In my previous Industry Insight, I looked at the first two stages of John Kotter's eight stages of change management, exploring his timeless blueprint for effective change leadership.
In Kotter's third stage - "developing a vision and strategy" - the guiding coalition sets to work on crafting the vision of change and transformation.
This typically runs as an iterative, sometimes even messy, process. Many different perspectives from the various stakeholders are considered, as different role-players provide a number of alternative ways to approach problems and reach goals.
As Kotter reiterates, this is a stage that encompasses both the head and the heart. It is a dynamic process that sees the value of strong teamwork rising to the fore - as the guiding coalition eventually settles on a unified approach.
A shared vision
Because of this complexity, the coalition can take weeks, even many months, to achieve a co-ordinated strategy for the future. Once established, a key contribution of the enterprise architecture (EA) practice is reducing the time taken to produce deliverables - such as the business capability map, for example.
Developing the vision requires the coalition spearhead a number of initial EA work-streams.
To begin with, a set of initial readiness assessments need to be conducted. These provide a clear barometer of where the organisation currently stands, in terms of the maturity and health of its existing EA practice, or its ability to easily embed a new EA framework. The assessments play a vital role in informing the vision for the future state.
Creating a library of definitions is an important early stage activity that ensures all the key stakeholders start from a common understanding of what EA, and a number of other important concepts and terminologies, really means.
Each of these needs to be considered across three dimensions: EA domains, the EA continuum and the EA architecture practice.
* EA domains consist of business architecture, information architecture, data architecture, applications architecture, and technology architecture.
* The EA continuum considers reference models at a group/enterprise level, an individual business or divisional level, as well as at product application and product focus level.
* The EA architecture practice spans the areas of EA products and services, EA people, EA content (models, principles, standards, inventory, etc), as well as processes and tools.
Guiding principles are formulated across these three dimensions and serve as input to EA vision and strategy.
So, what exactly does the vision need to look like? While there is no singular approach to this, Kotter outlines a number of important characteristics inherent in any good vision that a guiding coalition composes.
He says it must be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, and flexible. Finally, it must be simple to communicate (something I will look at more closely in my next Industry Insight).
A guiding coalition
As the vision starts to crystallise, the coalition segments it into different work-streams - and assigns champions to each of these. Having individuals accountable for every aspect of the vision creates a strong sense of ownership, and ensures essential aspects are never overlooked.
It is only by following this thorough approach to developing the vision that the company can address its core system challenges at a root cause level, and overcome the well-worn situation of endless 'quick fixes'.
It must be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, and flexible.
Too often, budget and time constraints force companies to address only the surface symptoms - by implementing disjointed, piecemeal improvements that fail to address the underlying issues, and serve to undermine the company's EA practice.
These kinds of vicious cycles start circling throughout the organisation. As its structures become increasingly dependent on ad hoc quick fixes, they are continually weakened. In today's competitive market environments, this is something that businesses can ill afford to let happen.
But, by following the vigorous approach to strategy and vision creation, the guiding coalition ultimately arrives at a strategic plan that describes how the business will transition, what the end-state will look like, and where investments, energy and focus need to be directed.
As everyone buys into the vision, change agents foster a better understanding of the 'customer' (internal stakeholders within the enterprise), the 'products' (the capabilities made possible by the EA practice), and how these products will be structured and packaged to address particular business needs.
My next Industry Insight will explore how to take this vision a step further - and start sensitising the rest of the broader company.
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