Simple Enterprise Strategy

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Note: This article is updated at Simple Enterprise Strategy.

One of the challenges my General Manager put on my plate, was to tell a simple story, as simply as possible, about the essence of doing Enterprise Strategy.

Here is what I ended up with:

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The way I told the story is …

  • We use scenarios to scope meaningful chunks of change (vs. boil the ocean)
  • Big scenarios are actually chunks of organizational change.
  • We drive a program of change using a repeatable formula: Current State, the desired Future State, the Gaps, the ROI, and the Roadmap for Business Capabilities, People Capabilities, and Technology Capabilities.
  • The value is in the change, and this connects business and IT in a significant and meaningful way.

He loved it.

I elaborated.

I shared a simple Workstream Frame to show how when we drive Enterprise Strategy, we can use the following canvas as our backdrop:

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It’s a simple map but it helps chunk up and think about how you are making the changes:

  • Program Governance – This is the space of operational excellence and governance.
  • Business Value – This is where the business-led conversations and business-led changes flow.
  • IT People/Process – From a pragmatic perspective, this is where IT-led conversations, and changes to IT people and process happen.
  • Technology – This is where the fundamental technology changes happen – the IT platform for the business.  Again, dominantly IT-led conversations.

To fully appreciate the simplicity above, below is what I first walked my General Manager through, and he said, while he could appreciate the essence of it, it was too complex:

 

image

At the end of the day, I think he was right, and I was glad that he pushed me to find a simpler story and to be able to tell it quickly at the whiteboard.

When people see that it’s all about driving a chunk of organizational change, and that it’s by changing the business, people, and technology capabilities, light-bulbs go off, and people get excited by how they can reshape the future of their Enterprise story, through Enterprise Strategy.

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