Beth SchaeferMarch 10, 2020Business Architecture, For the Public Sector, Leadership and Strategy Blogs, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog

Your Organization Needs Business Architecture | A Workplace Blog

Why Your Organization Can Use Business Architecture

Since business architecture is an emerging discipline, you may be hesitant to commit to paying for someone at your organization to attend business architecture training.  Here are 5 reasons why your investment would be wise.

Business architecture concepts can be used every day to help your organization grow and prosper.

Even if you do not have the role of  “Business Architect” at your organization, having people who understand business architecture will still be a benefit. Just like millions of people use project management tools as part of their daily jobs without the title of  “Project Manager,” your organization can benefit from the immediate use of the techniques and concepts learned in a business architecture certification course.

Business Architects are neutral problem-solvers that break down silos.

Business architects have tools that they can use at any point of a business problem to help business leaders and operational leaders define problems and solutions at a department level, a division level, or (ideally) an enterprise level. Business architects operate outside the silos that can hinder your organization’s ability to work cross-functionally toward one set of objectives.  Unless your organization is problem-free, you can use these skills and tools.

Business Architects draw the connection between where you are today and where you envision being in the future.

Besides tools, business architecture teaches people a new way of thinking.  It provides a lens that allows a business architect to ask the right questions that define a business strategy or growth opportunity and create the roadmap (literally, there are a variety of roadmaps) to show the way from the current state to future potential.

Business Architects get the strategy right the first time.

Do you sometimes roll out initiatives that miss the mark?   Do they create less value than anticipated, or do they actually make things worse for your customers?  Business architects learn about relationship management.  They find out who needs to be at the table and heard before strategic initiatives get speeding along in the wrong direction.

Business Architects help you prioritize resources.

Does your organization have more improvements and initiatives than it has resources to invest in? Business Architecture can help your company align its resources (people, data, technology, and processes) with what it needs to grow.

Do not wait for the official title. Do not wait for the official department. Do not wait to start using business architecture everyday in your organization because…

Business Architecture solves business problems!

Read More
Beth SchaeferNovember 16, 2018Business Architecture, For the Public Sector, Leadership and Strategy Blogs, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog, Workplace Wins

Leadership – How do you encourage Agile and innovation in a Bureaucracy? | A Workplace Blog

How does Leadership encourage Agile and innovation in a Bureaucracy?

By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development

Are you a leader supporting Agile efforts in a large traditional or bureaucratic organization? Let’s help each other.

I have Agile going on two fronts now – well, three if count our Agile training programs.

  1. My department is designing and building new business architecture courses with an agile or iterative approach. More on this in the next pocket agile blog.
  2. On the university org. chart, my department has been housed in the Center for Education Innovation (CEI) for the last two years. We are in talks of how to be agile in a government institution like a university.

What is the Center for Education Innovation (CEI)?

The Center is comprised of what I consider the most entrepreneurial of the university departments (although I am sure some would argue otherwise) because they are departments that say, “yes” to new ideas and then figure out a way to do it.  As department leaders, we are all calculated risk takers.

  • The CEI Current status?

Up until now, despite being under the same org. chart umbrella, our departments have largely worked independently of each other or, at best, done some ad hoc, as-needed collaborations.   We do talk about making sure we maintain a culture of innovation, and we have loosely defined what the elements of that culture need to be.

  • CEI Future state?

As often happens on the organizational maturity continuum, we are looking at moving from ad hoc to standardizing or making our innovation efforts more intentional.  We have started informal discussions on what the value proposition of the CEI should be, who the CEI customers are, and who (what other departments or roles) might be necessary to enable CEI to be Agile and innovative amid a large bureaucracy.

So, here are my big questions –

  1. If the Agile approach is a necessary component of innovation, how does one blend Agile with bureaucratic processes?
  2. If we start formalizing our CEI to better navigate existing processes, at what point, is the CEI no longer entrepreneurial and just another branch of the bureaucracy?

What is your best lesson learned to share with the rest of us? I am curious to hear from you.  

To help, I found this snippet in a longer article in the Harvard Review called Agile at Scale.  I think it provides an interesting intersection between agile pockets and traditional organizational structure.

When leaders haven’t themselves understood and adopted agile approaches, they may try to scale up agile the way they have attacked other change initiatives: through top-down plans and directives.

The track record is better when they behave like an agile team. That means viewing various parts of the organization as their customers—people and groups whose needs differ, are probably misunderstood, and will evolve as agile takes hold.

The executive team sets priorities and sequences opportunities to improve those customers’ experiences and increase their success. Leaders plunge in to solve problems and remove constraints rather than delegate that work to subordinates. The agile leadership team, like any other agile team, has an “initiative owner” who is responsible for overall results and a facilitator who coaches team members and helps keep everyone actively engaged.

I have sent this article to the other directors under the Center of Education Innovation umbrella, and await their thoughts as to our next steps.

In addition, I am interested in knowing other leaders successes or failures.

Please comment on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages.

 

 

 

 

 

Read More
Beth SchaeferOctober 2, 2018Business Architecture, Leadership and Strategy Blogs, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog, Workplace Wins

Is Pocket Agile a Thing, or Did I Just Invent It? | A Workplace Blog

Is Pocket Agile a Thing, or Did I Just Invent It?

Or – Is it OK to be Agile Lite?

By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development

I hesitate to say that I am practicing Agile because I have not been formally trained in Agile. And, I work in higher education – an industry not known for being quick to change.

So instead, I say that I am making iterative changes – much less official – no standardized rules or manifestos to follow if one is just growing and improving in an iterative fashion.

However, when I look at my project list, I have lots of opportunities to be Agile:

  • Changing a classroom experience in business architecture into a virtual experience
  • Working with IT professionals to determine my university’s role in recruiting and retaining a talented pool of IT workers for Minnesota
  • Partnering with clients to design effective training experiences

Of course, like the rest of you, Agile is on my radar these days – and as it moves out of IT and software development to infiltrate other parts of organizations*, my interest grows.

So, what are my next actions steps to become officially Agile?

Step 1: Get over the idea that Agile is only for software development.

Over the next few months, I will focus my blogs on how Agile is being used in:

    • HR
    • Marketing
    • Designing Office Space
    • Business Office Efficiencies

Step 2: See how the Agile Manifesto can apply to education and training.

Applying the Manifesto outside software development may label me Agile Lite, but I will do it anyway. I will post it once I have it completed.

Step 3: Take a class to learn more about Agile and its methodologies.

My department has 5 project instructors with expertise in Agile and Scrum and all with their own opinions. They will provide information for me to choose the path that works best for my department and eventually (hopefully) my organization.

Step 4: Innovate and improve – iteratively.

For now, I need to move iteratively. I have recently moved to being OK with iterative change rather than “flip the switch” change, so we will start pockets of Agile and continue to research if “Pocket Agile” can work in a non-Agile organization.  Yes – more future blogs

* Here are some articles on using Agile across organizations – both pros and cons.

An Operating Model for Company-wide Agile Development from McKinsey&Company by Santiago Comella-Dorda, Swati Lohiya, and Gerard Speksnijder

While this blog is to sell their product, it does provide some good talking points that may be useful for describing the Agile maturity of your own organization. In addition, there is a handy chart that illustrates differences in structures, interactions, roles, and budgeting between traditional organizations and agile ones.

Can Big Organizations Be Agile?   From Forbes by Steve Denning

Steve says “yes.” And, not only Agile but entrepreneurial.  He shares examples of where it is happening, including Ericsson, Spotify, Barclays, and Microsoft – including lessons learned by our own CH Robinson’s Agile transformation.

Bring Agile to the Whole Organization. From Harvard Business Review by Jeff Gothelf

Jeff starts by stating that we are all in the software business now. He provides some examples of HR and finance can change their structure to support Agile entrepreneurial employees.

Embracing Agile from Harvard Business Review by Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland, and Hirotaka Takeuchi

This team of writers makes an argument for training executives to understand Agile to move agile out of pockets and spread across organizations.

Agile training for executives from Institute of Development at Metro State

 

 

Read More
Beth SchaeferAugust 14, 2018Business Architecture, For the Public Sector, Leadership and Strategy Blogs, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog, Workplace Wins

Value the Voice of Customer | A Workplace Blog

By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development

It happened again last week.  I was at a meeting where a policy revision was announced.  As the policy changes were being laid out, several people in the room had questions that did not have answers.  It became clear to me that the customer had not been included in the policy redesign.

And, it eventually became clear to the person presenting the new policy.  As the questions were being asked, I could see the “ah ha moment” occur.  The lightbulb went on that the policy had addressed a symptom of the problem and not the actual root cause of the problem.   So much so that the person said, “The real problem here is….”  The policy went back to the drawing board.

I get it…  

  • You may not think you have customers for internal processes.
  • You already have a pretty clear idea of what will work and getting customers involved takes time – You can roll things out faster if you just do it.
  • Your department owns the process. You know best.
  • Your department has the power to set your policies.
  • Not every little change needs to be a big deal.

I, too, am tempted to just get things done. I love crossing tasks off my checklist.  I want to skip the meetings, the feedback, the extra time and extra steps – besides, it is not like I can every make everybody happy.

I do not think making everyone happy can be a goal, but even spending a little bit of time on customer viewpoint will reap benefits.

The Voice of Customer (VOC) Benefits:

  • The customer’s voice focuses on the root cause of the problem/opportunity.

As you talk with your customers about the problem you are solving, they can help you with their struggles.  The nuances that they bring to the problem will ensure that you are solving the root cause of the problem rather than addressing a symptom.  For instance, maybe you will discover that the process is sufficient, but nobody is aware of it.  Better communication, not a new process, would solve the problem.

  • The VOC can make solutions better.

The variety of viewpoints that customers bring to the problem can be an opportunity to be creative with your solution.  When you use something every day multiple times a day, you may get tunnel vision.  Opening your perspective can help you use a new lens to view a routine situation.

  • You avoid rework.

Solving the wrong problem.  Designing a process that is too cumbersome. Coming up with a partial solution.  These are all mistakes that can be avoided if you take the time to seek feedback from the people who will use the policy or process.

  • Customer voice determines the communication plan.

The best solution can be lost with bad communication.  Understanding who your customers are and how they use the policy or process should help you tailor the communication on the change.  It should tell you the best method of communication.  It should tell you where to store the information for reference.  It should tell you the level of detail and the vocabulary you need for people to understand the change.

  • Identifying your customers helps you implement the policy or process.

Audience is important for buy-in.  You can make any changes you want, but if people do not buy into the change, you have more work on your hands.  Yes, you can order people to do things, but, people have tactics to resist – especially here in the passive/aggressive Midwest.  Do these sound familiar?

  • I did not know we had started that yet.
  • I could not find the new policy/form/process.
  • I was on vacation, so I did not know.
  • I tried, but my computer would not open the (document, form, link).
  • I was using the new process, but (insert name here) did not know about it, so I quit doing it
  • The old way is easier and faster; I do not have time for the new way
  • I am waiting for the official training before I start
  • My supervisor has not told me to start that yet…

I could go on and so could you.

Even the smallest changes can benefit from some feedback.  Think of your VOC as an accordion.   If the change is small, spend a little bit of time on VOC.  If the change is large, spend a lot of time on VOC.  And, the larger the impact, the more time I would spend on determining your value proposition – matching your solution to get gains for your customer pains.

Read More
Beth SchaeferFebruary 28, 2018Business Architecture, Leadership and Strategy Blogs, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog

Do You Cultivate Trust? | A Workplace Blog

Do You Cultivate Trust?

By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development

Last week, I attended a seminar by Daryl Connor, Building a High Impact Change Practice.  It was sponsored by the Minnesota Change Network – a great group.  Check them out if you love leading change or have a passion for organizational development.

Mr. Connor presented on what he calls a High Impact Trusted Advisor (HITA). The role of the HITA is to help leaders make informed decisions; it is not about being responsible for leaders’ decisions.

The presentation was in the context of the HITA being a change consultant. His discussion was about criteria that a consultant (either internal or external) could use to determine if they were truly a HITA or if they were more in an operational role, and what actions one should take to become a HITA.

I left the session with much to ponder, and where my pondering led me was that his message applies to a much broader audience than just change consultants or organizational specialists who want to be HITAs.

Disclaimer: I should be clear here that Mr. Connor may disagree with my observations and conclusions. I encourage you to research Mr. Connor’s theories for yourself.

Instead of thinking about Connor’s questions and whether or not my organization considers me a HITA, I thought more about my leadership style and started wondering if I, as a leader, create the space for HITAs to flourish. Should all the onus of honing HITAs be on the advisors themselves? I think not. Organizations should be creating the space for HITAs to flourish.

What would the question list look like for leaders to evaluate their ability to cultivate HITAs? This is a list I came up with based on Connor’s presentation:

1. Do I seek input on important decisions?
• Do I take responsibility and make “the call” based on the input, or do I continually spin?
• Do I give credit to my advisors when the call is a good one?
• Do I take the heat when I make the wrong call?

2. Am I open to honest input?
• Do I seek out input from the people who are “experts” or have expertise in areas where I need input?
• Do I provide opportunity for people to build expertise and earn credibility?
• Do I value input that contradicts what I expected to hear or wanted to hear?

3. Do I share information? Note: As always, time and place should always be factored in when sharing information; however, the best advice needs to be given within a context, so as a leader, provide as much context as you are able.
• Do I trust my people with information that provides the whole context?
• Do I try to provide information in a nonbiased manner so that my advisors can offer their unique perspectives?
• Do I share information early enough in the process to take bold recommendations forward?

Mr. Connor finished the presentation by telling HITA, “Who You Are is as important as What You Do.” I would say the same would apply to leaders. If you want to be submersed in a culture full of HITAs, start with evaluating your character and actions.

 

 

Read More
Beth SchaeferFebruary 6, 2018Advance Your Career, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog

Always Be Networking | A Workplace Blog

Always Be Networking

By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development

My friend and career coach, Kathryn Johnson, once told me that you should always be networking for your next job – even if you are happy with your current one.  If you are dissatisfied with your current role, then networking is all the more important.

Broaden your idea of networking and consider using these 8 strategies suggested by Monster.com.  These same strategies work even if you wish to move within your organization.  Of course, I am partial to #6 – in addition to learning gaining new skills, it can serve as a great platform for networking – especially for those who prefer a smaller crowd and do not want to “work the room.”

  1. Use your name as your brand, especially in email
  2. Meet an employer’s need
  3. Maintain a smart online profile
  4. Ask for help
  5. Become active in a professional association
  6. Take a class or get a certificate
  7. Take on a new project at work
  8. Be flexible

Some say that standing still is the same as moving backwards.  Do not stand still in your career.  Use these strategies to be constantly cultivating your career options.

Read More
Beth SchaeferOctober 20, 2015Business Architecture, For the Public Sector, Leadership and Strategy Blogs, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog

Why change initiatives fail: it’s not me, it’s you … except when it’s not | A Workplace Blog

 

By Beth Schaefer
Director, Institute for Professional Development

As leaders, we blame resisters when change initiatives are not embraced.

Our reasoning:

  • People are scared
  • People are lazy
  • People are set in their ways and do not want to experience discomfort

Yet, have YOU ever been critical of a proposed change? Do YOU consider yourself lazy or afraid of the future? By admitting that other reasons for change resistance exist, you can more effectively lead people through the change phases.

Often these are the real reasons people resist change:

  1. People are unaware that there is a business need for the change.
    Take time to get buy-in. Make sure people know the “why” not just the “what” and “how.”
  2. There is too much change: people do have a limit on how much change they can deal with at one time.
    Check the culture and be aware of other big initiatives. Timing matters.
  3. Bad communication: people just do not know what is going on.
    Change can bring new procedures, new reporting structures, and/or new employees.
    Make sure communication is clear and people know what to expect.
  4. Been there … Done that. Believe it or not, most people have a history of being a part of a change initiative that they worked hard on, but was never followed through to implementation. Too many bad experiences leave people leery that this next new big thing will not even be around long enough to worry about.
    Be patient and communicate what is being done differently this time to ensure success.

 

Read More
Beth SchaeferMarch 9, 2015Advance Your Career, Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog

Your current position: Pinnacle or Plateau? | A Workplace Blog

By: Beth Schaefer
Director, Institute for Professional Development

You finished your degree … you have a new position … you have an enhanced paycheck … Ahhh, time to relax. Wait!

This is not the time to kick back and put up your heels.

Letting a new job or position is a step in your career, not a stopping point – which is why Stephen Covey places professional development in his time management chart. Covey defines four quadrants of time management: Quadrant II is Important, but Not Urgent. The activities in Quadrant II include:

  • Preparation
  • Planning
  • Prevention
  • Relationship Building
  • Personal Development

Although Quadrant II activities are important because they are not urgent, we tend to postpone them.  Don’t!  These are the types of activities that, in the long run, will make you more valuable to an organization than just handling crises and putting out fires.

Here are 7 actions you can take to ensure that you remain relevant and keep your career moving forward:

1. Have a vision. Where do you see yourself in five years?

2. Develop a path. What broad steps do you take to achieve your vision?

3. Make the most of opportunities. What projects in your organization are going undone for which you could volunteer?

4. Become a better communicator. Are you able to listen to others so that you not only hear their words, but understand their motivation?

5. Commit to your education. What classes or professional events and conferences should you be attending?

6. Interview Role Models. Who works in roles that you would like to have, and what can you learn from their career journeys?

7. Make professional development a priority. Where can you carve out time each week for Quadrant II activities?

Your organization is practicing continuous improvement. Are YOU? Get started, today. Schedule a time on your calendar to assess your opportunities and plan your first action.

References:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Professional Development tips: take control of your professional career @ www.BCJobs.ca
5 Tips for Remaining Relevant Professionally[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Read More