Business Strategy

One of the constant urban-myths about the Business Analyst role is the common assumption/assertion (invariably by non-BAs) that all we do is ‘run meetings’. I’ve heard this a few times during my career and it really exercises me. There is a lot more to the BA role than that; in fact there is a lot more to running meetings! As part of my current role I devise a lot of training material and someone recently asked how I go about running a meeting. It wasn’t until I was asked that I attempted to document my thought processes and it proved surprisingly more difficult than I imagined!

Digital Transformation is now a number one priority for many businesses. Over the past two years, businesses have put increased focus on digitally transforming their brands from the inside out.

It is an ongoing process of change based on the market and needs of the customers. To deliver this change successfully, there is a need to establish a clear vision with objectives & expected outcomes.

Intentional conversations are based on conscious design of the purpose, with forethought given to context and timing. Planned to happen in a setting and way, that is purposeful. In sharp contrast, Make It an Intentional Conversation share how 'unintentional' conversations can run off the rails.

Culture doesn't eat strategy for breakfast!

Culture suffocates under the weight of strategy that cares more about the bottom line than it does about its people.

How a business does strategy is a truer representation of what a culture really is than aspirational sound bites hung on walls or spun out in talent development conversations. 

It's why leadership programs over time don't live up to the hype. Affirmations, no matter how heartfelt, do not create the required cultural change if they are not embedded in the way strategy is created, languaged and executed. 

As one of the most globally recognized brands in the world, this client had challenges within one of its biggest hiring profit centers in Sales. Their prior decentralized Talent Acquisition structure placed a heavy staffing burden on line managers who struggled to get the hiring results and achieve a balance between staffing and their functional business responsibilities. This combination of missed hires and lost productivity time from line leadership put revenue at risk. In 2013, this client turned to Sevenstep to drive a laser-focused TA strategy for this high impact hiring area.

We have talked about being of service in prior posts, today I want to take it a step further and talk about seeing the system.  For our techie friends, we don’t mean computer systems or apps, we are talking about the dynamics at play, the situational system.  Perhaps an example will help.

It’s not about you.  Suppose your boss shuts down your idea.  You don’t understand why your boss shut it down. 

• Maybe your boss is too stupid to recognize your great idea.  

• Maybe you didn’t communicate it effectively.  

This organisation is a stock-market quoted firm owned by shareholders rather than being a family-owned business. The dilemma faced by the C-Suite was whether decisions should be made to benefit themselves, benefit the shareholders or benefit the long-term sustainability of the enterprise, which would have positively affected a much wider range of stakeholders.

My esteemed colleague Adrian Reed put a fascinating post on his blog this week regarding thinking beyond customer journey maps which was a great read for two reasons; first, it was a good provocation for anyone doing journey mapping (I particularly liked the concept of ‘service’ journeys and secondly because I was running a mentoring group that very afternoon and had not got anything to hand. Once I’d read Adrian’s article I knew I had a topic!

Strategy creates competitive advantage,

People and a culture of innovation sustains it and

Technology and communications are the means by which it is delivered.

Digital transformation may sound easy, but it’s not. Especially when, there are so many different understandings of this buzzword around the world.

Of course, it’s a journey which will change with the technologies you adopt and bring into the people, processes, and culture associated with your company. Before understanding this buzzword, it is important to know what a Digital Transformation is not.

Many organisations misunderstand digital transformation.