The Practices of Transformational Leaders

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Jeffry Lang
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Transformational Leadership Page 1 of 8 The Practices of Transformational Leaders Niel Nickolaisen () Objective: To provide you a proven set of best practices that you can start to use today to

1 Transformational Leadership Page 1 of 8 The Practices of Transformational Leaders Niel Nickolaisen () Objective: To provide you a proven set of best practices that you can start to use today to transform both your organization and your leadership role. Important Note: From today s session, select the one or two things you will implement in the next few months. Then, select the next one or two things you will implement. This iterative approach will improve your chances of success. Good luck and please reach out to me with any questions. Agenda Introductions and exercise Context the evolving role of the CIO Decision-making (Business Value Model and Purpose Alignment) Trust / Ownership Model Why Are You Here? What Is The One Thing You Need To Change? Introduction The world is different now. All competition is driven by technology. Much of innovation is driven by technology. And, IT is no longer a monopoly. In this environment, what type of IT leaders will we be? The Transformational IT Leader The Operational IT Leader The At-risk IT Leader The content is this course is targeted at becoming Transformational IT Leaders. The content describes specific tools (not concepts) you can use to be a transformational IT leader. The content is divided into two categories. Transformational Leaders Make Great Decisions Transformational Leaders Create Cultures of Trust and Ownership Making Great Decisions Business Value Model and Purpose Alignment We need a way to build a common view of business value. In traditional Cost/Benefit models, costs are an estimate and benefits are a guess. Using this traditional approach to make decisions is fraught with risk. How can leaders increase their ability to: Build a sustainable competitive advantage Unleash the potential and maximize the effectiveness of our teams

Transformational Leadership Page 2 of 8 The Business Value Model The Business Value Model - Purpose The Differentiating Rules Always be the market leader by innovating now and forever.

The Parity Rules Because Parity gap kill, fill any gaps by adopting no, embracing best practices (that are defined by others) Because Parity activities are mission critical, we cannot tolerate risks

2 Transformational Leadership Page 2 of 8 The Business Value Model The Business Value Model - Purpose The Differentiating Rules Always be the market leader by innovating now and forever. Focus innovation by having only 1-3 differentiating activities. Internally own the differentiating activities. The Parity Rules Because Parity gap kill, fill any gaps by adopting no, embracing best practices (that are defined by others) Because Parity activities are mission critical, we cannot tolerate risks so reduce risks through rigorous simplification. Because Parity activities consume the vast majority of our resources, free up those resources through rigorous standardization. Discovering What Constitutes Differentiating : The 4 Important Questions: 1. Who do we serve? 2. What do they want and need most? 3. What do we do better than anyone else to meet these wants and needs? 4. What is the best way for us to provide this?

3 Transformational Leadership Page 3 of 8 Use Billboard Test What will we put on our billboard that describes our competitive advantage? Define Decision Filters Identify a simple set of questions that we can propagate throughout the organization for aligned decision making. Caveats Parity is mission critical Treat exceptions as exceptions Differentiating changes over time Differentiation requires continuous innovation For Your Organization, What is Differentiating? If you need to define your sustainable competitive advantage, try the 4 Important Questions: 1. Who do we serve? 2. What do they want and need most? 3. What do we do better than anyone else to meet these wants and needs? 4. What is the best way for us to provide this? What is Your Organization s Billboard? Your Decision Filter?

4 Transformational Leadership Page 4 of 8 For One of Your Projects or Initiatives, Where Does It Belong? The Business Value Model - Considerations There are often inputs that affect our decisions but are factors that we cannot quantify as a cost or benefit. For example, what is the market window and how does hitting or missing that market window affect our decisions? How mature is our project team? How much are we depending on the business process to change? Sample Considerations Time to Benefit Team Capabilities Risks Market Window Flexibility Team Size Market Uncertainty Mission Criticality Technical Uncertainty Geographically Dispersed Project Duration Uncertainty Team Capacity Number of Customers

5 Transformational Leadership Page 5 of 8 Skills Amount of Change Team Maturity Dependents / Scope Flexibility Stack Size Resource / Skills Availability Algorithm Complexity Market Requirements Multiple Goals Market Opportunity Variation of Time Zones Dependencies Organizational Match Dependent's Needs Your Considerations? Prioritized The Business Value Model Costs and Benefits Costs and benefits are still important inputs to the value model / decision process. Cost and Benefits? Now that you have used the Value Model to frame your decision, explore ways to deliver incremental business value. It is likely that you can implement your project or product in chunks that allow you to deliver the highest value faster. Taking this approach, you get the key players together and group your deliverable into intermediate deliverables. The intermediate deliverables not only deliver the high value sooner, they can also fill in knowledge gaps and reduce future uncertainty.

6 Transformational Leadership Page 6 of 8 For Your Project, What Are the Largest Value Chunks? What Must Be Done First? Second? Relationships of Trust Trust Ownership Model Transformational Leadership As leaders, we should be in the What and Why business and get out of the How business. We not only unleash our staff when we let them own How we also remove ourselves as bottlenecks. We should also focus lots of attention on our relationships with our management team peers, customers, staff, providers, et cetera. Achieving operational excellence and enabling strategy will open the door to these relationships but we must walk through that open door. Trust / Ownership Model

7 Transformational Leadership Page 7 of 8 Collaborative Leadership In a fast-paced, networked world, leaders design the container in which works gets done. The leader becomes the conductor who arranges and directs the element and pieces but that does not do the work! We call this Collaborative Leadership because it recognized that the leader does not have the answers and must rely on the extended team in order to make decision and implement those decisions. This requires: Confronting the reality of this change in role. A process for creating a collaborative environment. Collaboration Process Identify an opportunity / issue. Brainstorm (using sticky notes or open dialogue) As a team, group As individuals, vote As a group, prioritize and define action plans Let individuals volunteer for what they will own Creating A Culture Of Trust There are high costs to low trust environments including transaction and self-protection costs. To create a culture of trust: Trust first Be trustworthy Deal with trust issues among team members Use team-based measurements Get early wins through short iterations The Leader s Role Focus on What and Why and stay out of the How business Macro Leadership Cube This is a visual representation of a leader s focus on What and Why rather than How. Budget Results Time People Standards

8 Transformational Leadership Page 8 of 8 Meaningful Metrics 1. Represent reality 2. Measure processes not people 3. Are few in number 4. Are mostly non-financial 5. Align with strategy 6. Show trends Leadership Decision Filters Reflect on your role, your rules, and style. Ask if what you are doing will increase trust and increase ownership. What Are Some Specific Changes You Will Make To Your Approach To Leadership? Your Transformation Roadmap Of the tools we reviewed Business Value Model Purpose Alignment Trust Ownership Model Macro-cube Which Tool Will You Implement First? Second? Map Your Transformation Action Plan. When Will You Report Back to Me ()?

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