't you be seen as a techie? In order to run a transformational IT, CIO should indeed have the right vision and be able to collaborate closely with the rest of the C-Suite, and IT organizations need to focus on value and capability building. It will mean that the enterprise view, customer contact, GRC and vendor management are the most important elements of an IT organization. The focus of IT needs to get back to its root--the big "I" as Information, Intelligence, Innovation, Integration, and Improvement, in order to improve its maturity. It means IT should spend more resources upon crafting unique business capabilities and capturing business growth opportunities, beyond "keeping the light on." In this regard, digital IT should gain more strength as an innovation engine and governance champion.
Transparency: Digital technology makes the world more open and transparent than ever, at the organizational level, businesses are always on and hyperconnected, there is no shortcut, transparency is a must. But the word of caution: transparency can be a double edge sword if the audience doesn't understand and embrace the intent in the right spirit. IT is the steward of companies’ data and information. People use the information to push their personal agenda forward, and that could cause some extra work. Transparency is gaining in popularity as a component of leadership, but in uncertain times, the concept is complicated by managing paradoxes. Transparency with LOB leaders is a must and non-negotiable if CIO needs to be successful. What and how is the trick, can be mastered. But the intent behind transparency should always be connected to business performance. CIOs will spend time with executives one on one to explain the shift in thinking and ask for their help and guidance. Most of the time, these executives will help you row the boat. Transparency can help IT leaders tell a story of the journey from current state to future state, of improvements, of accomplishments, of enablement with business strategies, etc. It's definitely a great core competency to leverage.
Talent Management: Talent Management is throwing fresh challenges and calls for radical change to be embraced. There are large skill gaps existing in many IT organizations, they fail to keep up on standards within their domain that can lead to the holistic enterprise viewpoint, and execution of IT strategies that fit within that enterprise viewpoint. The best or the right people are the cornerstones of the best IT organizations; while the best teams with complementary thinking style, skills, and capability can achieve much more than any individual who performs on his or her own. Therefore, always bring in the right people, with the ultimate goals to build a high-performing team for archiving better-than- expectation result and improving overall organizational maturity. Often times projects are not cohesive and create more problems when done independent of the enterprise than they solve. To train up an intelligent staff, you have to start looking internally to your own skill set. It is hard to be a CIO, focusing exclusively on your organization and lacking the time to keep up on the broader views of IT as it rapidly changes, thereby leading to knowledge stagnation. Modern IT leaders need to be talent masters.All these “T” factors can help IT rebuild the other big T-TRUST relationship with business. Organizational success comes when IT and business act from 'IT vs. business' to a true partnership. The business needs to have empathy and complexity mindset to understand IT better, and IT learns to listen to the business partner's pain points, groom IT employees with “T” shape skill set and develop a transparent approach with business units. Only through working seamlessly, business as a whole can achieve a high-performing result and make a smooth digital transformation.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Three Questions to Assess Employees “Problem-Solving” Capability
The Great problem-solvers are the ones who possess the right mind with positivity, critical thinking, creative thinking, and systems thinking.
People are always the most invaluable asset in organizations because the collective capabilities underpin business strategy execution and amplify business influence. But how can organizations “value” their employees, and more specifically, evaluate each individual’s capability, especially the “problem-solving’ ability more effectively and objectively? Here are three questions to assess employees problem-solving capability.
Do you have the right mindset to overcome challenges? Are you the one always ask open questions such as,”what if,” or “why not.”The people with strong capabilities to solve tough problems are the ones who possess the right mind with positivity, critical thinking, creative thinking, and systems thinking. The right mindset is utmost quality for being a right fit, because the power of the mind is the force to problem-solving, overcome challenges and change the business or even the world for better. When one leaves negative thoughts and conventional wisdom, and to seek additional knowledge and experience, they are stepping outside that box to unfamiliar territory, and they not only gain additional experience but often have better chance to solve the old problem more creatively. There are also some mindsets, such as silo thinking (refuse to have cross-functional collaboration); polar thinking (we are right, they are wrong); non-critical thinking (reflexive, not reflective), stereotypical ('looks' like leader, not think as a leader), small thinking (locally right, globally wrong) or simply those 'resistance to change' mind (we always do things this way), have difficult time to solve tough problems, and continue to argue “it’s impossible.” Even worse, when people do not use their energy in positive ways, such as learning or problem-solving, their energy might flow to the wrong direction with negative emotions such as gossiping, envy, jealous, or back-biting, etc, and they become part of problems.
Are you at a continuous learning mode with the intellectual curiosity to enjoy problem-solving? A true problem-solver enjoys understanding the complexity and guide people through it; finding common ground and initiative dialogues. Turn around the tough situations, and enjoy the challenges about complex problem-solving. They also have the intellectual curiosity to dig into the root cause. If you only fix the symptom, not the root cause, then it perhaps causes more problems later. And that is why our world today; contains in reality more problems creators than true problems solvers because trying to solve a problem, by nature will create others. And if you don’t have a sound solution to each newly created problem, you’ll have very little chances to succeed solving the main problem, and all is connected. Therefore, you have to apply multi-dimensional intelligence ( creative thinking, critical thinking, strategic thinking and system thinking) that goes into problem identification as well as solution discovering!
Are you a Change Agent who is also a pathfinder or synthesizer with the set of skills for exploring and problem-solving? Change is not for its own sake, the very purpose of the change is often for problem-solving, progression, or innovation. However, resistance to change is part of human nature. For many people, "sameness" is psychological security. Change leads to psychological insecurity. Even though it is difficult to change human nature, there is still value in understanding that resistance is normal and must be considered/managed, in order to solve business problems more radically. To be a super problem-solver, an individual's attitudes and beliefs are all valid within the context of his or her personal experience. Taking people through new experiences, exposing them to additional "data" through those experiences, and doing that very purposefully will create the opportunity to shift attitudes, beliefs, mindsets that ultimately will cultivate their problem-solving capabilities.
The problem-solving capability is perhaps one of the most critical capabilities for today’s digital leaders and professional because both business environment and the world become over complex and full of uncertainty. Attitude, aptitude, and altitude are all important to be a great problems solver. There are small problems, large problems; simple problems, and tough challenges. Therefore, both quality and quantity count, recognize and reward your problem-solvers.
Three Questions to Assess Talent Employees' Problem-Solving Capability
Three Questions to Assess the Quality of an Employee
Three Questions to Assess a Person's Character
Three Questions to Assess Talent Creativity
Three Questions to Assess a Person's Ability to Think StrategicallyFollow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
People are always the most invaluable asset in organizations because the collective capabilities underpin business strategy execution and amplify business influence. But how can organizations “value” their employees, and more specifically, evaluate each individual’s capability, especially the “problem-solving’ ability more effectively and objectively? Here are three questions to assess employees problem-solving capability.
Do you have the right mindset to overcome challenges? Are you the one always ask open questions such as,”what if,” or “why not.”The people with strong capabilities to solve tough problems are the ones who possess the right mind with positivity, critical thinking, creative thinking, and systems thinking. The right mindset is utmost quality for being a right fit, because the power of the mind is the force to problem-solving, overcome challenges and change the business or even the world for better. When one leaves negative thoughts and conventional wisdom, and to seek additional knowledge and experience, they are stepping outside that box to unfamiliar territory, and they not only gain additional experience but often have better chance to solve the old problem more creatively. There are also some mindsets, such as silo thinking (refuse to have cross-functional collaboration); polar thinking (we are right, they are wrong); non-critical thinking (reflexive, not reflective), stereotypical ('looks' like leader, not think as a leader), small thinking (locally right, globally wrong) or simply those 'resistance to change' mind (we always do things this way), have difficult time to solve tough problems, and continue to argue “it’s impossible.” Even worse, when people do not use their energy in positive ways, such as learning or problem-solving, their energy might flow to the wrong direction with negative emotions such as gossiping, envy, jealous, or back-biting, etc, and they become part of problems.
Are you at a continuous learning mode with the intellectual curiosity to enjoy problem-solving? A true problem-solver enjoys understanding the complexity and guide people through it; finding common ground and initiative dialogues. Turn around the tough situations, and enjoy the challenges about complex problem-solving. They also have the intellectual curiosity to dig into the root cause. If you only fix the symptom, not the root cause, then it perhaps causes more problems later. And that is why our world today; contains in reality more problems creators than true problems solvers because trying to solve a problem, by nature will create others. And if you don’t have a sound solution to each newly created problem, you’ll have very little chances to succeed solving the main problem, and all is connected. Therefore, you have to apply multi-dimensional intelligence ( creative thinking, critical thinking, strategic thinking and system thinking) that goes into problem identification as well as solution discovering!
Are you a Change Agent who is also a pathfinder or synthesizer with the set of skills for exploring and problem-solving? Change is not for its own sake, the very purpose of the change is often for problem-solving, progression, or innovation. However, resistance to change is part of human nature. For many people, "sameness" is psychological security. Change leads to psychological insecurity. Even though it is difficult to change human nature, there is still value in understanding that resistance is normal and must be considered/managed, in order to solve business problems more radically. To be a super problem-solver, an individual's attitudes and beliefs are all valid within the context of his or her personal experience. Taking people through new experiences, exposing them to additional "data" through those experiences, and doing that very purposefully will create the opportunity to shift attitudes, beliefs, mindsets that ultimately will cultivate their problem-solving capabilities.
The problem-solving capability is perhaps one of the most critical capabilities for today’s digital leaders and professional because both business environment and the world become over complex and full of uncertainty. Attitude, aptitude, and altitude are all important to be a great problems solver. There are small problems, large problems; simple problems, and tough challenges. Therefore, both quality and quantity count, recognize and reward your problem-solvers.
Three Questions to Assess Talent Employees' Problem-Solving Capability
Three Questions to Assess the Quality of an Employee
Three Questions to Assess a Person's Character
Three Questions to Assess Talent Creativity
Three Questions to Assess a Person's Ability to Think StrategicallyFollow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
November 8, 2015
Is Leadership about Power or Empowerment
Power is the great thing if you can use it wisely to make a positive influence and empower others to do the same!
Power has many different formats; some visible, some invisible; some are earned, some are given; some are delightful, some are intimidating; here are a few different types of powers: position power is associated with people who are in a position to ‘boss” others. People fear the consequences of not doing what is asked of them. Expert power comes from a person’s expertise. This is commonly a person with an acclaimed skill or accomplishment. Influence power is associated with people who are well-liked and respected hold this kind of power. What’s the correlation between leadership and power? Is leadership more about power or empowerment?
A high mature leader needs to practice more influence power and expertise power, and use position power wisely: Like many things, power is like the two sides of the coin: In understanding power you can see how it can be used and then how you can give it to others to achieve the objectives you want. Given that the boss's power is based on his/her demonstrated ability to boss her/his people, she/he is probably fearful of letting that power go and might try her best to hang onto it; in other words, managers hold the power to "boss" the worker around, using any number of carrots and sticks. A boss in this situation might not make the decision to trust her/his team and empower them; she/he may give 'lip-service' to empowerment yet not back up empowerment with actions, which further confuses a team. If anyone views leadership solely from this perspective, you are missing all the positive aspects of leadership that pragmatic business people use every day to inspire and motivate their work teams to achieve agreed-upon goals.
Leadership should be thought of in terms of empowering others. Empowerment is about transforming someone by increasing their capacity or abilities in order to help them make better choices that lead to desired outcomes. Empowerment can multiply performance by quantum levels because it demonstrates management's respect for the employee, your high expectations for excellence in performance, and your tangible and bold statement that the employee is valued and trusted. This enhances the employee’s self-esteem which in turn enhances his or her ownership of the task which unleashes his/her potential. Therefore, untapped talent, creativity, and genius, which ultimately can result in speedy, cost-effective, innovative, and high-quality outcomes.
All power is a scarcity mindset! The power can be earned by way of an empowering, developmental, Pygmalion, and collaborative leadership style and why that power is absolutely essential for the high achievement of an empowered team or work unit. Power is essential to leadership, focus, corporate agility, and competitive survival. The power that is earned by means of entrepreneurial, empowering, and developmental leadership is the engine that drives and guides a healthy, growing, and learning organization. We have to remember that organizations are going about empowerment from different angles. They need to empower the change agent for more radical business transformation, they may also be comfortable or motivated somehow with slow, incremental change. Different styles for different starting points and different expectation.
Power is the state of beings. It is about being who I am and respecting another person to do the same. despite how I see that in my world. To practice leadership power effectively, it is about empowerment which can be broken down into statements of acknowledgment and support. Power is the great thing if you can use it to make a positive influence on the world via planting seeds of empowerment, inspiration, and creative possibilities.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Power has many different formats; some visible, some invisible; some are earned, some are given; some are delightful, some are intimidating; here are a few different types of powers: position power is associated with people who are in a position to ‘boss” others. People fear the consequences of not doing what is asked of them. Expert power comes from a person’s expertise. This is commonly a person with an acclaimed skill or accomplishment. Influence power is associated with people who are well-liked and respected hold this kind of power. What’s the correlation between leadership and power? Is leadership more about power or empowerment?
A high mature leader needs to practice more influence power and expertise power, and use position power wisely: Like many things, power is like the two sides of the coin: In understanding power you can see how it can be used and then how you can give it to others to achieve the objectives you want. Given that the boss's power is based on his/her demonstrated ability to boss her/his people, she/he is probably fearful of letting that power go and might try her best to hang onto it; in other words, managers hold the power to "boss" the worker around, using any number of carrots and sticks. A boss in this situation might not make the decision to trust her/his team and empower them; she/he may give 'lip-service' to empowerment yet not back up empowerment with actions, which further confuses a team. If anyone views leadership solely from this perspective, you are missing all the positive aspects of leadership that pragmatic business people use every day to inspire and motivate their work teams to achieve agreed-upon goals.
Leadership should be thought of in terms of empowering others. Empowerment is about transforming someone by increasing their capacity or abilities in order to help them make better choices that lead to desired outcomes. Empowerment can multiply performance by quantum levels because it demonstrates management's respect for the employee, your high expectations for excellence in performance, and your tangible and bold statement that the employee is valued and trusted. This enhances the employee’s self-esteem which in turn enhances his or her ownership of the task which unleashes his/her potential. Therefore, untapped talent, creativity, and genius, which ultimately can result in speedy, cost-effective, innovative, and high-quality outcomes.
All power is a scarcity mindset! The power can be earned by way of an empowering, developmental, Pygmalion, and collaborative leadership style and why that power is absolutely essential for the high achievement of an empowered team or work unit. Power is essential to leadership, focus, corporate agility, and competitive survival. The power that is earned by means of entrepreneurial, empowering, and developmental leadership is the engine that drives and guides a healthy, growing, and learning organization. We have to remember that organizations are going about empowerment from different angles. They need to empower the change agent for more radical business transformation, they may also be comfortable or motivated somehow with slow, incremental change. Different styles for different starting points and different expectation. Power is the state of beings. It is about being who I am and respecting another person to do the same. despite how I see that in my world. To practice leadership power effectively, it is about empowerment which can be broken down into statements of acknowledgment and support. Power is the great thing if you can use it to make a positive influence on the world via planting seeds of empowerment, inspiration, and creative possibilities.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Connecting the Dots between Process vs. Capability
Both capability view and process view are useful in managing business transformation, which to use depends on the purpose you have in mind.
The process is a "basic cell" in the sense of transforming inputs into outputs so it can be used to build the whole operation. Process Management is to manage known from the flow. Capabilities are an accumulation of competencies which are used for achieving the strategic goals. Competencies are what people know, use, do and can achieve. How to connect further dots between Process and capability?
A capability must have some sort of activity - that doesn't necessarily have to be a process. Process management comes from the need to develop repeatable sequences of activities that are reliable because they happen the same way each time you do them - which is great, but it only makes sense to think about the process with a set of activities that you are going to repeat. So, capabilities can be one or more processes with a set of resources needed to carry them out, or they can be an activity with a set of resources to carry it out.
Processes without supporting assets cannot be regarded as capabilities. There is no doubt that processes do not equal capabilities; although they are related. Hence processes can be designed, approved, documented, and owned, but almost always require some combination of physical assets, data assets, resource/people assets, measurement and monitoring systems, management systems, and coordination systems to truly become capabilities that organizations can deploy, manage, and attenuate/amplify against demand variety as needed. Even there is little repeatability in a particular organization's primary activity, it may not require a defined process, but certainly in a corporate environment, there are few processes of this nature, even development ones, so a proper understanding of processes, assets and capabilities is essential.
One critical difference is that whilst a capability may have a process, it must have resources: whereas, you can view process or design one in isolation without factoring in resource -When people do process modelling or redesign to address a problem, but they completely ignore the question of resource, so the redesign stays as a theoretical exercise and the capability (or lack of it) stays the same even though the process is supposed to be different. Resources are considered tradable as economic factors in their respective markets, whereas capabilities are non-tradable. In system theory terms, capabilities have emergent attributes that could not be explained in terms of their components (resources). “Emergence” results from the fact that resources are embedded in the firm influencing and being influenced by the broader context of the organization (culture, leadership style, paradigms, proprietary technology, etc.)
Process and capability are different, but there are overlaps. Both capability view and process view are useful in managing business transformation, which to use depends on the purpose you have in mind. As of today, capabilities continue being considered firm-idiosyncratic and market-relevant bundles of resources with the potential to drive competitiveness, and the discussion has moved to dynamic capabilities in the context of hyper-competitive markets, or qualify those that are both market-relevant and difficult-to-imitate/substitute, as strategic capabilities.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
The process is a "basic cell" in the sense of transforming inputs into outputs so it can be used to build the whole operation. Process Management is to manage known from the flow. Capabilities are an accumulation of competencies which are used for achieving the strategic goals. Competencies are what people know, use, do and can achieve. How to connect further dots between Process and capability?A capability must have some sort of activity - that doesn't necessarily have to be a process. Process management comes from the need to develop repeatable sequences of activities that are reliable because they happen the same way each time you do them - which is great, but it only makes sense to think about the process with a set of activities that you are going to repeat. So, capabilities can be one or more processes with a set of resources needed to carry them out, or they can be an activity with a set of resources to carry it out.
Processes without supporting assets cannot be regarded as capabilities. There is no doubt that processes do not equal capabilities; although they are related. Hence processes can be designed, approved, documented, and owned, but almost always require some combination of physical assets, data assets, resource/people assets, measurement and monitoring systems, management systems, and coordination systems to truly become capabilities that organizations can deploy, manage, and attenuate/amplify against demand variety as needed. Even there is little repeatability in a particular organization's primary activity, it may not require a defined process, but certainly in a corporate environment, there are few processes of this nature, even development ones, so a proper understanding of processes, assets and capabilities is essential.
One critical difference is that whilst a capability may have a process, it must have resources: whereas, you can view process or design one in isolation without factoring in resource -When people do process modelling or redesign to address a problem, but they completely ignore the question of resource, so the redesign stays as a theoretical exercise and the capability (or lack of it) stays the same even though the process is supposed to be different. Resources are considered tradable as economic factors in their respective markets, whereas capabilities are non-tradable. In system theory terms, capabilities have emergent attributes that could not be explained in terms of their components (resources). “Emergence” results from the fact that resources are embedded in the firm influencing and being influenced by the broader context of the organization (culture, leadership style, paradigms, proprietary technology, etc.)Process and capability are different, but there are overlaps. Both capability view and process view are useful in managing business transformation, which to use depends on the purpose you have in mind. As of today, capabilities continue being considered firm-idiosyncratic and market-relevant bundles of resources with the potential to drive competitiveness, and the discussion has moved to dynamic capabilities in the context of hyper-competitive markets, or qualify those that are both market-relevant and difficult-to-imitate/substitute, as strategic capabilities.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Agile IT Governance
Agile Principle: Respond to change over following a plan.
Change is the new normal for businesses today, there are culture changes, process changes, or software change management, etc. Agile is about being able to efficiently respond to change. Various Agile methodologies exist to adopt different responses depending on the nature of the change, especially predictable unknowns, and unpredictable unknowns. Hence, governance practices need to be sufficiently informed and able to keep pace with what is going on. The joint needs of Agile projects and a commitment to IT governance will increase the extent to which a number of IT management practices have to participate in projects, with a consequent cost.
Agile IT governance procedures for managing cross-teams dependencies, issues, and risks are integral success factors for IT agility. Applying Agile philosophy and principles to build a disciplined Agile delivery environment where to address the full delivery lifecycle involving agile and non-agile teams, several core methods are combined, or a few “traditional” practices, such as doing some up-front requirements and architecture modeling tailored to reflect agile philosophies, are adopted to round out the overall solution delivery process. Also, Agile isn't a silver bullet and it's not always appropriate. in large organizations there are many reasons for establishing consistency across a broader scope. These may be opportunistic to improve productivity or business critical issues, such as optimizing common customer experience, common capabilities that facilitate rapid change with a minimum horizon of impact.
Agile IT governance is less about structure and rules than being focused, effective, and accountable. Agile IT organizations bring a governance approach to Agile projects, which maintains the self-governance, but on two levels a) the team, and b) the community of interest, which is a collaboration of cross-functional teams, that manage the platform of common core code. IT organizations automate the common core which has major benefits in both productivity and agility. Addressing risks, issues, concerns, and communicating actions across the organization is also a key responsibility referring to the leadership within the governance structure in an agile environment.
Applying Agile principle, “people over process” to practice IT governance: People use the process of governance to enhance the delivery of business value on time in tranches that meet the business needs. Put emphasis on a solution that 'all employees can leverage.' Any solution with that kind of 'reach' is on the right track. Good governance practices should touch on issues of engagement, shared commitment, alignment between strategic business goals and workforce management etc. An organization that values hierarchy and status quo over the trust, collaboration and the freedom to innovate and learn will be a poor fit for Agile. It is a trade-off that can appear to be a black-and-white one between order and chaos to those who cling to status quo. Good governance practices can strike the right balance of standardization and innovation.
Strong governance disciplines can steer IT toward a value-added position and manage risks effectively under the dynamic and information-overloading environment in maintaining predictability and quality. Agile governance is not just another buzzword, but following a set of Agile principles to drive business and IT change and increase the business value the most via the right order: people, process, and technology.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Change is the new normal for businesses today, there are culture changes, process changes, or software change management, etc. Agile is about being able to efficiently respond to change. Various Agile methodologies exist to adopt different responses depending on the nature of the change, especially predictable unknowns, and unpredictable unknowns. Hence, governance practices need to be sufficiently informed and able to keep pace with what is going on. The joint needs of Agile projects and a commitment to IT governance will increase the extent to which a number of IT management practices have to participate in projects, with a consequent cost.
Agile IT governance procedures for managing cross-teams dependencies, issues, and risks are integral success factors for IT agility. Applying Agile philosophy and principles to build a disciplined Agile delivery environment where to address the full delivery lifecycle involving agile and non-agile teams, several core methods are combined, or a few “traditional” practices, such as doing some up-front requirements and architecture modeling tailored to reflect agile philosophies, are adopted to round out the overall solution delivery process. Also, Agile isn't a silver bullet and it's not always appropriate. in large organizations there are many reasons for establishing consistency across a broader scope. These may be opportunistic to improve productivity or business critical issues, such as optimizing common customer experience, common capabilities that facilitate rapid change with a minimum horizon of impact.
Agile IT governance is less about structure and rules than being focused, effective, and accountable. Agile IT organizations bring a governance approach to Agile projects, which maintains the self-governance, but on two levels a) the team, and b) the community of interest, which is a collaboration of cross-functional teams, that manage the platform of common core code. IT organizations automate the common core which has major benefits in both productivity and agility. Addressing risks, issues, concerns, and communicating actions across the organization is also a key responsibility referring to the leadership within the governance structure in an agile environment.
Applying Agile principle, “people over process” to practice IT governance: People use the process of governance to enhance the delivery of business value on time in tranches that meet the business needs. Put emphasis on a solution that 'all employees can leverage.' Any solution with that kind of 'reach' is on the right track. Good governance practices should touch on issues of engagement, shared commitment, alignment between strategic business goals and workforce management etc. An organization that values hierarchy and status quo over the trust, collaboration and the freedom to innovate and learn will be a poor fit for Agile. It is a trade-off that can appear to be a black-and-white one between order and chaos to those who cling to status quo. Good governance practices can strike the right balance of standardization and innovation.
Strong governance disciplines can steer IT toward a value-added position and manage risks effectively under the dynamic and information-overloading environment in maintaining predictability and quality. Agile governance is not just another buzzword, but following a set of Agile principles to drive business and IT change and increase the business value the most via the right order: people, process, and technology.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
November 7, 2015
The Objectives of Education
Education like transportation is the means to end, the receivers need to discover their own destinations.
The purpose of education is to instill the art of learning in order to adapt in a changing world. Educationally self-sufficiency is really important as we become adults to enable confidence and broaden life experiences.What are more specific objectives of modern education?
The single most important objective of education (of children) is to ensure that they do not stop questioning: They continue their learning journey with their relentless quest for answers as they grow up, and to spread the virus of curiosity. Making inquiries with positive intentions, and applying ethical ways, results in positive outcomes for self and all others. So Education needs to encourage children to ask questions, make mistakes, ask clarifying questions, make more mistakes, and then ask even more questions.
Education like a window should make you see and understand the world and its constant changes more clearly; Equipped with knowledge, you are not afraid of change, and feel comfortable of being a part of it. However, sometimes, the traditional education instills preconceived concept or even bias which becomes part of problems for the society moving forward. Therefore, continuous learning via informal education is complementary to adapt to the increasing speed of changes.
Education (for children and all) should promote all positive perspectives of humanity: The wonder of the unknown, freedom to imagine, confidence to create, discipline to commit, skills to innovate, judgment in action, selflessness to share, compassion to care, empathy to understand, and a fine balance of self-esteem and humility. The realization via fine education -
~ they have in themselves all that is needed to become fulfilled individuals;
~ they are not in competition with their peers, but rather with themselves, in becoming their best versions.
~listen to and balance their instincts, intuition, imagination, inquiry with ingenuity towards achieving life purposes.
~ they have an endless reservoir of goodness waiting to be tapped and they should continually look for it.
Education should focus on creativity and discovery through the process of the arts; it needs to engage, enlighten and develop human beings, who from there can learn the skills and build capabilities. The pitfall of education is to stifle originality and creativity, detach us from connecting with nature. Natural potential and intuition foster into known and undiscovered diverse approaches of thinking for maximizing self-determination, personal interpretation, and individual and group expression. Education's objective should be to provide the foundation that results in the addition of new information and discoveries. Therefore, furthering the quality of civilization and enriching the role we play in the universe. To value and develop the child's natural potential and give a space to his/her creative, instinctive way of discovering the world, instead of trying to shape her/him into a structured system.
Education should focus on cultivating thinking habit, if not sufficient to sharpening thinking skills. Because the healthy thinking habits can unleash us from conventional wisdom and opens the door to achieve anything. The limitation of education is that it can instill knowledge or coach methodology, but can’t teach us how to think independently or creatively. The future of education should be less about imparting knowledge anymore. The internet makes knowledge available at our fingertips in a split second. New education should listen to the child, bring out their inner resources, teach them in a way that suits their individual learning style, cultivate their thinking and learning habits, aim to give children and young people the ability to effect positive change in their lives and communities. The objectives of education are to make sure that one can think profoundly, communicate with clarity, understand (Listen) with empathy, and Execute (Do) confidently, no matter what field or subject they study.
The real goal of education is to achieve wisdom, the wisdom goes beyond what our senses can perceive and what our logical mind can understand. Knowing Algebra or a language or studying history or about different civilization is merely knowledge, it is not wisdom. Modern education should meet the need for embracing and retaining the globally connected civilization models for progressive human activity and sustainability. The “products” of modern education is in demand because the society desperately needs more peacemakers, visionary, ambassadors, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable, peaceful, and humane. It needs more people to value diversity and become lifelong learners.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
The purpose of education is to instill the art of learning in order to adapt in a changing world. Educationally self-sufficiency is really important as we become adults to enable confidence and broaden life experiences.What are more specific objectives of modern education?
The single most important objective of education (of children) is to ensure that they do not stop questioning: They continue their learning journey with their relentless quest for answers as they grow up, and to spread the virus of curiosity. Making inquiries with positive intentions, and applying ethical ways, results in positive outcomes for self and all others. So Education needs to encourage children to ask questions, make mistakes, ask clarifying questions, make more mistakes, and then ask even more questions.
Education like a window should make you see and understand the world and its constant changes more clearly; Equipped with knowledge, you are not afraid of change, and feel comfortable of being a part of it. However, sometimes, the traditional education instills preconceived concept or even bias which becomes part of problems for the society moving forward. Therefore, continuous learning via informal education is complementary to adapt to the increasing speed of changes.
Education (for children and all) should promote all positive perspectives of humanity: The wonder of the unknown, freedom to imagine, confidence to create, discipline to commit, skills to innovate, judgment in action, selflessness to share, compassion to care, empathy to understand, and a fine balance of self-esteem and humility. The realization via fine education -
~ they have in themselves all that is needed to become fulfilled individuals;
~ they are not in competition with their peers, but rather with themselves, in becoming their best versions.
~listen to and balance their instincts, intuition, imagination, inquiry with ingenuity towards achieving life purposes.
~ they have an endless reservoir of goodness waiting to be tapped and they should continually look for it.
Education should focus on creativity and discovery through the process of the arts; it needs to engage, enlighten and develop human beings, who from there can learn the skills and build capabilities. The pitfall of education is to stifle originality and creativity, detach us from connecting with nature. Natural potential and intuition foster into known and undiscovered diverse approaches of thinking for maximizing self-determination, personal interpretation, and individual and group expression. Education's objective should be to provide the foundation that results in the addition of new information and discoveries. Therefore, furthering the quality of civilization and enriching the role we play in the universe. To value and develop the child's natural potential and give a space to his/her creative, instinctive way of discovering the world, instead of trying to shape her/him into a structured system.
Education should focus on cultivating thinking habit, if not sufficient to sharpening thinking skills. Because the healthy thinking habits can unleash us from conventional wisdom and opens the door to achieve anything. The limitation of education is that it can instill knowledge or coach methodology, but can’t teach us how to think independently or creatively. The future of education should be less about imparting knowledge anymore. The internet makes knowledge available at our fingertips in a split second. New education should listen to the child, bring out their inner resources, teach them in a way that suits their individual learning style, cultivate their thinking and learning habits, aim to give children and young people the ability to effect positive change in their lives and communities. The objectives of education are to make sure that one can think profoundly, communicate with clarity, understand (Listen) with empathy, and Execute (Do) confidently, no matter what field or subject they study.
The real goal of education is to achieve wisdom, the wisdom goes beyond what our senses can perceive and what our logical mind can understand. Knowing Algebra or a language or studying history or about different civilization is merely knowledge, it is not wisdom. Modern education should meet the need for embracing and retaining the globally connected civilization models for progressive human activity and sustainability. The “products” of modern education is in demand because the society desperately needs more peacemakers, visionary, ambassadors, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable, peaceful, and humane. It needs more people to value diversity and become lifelong learners.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
The Change Factors that would Improve the Business Results?
Always keep in mind people are at the center and the very purpose for changes.
The speed of change is up, but the majority of Change Management effort fail to achieve the expected result. What are the top things would you change in an organization that would improve the business result? If you can imagine an organization as a garden and the people are all forms of life in it, how can you as a leader or anyone contribute to maximum balance growth inside that little patch of Planet Earth?
The solution to any given problem is ALWAYS in analyzing the problem. What matters most is going to identify the root of the problem. Never assume you know what the problem is. Never think there is a short list of solutions you can pick from. Actually, it would depend upon an analysis of the organization to determine the true priority change needed, each organization is unique. Take the stock of all the reasons why results are not up to the point of your desire/strategy: SWOT, then converge one single point through priority, focus, take up the top one first.
The strong support from senior leaders is crucial to change success. Sometimes key leaders actually do not support a change and actively undermine that change. More often than not, however, leaders do support the change but radically under-estimate the importance of their active and visible support for the change. Many seem to believe that if they make the decision to implement the change then the rest can be left to the project team. Nothing is further from the truth. Senior leaders need to understand that they must carry the brunt of the responsibility for communication with the organization. They must actively tear down barriers and secure necessary resources throughout the change process.
Look at problems in a proactive way to make the right policies. If an organization really needs substantial change, it is because the leadership has not provided the necessary factors of success. It’s the question every change leader should ask himself/herself almost every month, if not week. And there is no need to look at it in a reactive mode as a ‘problem,’ but it would be desirable to look at it proactively and have a ‘policy,’ to catalyze changes.
The practical ‘blanket’ answer that cure the change inertia is – CULTURE! The fundamental nature of change suggests that true strategic change will almost always be in conflict with the old and prevalent ideas. Hence, a conflict with culture is very likely. When the company grows, this corporate culture tends to stay the same over time -the culture inertia. However, in order to move up to the next level of organizational maturity, the culture needs to be changed as well to adapt to the emerging digital trend and pulling strategy execution towards the right decision.
Communication, Communication, and Communication. Communication is probably the world’s biggest problem as many listen to respond and not to think profoundly beforehand. When there is a lack of communication, it is the lack of trust among workers and management. The obstacles to the fix are part of the problem. Thus, transparent REFLEXION of cause and effects which needs to be improved in communication and management is the one thing you need.
Always keep in mind people are at the center and the very purpose for changes. Match a problem and with that in mind the one thing to change would be to have a phrase at the heart of everything the organization does. The care and the relentlessly intelligent way to hire people and invest on them in order to grow a winning organization based on merit and positive thinking.
Change is an ongoing capability, not just an event only. Events can be managed top down. Change can be supported top down, but change cannot be fully managed or controlled top down, it has to be proactively made bottom up. So grow your change leaders, empower change agents, and reward change champions.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
The speed of change is up, but the majority of Change Management effort fail to achieve the expected result. What are the top things would you change in an organization that would improve the business result? If you can imagine an organization as a garden and the people are all forms of life in it, how can you as a leader or anyone contribute to maximum balance growth inside that little patch of Planet Earth?
The solution to any given problem is ALWAYS in analyzing the problem. What matters most is going to identify the root of the problem. Never assume you know what the problem is. Never think there is a short list of solutions you can pick from. Actually, it would depend upon an analysis of the organization to determine the true priority change needed, each organization is unique. Take the stock of all the reasons why results are not up to the point of your desire/strategy: SWOT, then converge one single point through priority, focus, take up the top one first.
The strong support from senior leaders is crucial to change success. Sometimes key leaders actually do not support a change and actively undermine that change. More often than not, however, leaders do support the change but radically under-estimate the importance of their active and visible support for the change. Many seem to believe that if they make the decision to implement the change then the rest can be left to the project team. Nothing is further from the truth. Senior leaders need to understand that they must carry the brunt of the responsibility for communication with the organization. They must actively tear down barriers and secure necessary resources throughout the change process.
Look at problems in a proactive way to make the right policies. If an organization really needs substantial change, it is because the leadership has not provided the necessary factors of success. It’s the question every change leader should ask himself/herself almost every month, if not week. And there is no need to look at it in a reactive mode as a ‘problem,’ but it would be desirable to look at it proactively and have a ‘policy,’ to catalyze changes.
The practical ‘blanket’ answer that cure the change inertia is – CULTURE! The fundamental nature of change suggests that true strategic change will almost always be in conflict with the old and prevalent ideas. Hence, a conflict with culture is very likely. When the company grows, this corporate culture tends to stay the same over time -the culture inertia. However, in order to move up to the next level of organizational maturity, the culture needs to be changed as well to adapt to the emerging digital trend and pulling strategy execution towards the right decision.
Communication, Communication, and Communication. Communication is probably the world’s biggest problem as many listen to respond and not to think profoundly beforehand. When there is a lack of communication, it is the lack of trust among workers and management. The obstacles to the fix are part of the problem. Thus, transparent REFLEXION of cause and effects which needs to be improved in communication and management is the one thing you need.
Always keep in mind people are at the center and the very purpose for changes. Match a problem and with that in mind the one thing to change would be to have a phrase at the heart of everything the organization does. The care and the relentlessly intelligent way to hire people and invest on them in order to grow a winning organization based on merit and positive thinking.
Change is an ongoing capability, not just an event only. Events can be managed top down. Change can be supported top down, but change cannot be fully managed or controlled top down, it has to be proactively made bottom up. So grow your change leaders, empower change agents, and reward change champions.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
A Solution-Focused Culture
Beginning the end in mind - figure out what you want your organization to be.
Culture can either lift or stifle an organization’s growth and maturity. When people talk about changing the organizational culture, what do they mean? Is that the vision/mission no longer relevant? Does that the values of the organization need to change? Or does that their people need to act or operate differently - and why would that be? So how often does the culture (vision, mission, values) need to change, rather than the way people in the organization are really living up to those that are stated? And how do you align or realign people and their work with the culture! What are the principles and practices to build a solution-focused culture to catalyze strategy implementation?
Leaders need to set transformational principles to develop a solution-focused culture: Organizational culture embodies the values and attitudes of its leadership. Culture sits deep in any organization; it is the bedrock on which organization's foundation finds its base. To effect any form of change in any organization, its culture needs to be clearly understood. In the globalized business environment, very often people of various nations/cultures are in various facets/functions. Leaders who work from transformational principles can develop an organizational culture which is solution-focused, synergistic, and highly productive. Aligning the organization’s policy, procedure, and communication with these principles can support positive cultural shifts. An organization whose leadership aligns mission, strategy, operations, and outcomes within positive cultural norms, is an algorithm for success. As a result, a culture of shared leadership should evolve. When this occurs within an organization, accountability and 'ownership' shifts from a few titled leaders to all leaders. Organizational culture is a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations. Although a company may have its "own unique culture," there can be diverse and sometimes conflicting cultures that coexist due to different characteristics of the management team. The organizational culture may also have negative and positive aspects which can affect employees own perceptions and identification with the organizational culture. Thus, those that have the most effective organizational culture are where the senior team really live the mission, values, and ethos of the organization - and don't just pay lip-service to it. Other people in the organization will then follow that lead.
Cross-functional collaboration is crucial to building a solution-focused culture: Organizational culture is the behavior of humans who are part of an organization. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs, and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. Building a solution-focused culture enables an organization to implement strategy more effectively. Look for creative, cost-effective opportunities to develop cross-functional teams, when appropriate, and to bring together people who would not typically have the opportunity to communicate in the day-to-day operations. Encourage feedback and even complaints to be addressed within the context of solution-focused problem solving.
Beginning the end in mind -figure out what you want your organization to be: Humans are complex ones that unless they are convinced no change can be brought about. Aligning a workforce toward intentional cultural shifts can be quite complex depending on the intended departure from the baseline culture. Obviously each organization is different, so it isn't a one size fits all process. But there are principles that may apply to most. Include key stakeholders within the organization early on is helpful. In order to cultivate a solution-focused culture, assess where the organization is regarding the impending change. Set a realistic timeline and some measurable outcomes.
Synergy and creativity can be helpful drivers for shaping a solution-focused culture. Identify "ambassadors" within the ranks. Have an advisory committee review policy, procedure, and communication within the organization to ensure the infrastructure supports the shifts. Be ready and willing to eliminate what clearly isn't working. Deep cultural shifts happen over time. But you can use an iterative improvement strategy to guide the forward movement. There is so much good information out there that can facilitate cultural development. The challenge, or to perceive positively, the opportunity, is getting the top-down and bottom-up buy-in and being consistent with the process over time. Results should be defined in explicit understandable and tangible terms so that workers, management, board members and other key stakeholders will partner in this mission.
Building a solution-focused culture starts with visionary leadership and high-engaging employees, and they have a clear understanding of strategy to keep the end in mind. Once people gain new perspectives about change, change can happen very quickly and people will not go back to their old way of thinking. That's when culture change is accelerated and becomes sustainable.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Culture can either lift or stifle an organization’s growth and maturity. When people talk about changing the organizational culture, what do they mean? Is that the vision/mission no longer relevant? Does that the values of the organization need to change? Or does that their people need to act or operate differently - and why would that be? So how often does the culture (vision, mission, values) need to change, rather than the way people in the organization are really living up to those that are stated? And how do you align or realign people and their work with the culture! What are the principles and practices to build a solution-focused culture to catalyze strategy implementation?
Leaders need to set transformational principles to develop a solution-focused culture: Organizational culture embodies the values and attitudes of its leadership. Culture sits deep in any organization; it is the bedrock on which organization's foundation finds its base. To effect any form of change in any organization, its culture needs to be clearly understood. In the globalized business environment, very often people of various nations/cultures are in various facets/functions. Leaders who work from transformational principles can develop an organizational culture which is solution-focused, synergistic, and highly productive. Aligning the organization’s policy, procedure, and communication with these principles can support positive cultural shifts. An organization whose leadership aligns mission, strategy, operations, and outcomes within positive cultural norms, is an algorithm for success. As a result, a culture of shared leadership should evolve. When this occurs within an organization, accountability and 'ownership' shifts from a few titled leaders to all leaders. Organizational culture is a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations. Although a company may have its "own unique culture," there can be diverse and sometimes conflicting cultures that coexist due to different characteristics of the management team. The organizational culture may also have negative and positive aspects which can affect employees own perceptions and identification with the organizational culture. Thus, those that have the most effective organizational culture are where the senior team really live the mission, values, and ethos of the organization - and don't just pay lip-service to it. Other people in the organization will then follow that lead.
Cross-functional collaboration is crucial to building a solution-focused culture: Organizational culture is the behavior of humans who are part of an organization. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs, and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. Building a solution-focused culture enables an organization to implement strategy more effectively. Look for creative, cost-effective opportunities to develop cross-functional teams, when appropriate, and to bring together people who would not typically have the opportunity to communicate in the day-to-day operations. Encourage feedback and even complaints to be addressed within the context of solution-focused problem solving.
Beginning the end in mind -figure out what you want your organization to be: Humans are complex ones that unless they are convinced no change can be brought about. Aligning a workforce toward intentional cultural shifts can be quite complex depending on the intended departure from the baseline culture. Obviously each organization is different, so it isn't a one size fits all process. But there are principles that may apply to most. Include key stakeholders within the organization early on is helpful. In order to cultivate a solution-focused culture, assess where the organization is regarding the impending change. Set a realistic timeline and some measurable outcomes. Synergy and creativity can be helpful drivers for shaping a solution-focused culture. Identify "ambassadors" within the ranks. Have an advisory committee review policy, procedure, and communication within the organization to ensure the infrastructure supports the shifts. Be ready and willing to eliminate what clearly isn't working. Deep cultural shifts happen over time. But you can use an iterative improvement strategy to guide the forward movement. There is so much good information out there that can facilitate cultural development. The challenge, or to perceive positively, the opportunity, is getting the top-down and bottom-up buy-in and being consistent with the process over time. Results should be defined in explicit understandable and tangible terms so that workers, management, board members and other key stakeholders will partner in this mission.
Building a solution-focused culture starts with visionary leadership and high-engaging employees, and they have a clear understanding of strategy to keep the end in mind. Once people gain new perspectives about change, change can happen very quickly and people will not go back to their old way of thinking. That's when culture change is accelerated and becomes sustainable.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
November 6, 2015
CIO’s Digital Agenda II
The “Future of CIO” Blog has reached 1.1 million page views with about 2300+ blog posting in 59+ different categories of leadership, management, strategy, digitalization, change/talent, etc. The content richness is not for its own sake, but to convey the vision and share the wisdom. Here is the CIO’s Digital Agenda II with a set of featured “Future of CIO” Blogs.CIO’s Digital Agenda II 1. How can CIOs convince the Board & Top Management of IT strategy? Due to the increasing speed of changes and fierce business competitions, many IT organizations are at a cross road to either being transformed into a value-added digital engine for their business growth or being irrelevant as a cost center only. How do you define the strategic role of CIOs at Board Level, what are important skills they need to cultivate, and how can you convince the Board and top management of your strategy?
2. CIO’s Journey: From Strategy to IT Roadmap? If the strategy is a“blue book” to envision the future of organization; then, the roadmap is more as a playbook to describe in detail upon how to get there. IT road map is a chronological plan designed to blaze a clear path for IT investments and to ensure that the company gains the set of capabilities, expressed in the form of architecture “blueprint” & ‘strategy bluebook.” IT roadmap is a playbook every IT executive should have or build whether requested or not, as it is essential to the CIO doing his/her job correctly and being able to act when working with the business. But how should CIOs develop an effective and realistic IT roadmap? What might be some initial questions that one should ask?
3. IT Transformation: How to Build a Solid PMO Roadmap? Enterprise project/program management office (PMO) plays a significant role in executing business strategy via implementing the portfolio of projects effectively & efficiently. However, most of the PMOs get stuck at the lower level of management maturity. Therefore, more than half of IT projects fail to meet customers’ expectation. In order to improve project success rate, building a solid PMO is perhaps the right step in the transformational journey.
4. IT Benchmark - Love it or Hate it? IT leaders like CIOs do their best to improve and present IT performance, IT benchmarking is such an approach. Although IT benchmarking data gets a controversial viewpoint, some love it, while others do not so buy-in. Metrics are great for comparing against peers in the industry but do they really tell you if you're at a competitive position?
5. How to Run a Bimodal IT: More and more IT organizations are at the journey of digital transformation. However, such radical shift cannot be done overnight. Especially for those legacy companies and industries, the digital movement needs to have thoughtful planning and a good balance of two speeds: the industrial speed to keep the business light on, and the digital speed to adopt the new sets of minds, the latest technologies and proven methodologies for acceleration. To put simply, there are multiple perspectives for running a bimodal IT.
Blogging is not about writing, but about thinking; it’s not just about WHAT to say, but about WHY to say, and HOW to say it. It reflects the color and shade of your thought patterns, and it indicates the peaks and curves of your thinking waves. Unlike pure entertainment, quality and professional content takes time for digesting, contemplation and engaging, and therefore, it takes the time to attract the "hungry minds" and the "deep souls." It’s the journey to amplify your voice, deepen your digital footprints, and match your way for human progression.Relevant Links:
CIO's Digital Agenda I
CIO's Digital Agenda IIFollow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
A Culture of Empowerment
To empower is to give the team a means to shine.
One of the characteristics of Agile is empowerment. Now for that to be possible, you need a certain type of ecosystem setup to allow empowerment to actually begin to surface and then grow. But, in reality, the 'senior' people who have the 'authority' to grow this type of ecosystem tend to like the 'idea' of an empowered workforce, but lack of planning, investment, and actions to actually grow an empowered workforce. So what does empowerment truly mean? How to cultivate a culture of empowerment? And as leaders or managers, should you ask yourselves: do our existing organizational structures (management, HR policies, peer and performance reviews, etc.) allow for the emergence of an empowered, self-actualizing worker, who then joins with other such workers to make high-performing teams and build a high-mature organization ultimately?
'Empowerment' is very much a two-way street. Empowerment is like respect and works both ways. For every manager willing to truly foster and encourage ownership and empowering people, you'll also find people who are very comfortable being 'just a cog in a machine.' To gain empowerment, team or individuals need to earn the level of trust. Trust is a key component of empowerment. Trust comes in stages; trust is earned by creating risk and offering reliance. When a team takes a risk and excels at it, it in turn feels more confident and perhaps empowered. But if a risk - or challenge - is never presented, the team may never achieve empowerment. To give empowerment blindly is dangerous. Management can give full empowerment to a matured team, but not to a team that is not mature enough. The immature team needs room to grow and move but if they are working on something critical, the processes need to be well aligned to get things done both effectively and efficiently.
Empowerment is something that is learned. Both sides need to understand what it means and they may need to be given permission to both those who empower and to those be empowered. If a team has always been told what to do, they are not going to allow themselves to be empowered. Similarly, managers will not know how to empower nor how to trust. To empower is to give the team a means to shine. It is not about individuals, but how well the team works together. There is no space for prejudice. There should be a sense of trust and encouragement for the members who are not doing well or lack the skill to fulfill his/her role. Be sensitive of the words used and invest heavily on the retrospective. Empowerment relies on security; people must feel safe to take hold of the empowerment reins. Some will just do this, other people need extrinsic reinforcement to really feel that safety is there. For people to feel safe, they must feel that their jobs won't be compromised, physiological needs are met, they don't risk isolation by peers or managers for having contrary ideas or for taking risks, and that they are given room to make choices for growth, in ways meaningful to them.
Empowerment implies, if not requires, responsibility and accountability--both the negative and positive flavors of the terms. Empowerment and accountability must go hand in hand. When we are funding one without insisting on the other, resources are wasted and dysfunction reigns supreme. But it's important that everyone now has the expectations in a new way of working. It's also critical that those leading the transition make it clear that with empowerment comes responsibility, innovation, and sometimes fun and more productivity. Surely empowerment doesn’t mean to make people cozy or just softening their words, it means in high-mature, self-managing teams, talent people creating complex products are smart enough to come together, and so as long as they are clear on the goal & boundaries – they will break up the work amongst them and figure it out. Empowered!
There are lots of ways to build a culture of empowerment. Rolling up your sleeves, having a little empathy, sharing the challenges and collective wisdom, and lining up on a shared target. The organizations with the culture of empowerment will reap the benefits of knowledge workers who have self-actualized, the abundance of creativity via out-of-box thinking, and the amplified human capabilities. Under such working environment, quality is rewarded, and human potential is unleashed.
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One of the characteristics of Agile is empowerment. Now for that to be possible, you need a certain type of ecosystem setup to allow empowerment to actually begin to surface and then grow. But, in reality, the 'senior' people who have the 'authority' to grow this type of ecosystem tend to like the 'idea' of an empowered workforce, but lack of planning, investment, and actions to actually grow an empowered workforce. So what does empowerment truly mean? How to cultivate a culture of empowerment? And as leaders or managers, should you ask yourselves: do our existing organizational structures (management, HR policies, peer and performance reviews, etc.) allow for the emergence of an empowered, self-actualizing worker, who then joins with other such workers to make high-performing teams and build a high-mature organization ultimately?
'Empowerment' is very much a two-way street. Empowerment is like respect and works both ways. For every manager willing to truly foster and encourage ownership and empowering people, you'll also find people who are very comfortable being 'just a cog in a machine.' To gain empowerment, team or individuals need to earn the level of trust. Trust is a key component of empowerment. Trust comes in stages; trust is earned by creating risk and offering reliance. When a team takes a risk and excels at it, it in turn feels more confident and perhaps empowered. But if a risk - or challenge - is never presented, the team may never achieve empowerment. To give empowerment blindly is dangerous. Management can give full empowerment to a matured team, but not to a team that is not mature enough. The immature team needs room to grow and move but if they are working on something critical, the processes need to be well aligned to get things done both effectively and efficiently.
Empowerment is something that is learned. Both sides need to understand what it means and they may need to be given permission to both those who empower and to those be empowered. If a team has always been told what to do, they are not going to allow themselves to be empowered. Similarly, managers will not know how to empower nor how to trust. To empower is to give the team a means to shine. It is not about individuals, but how well the team works together. There is no space for prejudice. There should be a sense of trust and encouragement for the members who are not doing well or lack the skill to fulfill his/her role. Be sensitive of the words used and invest heavily on the retrospective. Empowerment relies on security; people must feel safe to take hold of the empowerment reins. Some will just do this, other people need extrinsic reinforcement to really feel that safety is there. For people to feel safe, they must feel that their jobs won't be compromised, physiological needs are met, they don't risk isolation by peers or managers for having contrary ideas or for taking risks, and that they are given room to make choices for growth, in ways meaningful to them.
Empowerment implies, if not requires, responsibility and accountability--both the negative and positive flavors of the terms. Empowerment and accountability must go hand in hand. When we are funding one without insisting on the other, resources are wasted and dysfunction reigns supreme. But it's important that everyone now has the expectations in a new way of working. It's also critical that those leading the transition make it clear that with empowerment comes responsibility, innovation, and sometimes fun and more productivity. Surely empowerment doesn’t mean to make people cozy or just softening their words, it means in high-mature, self-managing teams, talent people creating complex products are smart enough to come together, and so as long as they are clear on the goal & boundaries – they will break up the work amongst them and figure it out. Empowered!
There are lots of ways to build a culture of empowerment. Rolling up your sleeves, having a little empathy, sharing the challenges and collective wisdom, and lining up on a shared target. The organizations with the culture of empowerment will reap the benefits of knowledge workers who have self-actualized, the abundance of creativity via out-of-box thinking, and the amplified human capabilities. Under such working environment, quality is rewarded, and human potential is unleashed.
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