Keep an ‘Eye on the Prize’
John O Gorman
Business Performance Author, International Coaching Federation Accredited Coach (PCC), Facilitator of Critical Teams and Initiatives across the globe, Co-Founder at Growth Pitstop
Related to the need to address the ‘why’ of any IT investment, is the need to keep an ‘eye on the prize’. That, according to those at the coalface of transformation, is the big motivator. Let’s expand on this issue and its implications. Your IT transformation, whether large or small, will entail change and disruption. There will be setbacks and disappointments to test the resilience and discipline of the project team, as well as the level of commitment and collaboration of other functions.
How to make it all worthwhile? As one CIO said recently, ‘if you focus on the prize, you can put up with the pain’.
Q: How will you keep your stakeholders focused on ‘the prize’?
Every IT project or initiative should be based on a shared vision of success and the benefits that it will bring for all those involved. Now, you may think that success has already been defined in the project plan and is even captured in beautiful prose on a slide used for the project kick-off. Yet, reading the project mission statement probably won’t get people excited. It may not generate much ownership, engagement, or buy-in either. ‘If you focus on the prize, you can put up with the pain’.
Asking people to share in their own words their vision of success, is one of the most powerful ways to energize and engage key internal stakeholders, as well as the project team.
The definition of success is likely to vary across different stakeholders and team members. The prize for compliance or for credit control may be different from that for marketing or HR, for example. That is not a problem if they are being discussed.
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Q: Do you know what your key stakeholders see as ‘the prize’?
Obviously, connecting project outputs and goals to the various KPIs of different stakeholders is key. However, so too is connecting to the immediate prize for team members who are concerned about their bonus or their next promotion.
It is important that all the partners involved in your transformation initiative have aligned interests and compatible definitions of success. There must be a win-win for the bank, the systems integrator, technology vendors and so on. We must all win together!
Keeping an eye on the prize also means keeping the hope alive. For example, while there are many challenges facing the financial sector, there is also hope. Leaders shared the example of engaging with Gen Z. They care more about purpose and society, at a time when trust in institutions is at an all-time low. Plus, as Gen Z has unique financial needs given their role in the gig economy.