Soft Skills for Enterprise Architects: The Key to Unlocking Value from EA

Transcription

1 Soft Skills for Enterprise Architects: The Key to Unlocking Value from EA Sally Bean (with some help from Keith Flanagan) 1 Sally Bean 2015

2 Questions for discussion today Why are soft skills important and why don t EA teams give more attention to improving them? What exactly do we mean by soft skills and what are are the most critical ones for Enterprise Architects? How can architects develop these skills more effectively? 2

3 From a pre-meeting conversation with a Project Manager: When you talk to my boss, try to avoid speaking your usual mumbo-jumbo 3

4 Why are Soft Skills a Critical Success Factor for Architecture? Architecture is a sociotechnical collaborative activity, involving a wide range of stakeholders Architects have to work with politics, power structures and culture as well as processes, information and technology 4

5 7 of Gartner s 10 EA pitfalls relate to soft skills 1. The Wrong Lead Architect 2. Insufficient Stakeholder Understanding and Support: 3. Not Engaging the Business People 4. Doing Only Technical Domain-Level Architecture 5. Doing Current-State EA First 6. The EA Group Does Most of the Architecting 7. Not Measuring and Not Communicating the Impact: 8. Architecting the Boxes Only 9. Not Establishing Effective EA Governance Early 10.Not Spending Enough Time on Communications: Source: Gartner Press Release 2009: 5

6 Let s hear from Keith Flanagan, Leadership Architect Link to video on youtube: 6

7 Architects may not be wired for soft skills Simon Baron-Cohen Author of The Essential Difference Systematizing is the drive to analyse, explore and construct a system Empathizing is the drive to identify another person s emotions and thoughts and respond appropriately The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding & building systems The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy In some individuals, systematizing and empathizing are equally strong (Balanced Brain) 7

8 What exactly do we mean by Soft Skills in the context of Architecture? Hard Functional skills More about WHAT people do to deliver what the job requires More directly related to job function Specific, concrete Easier to objectively Assess Soft Behavioural skills More about HOW people go about their job More generic - related to ability to perceive the world, work with others and respond to change More intangible and subjective 8

9 Mainstream Skills Frameworks used by architects don t describe behavioural skills well A skills framework lists the skills required to operate in a role at a certain level But how do you recognise competence in those skills and ensure it matches what s being demanded of a person Most industry frameworks provide a good starting point but are too generic to be used for selection, assessment and development without more detailed work

10 Competence in a particular role requires blending different skills together COMPETENCE is a set of skills, knowledge and behaviour that delivers effective job performance in a particular context. A COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK organises and defines the individual competencies required for an organisation or job family 10

11 Building a competency framework: Job competence What s expected of me? How do I fit in to the overall work system? Accountabilities & Commitments Role Purpose & Authority Deliverables and outcomes for stakeholders What skills and knowledge am I being employed for? Functional Skills and Knowledge How should I go about my work to be successful? Behavioural Skills & Knowledge What internal deepseated characteristics may help or hinder? Personality Traits Beliefs & Values Engagement of stakeholders in production of deliverables 11

12 There are also wider dimensions of competency Job Task & Practice Teams Organization Profession Country/ Society Accountabilities Commitments (soft and hard) Group Commitments Organisational Strategy & Policies Code of conduct National Legislation Positioning Role, Authority & Stakeholders Responsibilities & Engagement Model Business Model and Operating Model for our organization Business and Professional Domain skills Functional and Technical Skills and Knowledge Team Methods Knowledge of Industry and Business (brand, strategy, customers, suppliers, products) Professional Standards Visible Behaviour Deep-Seated Behaviours Behavioural Skills Focus of this talk Personality Traits Beliefs & Values Local Team Dynamics & Knowledge- Sharing Team Values and Norms Organization s espoused Brand values and ways of working Organization s Culture & Undiscussibles Professional Norms Professional Stereotypes National/ Cultural Norms 12

13 DISCUSSION 1: (In groups of 3-4) What do YOU think are the most critical behavioural skills for enterprise architects? THINK of the top 3 and write them on a card SHARE these within your group DISCUSS similarities and differences 13

14 5 Areas of Behavioural Competency for Enterprise Architects Works well with range of people across organizational boundaries. Facilitates groups to resolve issues and co-create results. COLLABORATION COMMUNICATION Interacts effectively with different types of people, listening with an open mind and putting across own thoughts, ideas and points of view clearly and convincingly CHANGE LEADERSHIP Establishes changes needed and energises and influences others towards achieving them without having the authority to do so. Thinks conceptually and practically, with a repertoire of approaches for assessing and improving situations FLEXIBLE THINKING LEARNING Takes on new ideas and knowledge. Helps others to develop architectural capability 14

15 Specific Behavioural Competencies within the 5 Areas COMMUNICATION Information Seeking Dialogue Communications Planning Presentation Content Creation Listens with open mind and puts across ideas clearly and convincingly. Relationship Building Team Working Facilitation Conflict Resolution COLLABORATION CHANGE LEADERSHIP Credibility & Influence Direction-Setting Action-Orientation Change Planning Sense-Making Synthesis Decision-Making Creativity & Innovation FLEXIBLE THINKING LEARNING LEARNING Self-Development Knowledge-Sharing Community Leadership Coaching/Mentoring 15

16 Example of a Competency Description: Communications Planning Description: Can structure and target communication with different stakeholder groups, identifying key messages, using appropriate channels and aiming at specific outcomes Behaviours Demonstrates clarity of intent of communication and actions expected as a result Identifies all the relevant stakeholders Appreciates the situation and knowledge of recipients and focuses on their concerns, needs, and opportunities. Can use a variety of communication channels and chooses the most appropriate one for a particular purpose. Follows up on communication to enable the recipients to provide feedback and explore what it means for them. Applies metaphors intelligently to get new ideas across Constructs interesting stories to take stakeholder groups through complex issues Anti-Behaviours Assuming the wrong level of knowledge and either patronising or baffling the recipients as a result Unfocused broadcasting of information Providing insufficient context or assuming too much prior knowledge Failing to motivate recipients sufficiently to participate in communication, or to act upon it Mistiming communication so that recipients won t be receptive. Treating communication as a one-off activity

17 Example of a Communications Planning Tool Co-Creating Ease of implementation Telling Here is the answer. Selling Here is the answer. Let s see if we can get you to buy in. Testing We think this is the answer. Will It work for you? Consulting What do you think the answer should be? Let s collectively create the answer we all want and need. Level of participation and agreement Based on a diagram in the 5 th Discipline Fieldbook (Senge et al) 17

18 Personality Profiling helps develop Behavioural Competencies Behavioural Competencies Personality Traits Personality: A set of observable factors Moderately stable in an individual over time (though can be adapted to context) Differentiates between individuals Effects of personality on behaviour : How you respond to people How you process information How you make decisions How you react to conflict How you deal with stressful situations 18

19 The Lumina Spark portrait provides a model and language to understand behaviour Based on solid research 3 Levels (Colours, Aspects, Qualities) Measures 24 qualities independently Uses meaningful, neutral language 3 different personas Avoids labelling people Other profiling tools are available! 19

20 The top level of Lumina Spark: A simple 4-colour model Green Yellow adaptable collaborative intimate spontaneous imaginative sociable observing evidence-based reliable takes charge competitive purposeful Blue Red

21 8 Aspects and 24 Qualities provide richer detail Aspects Qualities, or traits

22 Aspects/Qualities are measured independently People Focused Accommodating Collaborative Empathetic Outcome Focused Tough Competitive Logical Inspiration Driven Adaptable Flexible Spontaneous Big Picture Thinking Conceptual Imaginative Radical Discipline Driven Purposeful Structured Reliable Down to Earth Practical Evidence-Based Cautious Extraverted Sociable Demonstrative Takes Charge Introverted Observing Measured Intimate

23 How Personality Profiling can contribute to competency development COMMUNICATION Designing Communications Resolving Conflict Designing Workshops COLLABORATION CHANGE LEADERSHIP Motivating people to change Putting Teams together Applying different styles of thinking Creativity & Innovation FLEXIBLE THINKING LEARNING Increasing Self- Awareness Coaching & Feedback 23

24 EXAMPLE: Increasing Self-Awareness. Lumina qualities for an individual, expressed as word cloud 24

25 EXAMPLE: Communicating a new initiative, covering all the colours People Who is the Sponsor? Who are the stakeholders? What will be the impact on each stakeholder group? Vision What are the key ideas and concepts? Will this be innovative and exciting? Will it be good for me? Practicalities What will it actually look like? How do we know that it will work? What are the risks? Does it fit with what s going on elsewhere? Action What are the business benefits? What do we need to do to make change happen? When will it happen?

26 DISCUSSION 2: THINK of the 3 best architects you have known. What were their most impressive characteristics? Were these functional or behavioural? SHARE these with your group DISCUSS their behavioural characteristics in terms of the models presented today 26

27 To Develop Competence, Adopt a Blended Learning Approach Use these ideas to design a picture of competence and a behavioural toolkit that fits your organisation or that you can use for self-assessment and development. Encourage individuals and groups to develop their own blended learning strategies. Team Workshops Training Courses Individual Work-based learning activities Reading Groups Coaching & Mentoring Communities of Practice Action Learning Sets 27

28 In Summary: Soft skills are a critical success factor for EA, but EA teams often pay insufficient attention to them Hard FUNCTIONAL skills are more about WHAT people do in their job. Soft BEHAVIOURAL skills are more about HOW they go about it in a particular situation. Architects require more than just skills they need COMPETENCE i.e the skills, knowledge and behavioural capabilities to perform well in a particular organisational context Communication, Collaboration, Change Leadership, Flexible Thinking and Learning are the 5 critical behavioural areas of competence for an Enterprise Architect The Lumina Spark portrait can provide real insights to help understand and modify behaviour. 28

29 Some references Keith Flanagan video : Gartner EA Pitfalls Press release: Simon Baron-Cohen article in Guardian esearch.highereducation Simon Baron-Cohen Book: The Essential Difference Penguin, 2004 Daniel Goleman Book: Working with emotional intelligence. Random House LLC,

30 Thank you! Sally Keith 30