One of the reasons I love working with Business Capabilities and Business Architecture in general is the way it can pull together everything going on in an organization. All of the sudden, instead of looking at every department or function as a separate entity with its own People, Processes, Technology and so on, you start to see where those elements interweave and parallel other areas, creating a holistic patchwork of blueprints that ultimately form a rich tapestry. And to go with it, a view full of operational and strategic gaps.
Tapestry of Tears and Fears
The tapestry part sounds kind of cool, but the gaps not so much. And I don't blame anyone for feeling that trying to figure out where and how to sew up those gaps sounds like an overwhelming amount of work. Frankly, it's not really how we're used to thinking about... anything. Much of the language around progress and achievement is couched in individualistic sentiment -- "What YOU can do...", "Where YOU fit into this...". And even when words like "our" "we" or "us" are used, how often have you deep down, tongue tacitly in cheek, translated that into the "royal we", or more simply, "me"? It's rather habitual, even in the global aftermath of 2 years of, "We're all in this together" speak.
Here's the thing. As organizations and as people, even though it takes a village, and we KNOW this, moving, behaving or making decisions like we all come from the same village is still counter-intuitive. However, that adjustment is necessary in order to move away from so-so, or outright poorly executing, strategic initiatives into ones that reliably and tangibly deliver and meet internal and external needs.
Hence the shift to a "Capability Mind Set".
Shifting to the Capability Mind Set
So, what do I mean by that? Essentially, it's the driving belief that your greatest asset or strength as a village is in what you share. One of the most successful transformations I was ever part of began with exactly this ready stance. Tasked with the goal of moving into a a new hospital facility in under 12 months, and that was at least 3 times bigger than the one they had always lived in, the CEO walked into a room full of executives, department heads, administrators and clinicians and said, "What we all share is a piece of the Patient journey. Doesn't matter how big or small, we all have a place in it. So how do we keep from breaking it with this move?" To be fair, this leader was probably one of the most charismatic I've ever met, but, to a person, each participant in that room started throwing up ideas as to what part of the Patient journey they fed. Sure there were still questions around certain areas being solely internal as opposed to external facing, but what was remarkable was that the way that CEO kicked off that conversation inspired almost everyone to rethink not only what their role in that hospital was for, but also where the People, Processes Technology they depended on were most needed.
The terminology back then was different. But when I think now on that engagement so early in my career, not only did it make me proud to be an Analyst and later inspire me to become a Business Architect; that conversation and my notes also helped create that hospital's first Business Capability Map and subsequent Strategic Roadmap. That village chose to shift from seeing their existence not just as divisions of specialization, but in shared purpose of whom they ultimately served and what they needed to continue doing that in the face of a major change. Subsequent projects, teams and conversations continued to echo, "don't break the Patient journey" until Move Day; which by the way they met right on time even though they had started the work several months behind. And to this day, even after all the transformation initiatives I've either participated in or lead, I haven't seen anything quite like the shared dedication I witnessed in that room.
Your part in the Village and Journey
So, my point in today's missive; talking about becoming more capability focused or driven is fine, and definitely appropriate for the times we're in. However, is the mind set of you or your village there yet? If not, work on it. Because no matter how big or small, "we" all have a step in the journey. And because it takes a village, our chances of success are always going to have far more to do with what we share, than with what we think we don't.
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