Capability First

Gartner describes business capability modelling as “a technique for the representation of an organization’s business anchor model, independent of the organization’s structure, processes, people or domains”

A capability is therefore the combination of people, tools (technology), process and data required to achieve something necessary for the operation of the organisation.

It is a highly visual and effective tool but often overlooked.

We cannot be customer centric if we do not have the capability to support those goals nor can we affect seamless end to end processes if a capability is sub optimal.

The above illustration is an abstraction of some capabilities that might be seen in any public sector organisation with a responsibility for asset management. To outline some of the benefits of business capability modelling I have notionally assessed a few capabilities.

These invented assessments of the capabilities are:

• Compliance reporting to the board is below average, the process for raising issues to board level is manual and cumbersome
• The call centre capability is average but suffering from some tired legacy systems
• Social media is assessed below average as content can be readily delivered but is missing the people or capacity to create it
• Whilst the external facing website is great the intranet hasn’t kept pace with latest working practices
• Effort in stakeholder engagement has stalled and the need in this space is unclear
• Condition assessment is poor, work is getting done and services delivered but the data to make informed long-term decisions is missing or inaccurate

In this situation we might infer that:

Compliance is a process issue and unlikely to be a priority until something critical is missed.

The call centre is largely a technology issue that surfaces mostly in times of peak volumes. Similarly, the intranet is mainly a technology challenge. The customer service and communications managers may need to battle it out for some money in the next IT budget.

Social content is a people issue and probably sits in human resources as business as usual.

Community engagement is a more complex challenge across people, process, technology and data

Condition assessment is mostly a data challenge.

The capability model can be extremely useful:

We can say no (or not now) to any time, effort or dollars on the website no matter how good a sales pitch is received – its good enough

We can focus our risk and compliance people on improving the process before buying a new / additional solution

We can prioritise our IT expenditure between the call centre and intranet based on our strategic and tactical needs

We can see that the stakeholder engagement challenge is complex and modify our approach to use novel or emergent techniques

We can recognise that the complicated nature of asset data isn’t going away and may need some expert analysis

We can accept the challenges holistically without blaming people, systems or structure and present a roadmap for moving forward.

A capability approach may therefore mitigate the need for a giant process re-engineering project, in depth analysis of enterprise architecture that will be rapidly out of date or an organisational re-structure that shifts people around without addressing the underlying capability issue. It is by nature an interactive and agile process.

So, whilst it may be interesting to attempt to solve the call centre challenge using digital humans or expect asset data to be improved by the internet of things. Do capability first

Some further thoughts

The capability model (at any level of sophistication) observes and orients the current state “as is”. It allows us to take decisions and action earlier and avoids the paralysis of analysis or a linear time-consuming approach. It allows an iterative process similar to Boyds #OODA loop.

A capability that is weak across people, process, technology and data is more likely to need complexity thinking rather than a pure technical issue that need linear expert analysis. It may indicate where #cynefin or #sensemaking is best applied

It is grounded in the present, it allows us to #breakthecycleofmadness. We need to get out of the woods to find the road to get to our destination.

It informs the #requisteminds #teamscience needed to address the challenge (getting the right people in the room) and by reframing the question as improving a capability from implementing a solution may lead better outcomes.

You need a better plan

As a leader in uncertain times you are neck deep in a swamp of alligators. Whether you are hunkering down in survival mode, presenting the illusion of business as usual (like a swan effortlessly gliding on a lake whilst paddling like a maniac under the surface) or looking to create a new and transformational way of doing things; you need a better plan.

Advisors, soothsayers, consultants and vendors are pitching better, resilient and “innovative” post COVID solutions to solve your problems. Your stakeholders, investors, customers and clients are analysing every dollar spent. Your health service, country, local business and every employee needs you. You are being pulled in every direction.

The force to fall back into pre COVID ways of working is strong. But before you do, take a little time to “break the cycle of madness” before you embark on your journey.

Recognise that there has never been or will ever be a “normal”. That there have simply been traditional ways of doing things and people / organisations that break those traditions. What new traditions would be the best for you, your people and your community and how can you enable the emergence of those new traditions?

Take some time to consider how can you improve business capability agnostic of the tools, methodologies and the technology you use and how those capabilities align to the outcomes that your clients and customers value?

Understand that whilst cash is king, blunt cost cutting and deferring expenditure is often a false saving. Building seamless end to end resilient processes now may incur some cost and pain but are critical to employee and customer satisfaction in the longer term.

Get more comfortable working with uncertainty and paradoxes. Be both a leader and servant, both strategic and tactical, both future focused and attentive to detail. Become someone who can both use the better elements of traditional frameworks and simultaneously apply future thinking to complexity.

Leverage the distributed intelligence of your peers, employees and stakeholders. This will both accelerate change and increase engagement. Be prepared to experiment and be agile (don’t just DO agile), execute well and quickly.

If you redefine your why, improve the how, understand the flow of value, move beyond legacy thinking, get comfortable with being uncomfortable and help you people reach their true potential a better plan will emerge.

Changing Priorities?

As we all imagine what life is going to be like in a #notnormal world going forward, I have seen some awesome new ideas for a better future but equally a rush to drive economic recovery through very traditional methods. We will not get to a #newnormal anytime soon and we miss the opportunity for real progress if new normal is merely a slightly different old normal (with a bit more working from home). Whether we are considering the best shovel or code ready project to do or reviewing everthing on the backlog; we need to focus on activities that secure our future, build resilence and catapult us forward.

The image above is work in progress but perhaps suggests that a shift in prioritising our activities is necessary. Moving from compliance for compliance sake, just in time and short term profits, “Best Practice” (aka generally accepted, bureaucratic and fragile), shiny objects and quick wins to perhaps allows us to create alternate futures by moving forward seeing where we get and learning along the way.

Release the wolves

Originally posted on LinkedIn

Having immersed myself in the Cynefin framework and Sensemaker® over recent weeks I have gained new insights into improved ways of strategic planning, creating innovation, using principles over methods and leveraging chaos for disruption. The lord and magus Dave Snowden has distilled the proven truths from fables, parables, philosophy and years of management thinking into a scientific holistic framework that when embraced allows us to act differently by thinking differently. Thus, avoiding the same mistakes time and time again and perhaps more importantly finding better ways of solving our problems.

For me the foundation wasn’t the easiest topic I have studied. Dave’s academic terminology can be intimidating, and it is a long time since I have considered the nuances of the language, I use daily.

Thank you to Tony Quillan who graciously met me on a whistle stop tour to New Zealand providing both some pragmatic perspectives and inspiration. Also, a thank you to Mark Anderson who makes sensemaking fun and gently drummed legacy thinking and pattern entrainment out of me.

Complexity is everywhere. We can continue to treat these issues as merely complicated and analyse to act – with hope as the only strategy. Or we can metaphorically release the wolves to shake up our complacency and change our environment, so new dynamics, opportunities and practices evolve.