by
President
CIO BenchCoach
I have many phrases that I shared with my team to the point that they referred to them as “Larry-isms!” One of the mantras I recite most often is that success is a team sport. In my opinion, no individual gets great things accomplished. In order to truly drive transformational change and make a difference you need to hearts, souls and sweat of many people.
Most people think of partnerships in terms of their peers. I start thinking about it in terms of my people. Without my team’s partnership I can’t get anything accomplished. Yet many managers treat their people more like indentured servants than like partners. I’ve written in the past how I feel that my people are my teammates and that I’m their quarterback not heir coach. Partnering for success should begin with your team. Do they understand why the project is important? Do they feel a sense of personal pride and accountability for delivering a successful outcome? Do they feel that this is their project (or even their organization!) or yours? Partnership begins with your people.
Secondly I look to my peers in the business. Do they feel this is “an IT project”? Or do they also feel a sense of ownership for the deliverables and outcomes of the initiative? Do they see how this will make their lives easier and help them be more successful? Does the project show up on their senior staff’s ICP plans? Have they been involved in acting as sponsors for the project and asking the Board of Directors for the required funding and support? Are their faces associated with this effort? As I’ve stated in the past I don’t believe in IT projects I believe in business projects with business sponsors that drive business outcomes that just happen to have a technology underpinning required for their success.
Do you treat your vendors like partners? I’ve seen many IT executive take great pride in squeezing the last dime out of a vendor and bragging about doing so. Yet they seem perplexed when their vendors provide them mediocre resources and don’t seem to share a sense of urgency or ownership for the project. My vendors are an extension of my team. Now don’t get me wrong, I certainly believe in negotiating favorable terms. But I also believe in creating a win-win scenario where they are excited to be engaged in the project, where their people are happy to work on our account and feel a part of our culture, and where they have a vested interest in seeing me be successful because I’ve treated them as colleagues not hired hands. My biggest problem with vendors was that their people often became so attached to my team that they are motivated to “go native”.
Remember all great things require a great team to accomplish. Is your focus on your own success and personal accolades or are you focused on developing partnerships with the key people required to drive sustainable success?
LEADERSHIP BRIEF
PARTNERING
SUCCESS
FOR
Larry Bonfante
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