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The Journal of Information Technology Management

Cutter IT Journal

Vol. 26, No. 5May 2013

The Role of LeadershipDevelopment and StaffTraining in a RecoveringGlobal Economy

Opening Statementby Lynne Ellyn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Creating High-Performance Virtual Teams: Expanding Our Perspectives on Investing in Peopleby Richard Brenner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

High-Performance Team Buildingby Jason L. Stradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Using Leadership as a Secret Weapon in ITby Ronald Woerner and Timothy Sweeney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

A Model for Creating High-Performance Teams — From a Most Unexpected Sourceby Hillel Glazer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The Prism View Technique: A CIO’s Framework for Designing SuccessfulOrganizational Training Programsby Debabrata Pruseth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Investing in Human Capital and Creating an Entrepreneurial Culture:The Egyptian Experienceby Sherif Kamel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

“Leadership training is amust for new managers,and refreshing the outlookand skills of more experi-enced professionals is oneimportant way to maintainorganizational effectiveness.”

— Lynne Ellyn,Guest Editor

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTIONFor authorized use, contact Cutter Consortium:+1 781 648 [email protected]

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The roller coaster of business cycles appears to beheaded up and accelerating. The economy is recovering,companies are beginning to hire, the real estate marketis improving, and even new housing starts are up. Inthe past, the economic undulations of business havebeen shadowed by a boom-and-bust pattern of corpo-rate investment in training, leadership coaching, andteam development programs. In my 30-plus years in IT,there have been numerous cycles of intense investmentin training and employee development. During thesecycles, corporate-speak riffed on variations of theadage, “People are our most important asset.” Thesepeople-asset times are characterized by competitionfor good employees and corporate objectives that focuson growth, new product development, new marketingchannels, and innovation. The corporate focus shiftsto effectiveness. Usually these boom times are spear-headed by marketing, engineering, or sales — in otherwords, the corporate entities that actually create busi-ness, business relationships, and new opportunities.

Inevitably, expansive business cycles are overtaken bycycles of retraction. Retraction cycles are characterizedby corporate-speak that says, “Every employee is a lia-bility.” During the employee-as-a-liability phase, hiringstops, layoffs start, and any investment in training isfocused on continuous improvement, Six Sigma, andthe like. The corporate focus is on efficiency. Thefinance department, at the direction of the CFO, usuallyleads these retraction cycles. In other words, retractioncycles are usually led by the entities that report whatthe corporate business creators did.

In my experience, the expanding investments in peopleand the retracting investments in people precede theeconomic business cycle of boom or bust. In otherwords, when companies begin to reinvest in people,productivity increases, creativity soars, new productsappear, and new customers are engaged. When compa-nies pull back on people investments, sales start to sag,productivity declines, product introductions slow to atrickle, and soon the business falters. The faltering ofbusiness is usually obfuscated initially by the drivefor efficiency and financial engineering of the books,but the employees reflect the dropping corporate

barometric pressure. Rumors fly, and people begin tohang out at the water cooler to commiserate and specu-late about what is going on. High-value employees fleeto other companies or industries, and employee moraleand corporate profits tumble.

People in IT are clearly motivated by access to trainingand skill development programs. Recently, I was talkingto a CEO of a small VC-funded software startup. He wasseeking additional funding to keep the company movingforward and finishing the product development for anexciting new software product. A top priority for thisveteran of several successful startups was getting ade-quate funding that would allow him to increase spend-ing for training and staff development. His observationfrom his deep experience in successful product andbusiness creation was that software developers wouldgive it their all tirelessly for months or years if they feltthat they were learning, growing, and developing onthe job. Training dollars and employee developmentwere sacred ingredients in successful product devel-opment. This point of view is strongly backed up byneuroscience research, which reveals that learning isextremely rewarding to the brain. Learning providesa dopamine buzz — a neurochemical reward thatis deeply motivating. The highly respected GallupEmployee Engagement survey dedicates two of its 12questions to this issue of learning and growth. They are:

Q6 — Is there someone at work who encouragesmy development?

Q12 — This last year, have I had opportunities atwork to learn and grow?

The Gallup survey is only 12 questions long, but itis highly correlated with employee engagement andcorporate performance. I find it to be significant that

Opening Statement

3Get The Cutter Edge free: www.cutter.com Vol. 26, No. 5 CUTTER IT JOURNAL

by Lynne Ellyn, Guest Editor

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • For authorized use, contact Cutter Consortium: +1 781 648 8700 • [email protected]

When companies begin to reinvest in people,productivity increases, creativity soars, newproducts appear, and new customers areengaged.

©2013 Cutter Information LLCCUTTER IT JOURNAL May 20134

Gallup devotes one-sixth of its questions to the issue oflearning and personal growth. Presumably, we are allseeking the expanding business cycle — we seek theenergy, the thrill, and the profitability that comes withexpanding business cycles. So if employee learning,training, and development are so critical to expansion,why would anyone cut these programs?

IT leadership is often faced with extremely tight bud-gets, very aggressive delivery targets, and projectsthat are organized as “death marches.” Oftentimes,the stressed IT leader believes that people cannot sparethe time for training. In other cases, the training budgetis cut when the organization faces corporate budgetcuts. The net effect on employees is to feel increasedstress and a sense of being devalued by the corporation.Cutting training for IT is a strange and curious action.Everyone knows that information technology is con-stantly changing. Users of technology have ever-risingexpectations for what technology can and should do forthem. Technical complexity is growing. Cyber securitythreats are increasing in numbers and sophistication.Given all of this, how can an IT department forgo train-ing and ever think of being successful? To be truly effec-tive as the leader in IT, the IT department must havetraining as a top priority.

Given that training must be a priority, the savvy ITleader is thoughtful and deliberate in providing trainingthat is effective and improves the performance of theIT department. Leadership training is a must for newmanagers, and refreshing the outlook and skills ofmore experienced professionals is one important wayto maintain organizational effectiveness.

In this issue of Cutter IT Journal, our contributors pro-vide insight into effective programs for developingleaders and training for the IT department. The firstarticle takes on one of the most difficult challengesfaced in IT today — how to create a high-performanceteam when team members are distributed acrossthe country or the globe and may not even have theopportunity to meet. Most leaders will simply try tomuddle along with a virtual team by hyper-specifyingthe requirements. In this well-reasoned article, RichardBrenner gives us a rich set of recommendations for cre-ating high-performance virtual teams that are durableand can be leveraged by a corporation. I was trulyimpressed with the recommendations Brenner givesand have little doubt that implementing the trainingand methods outlined in his article would producea sustainable productivity advantage in building soft-ware on a global basis. My only concern is the probableinvestment and the need for a durable advantage insoftware development. Certainly, large software orga-nizations like IBM, Google, SAP, or Microsoft couldutilize these training and organizational developmentapproaches and reap the benefits. In small organizationsor for single project situations, the investment to createhigh-performing virtual teams would seem excessive.Certainly, I never worked for a company that wouldhave allowed such a rich investment in training for asingle project. Setting aside my concern that the invest-ment required would be too much for most companies,I applaud the thoroughness and insight Brenner pro-vides for creating high-performance virtual teams.Anyone managing virtual teams would be well advisedto incorporate his recommendations.

Whether a team is colocated or globally distributed,creating high-performance teams is a competitiveadvantage and a necessity for success. In our secondarticle, Jason Stradley tells us that high-performanceteams do not happen by chance. He provides excellentadvice on eliminating chance and ensuring the perfor-mance of IT with a well-thought-out training and devel-opment approach.

Numerous studies on job satisfaction and stress havenamed IT as one of the most stressful career choices.


UPCOMING TOPICS IN CUTTER IT JOURNAL

JUNEScott Ambler

Disciplined Agile Delivery

JULYRebecca Herold

Big Data Privacy

AUGUST Simon Woodworth

Mobile Security Challenges

How can an IT department forgo trainingand ever think of being successful?


Ronald Woerner and Timothy Sweeney discuss themany constraints and paradoxes that make IT such achallenging job. They show us how leadership can be theanswer to overcoming the difficulties faced in IT. ManyIT leaders rise from the technical ranks and lack the peo-ple skills necessary for effective leadership. In their arti-cle, Woerner and Sweeney offer “definitive steps anyonein IT (or any other position for that matter) can take todramatically improve their effectiveness.”

In our next article, by Cutter Senior Consultant HillelGlazer, we learn that there is an unexpected source ofknowledge and structure that can be applied to createhigh-performance teams and effective leadership. Thesource of this model is our much-hated — and much-loved — CMM®. In this case, Glazer is talking aboutthe lesser-known People Capability Maturity Model®,or People CMM. Certainly it would be hard to arguewith the view of a mature people organization. ThePeople CMM model should be thought-provoking forall IT leaders and organizations, but Glazer’s philoso-phy may be a bigger gem of wisdom. The Be-Do-Havemodel he proposes is a Zen-like approach to leadershipand life — almost a tao of leadership. Glazer’s article isworth both a read and serious contemplation.

After you’ve digested the leadership Zen offered in theprevious article, you might wish for a more practicaland colorful approach to determining the training needsof the organization. The Prism View model offered byour next author, Debabrata Pruseth, is a color-codedanalysis that “will help CIOs create a clear picture of thecurrent IT training landscape, define the target desiredstate, analyze the gaps, and build effective trainingprograms for the organization.” This is just the sort ofeasy-to-understand-and-communicate model that can bemade into posters for the conference room. Every orga-nization has staff members that live for PowerPointsand wall art. Here we have a model and a method thatwill keep the graphic art group busy and provide astructure that will make training requirements clearand actionable.

Our last article brings a perspective of how leadershiptraining is being done in challenging environments inthe Middle East. Developing countries face unique diffi-culties, and the environment in Egypt is particularlyunstable. Sherif Kamel of the American University inCairo (AUC) offers an encouraging look at how AUC isfocusing on leadership education to broaden the entre-preneurial capabilities of students attending its businessschool. Kamel’s focus on education as an investment in

human capital is applicable to any area of business, butis particularly pertinent to IT.

As the economy continues to recover globally, IT leader-ship will certainly turn its attention to staff develop-ment, leadership development, and training. The articlesin this issue provide perspective for leaders trying tobe effective with distributed or colocated teams. Ourcontributors have provided a comprehensive view thatincludes all aspects of the challenge, from philosophiesunderlining leadership to practical frameworks that canfacilitate common understanding of all team trainingobjectives. There’s no time like now to upgrade yourleadership development and staff training programs.

Lynne Ellyn is a Fellow of the Cutter Business Technology Counciland a Senior Consultant with Cutter Consortium's BusinessTechnology Strategy practice. She retired in 2011 as the Senior VPand CIO at DTE Energy, a Detroit-based diversified energy company.During her 32 years in IT, Ms. Ellyn managed organizations withas many as 1,200 employees. She has deep experience with largeestablished corporations, global software teams, and startups.

During her years as a CIO, Ms. Ellyn was consistently recognizedas an exceptional business and IT leader. In 2002, Crain’s DetroitBusiness named her as one of the “100 Most Influential WomenBusiness Leaders” in the metropolitan Detroit area, while theAssociation for Women in Computing awarded her one of the“Top Michigan Women in Computing” in 2003. In 2004, CORP!named Ms. Ellyn one of Michigan’s “Top Business Women,” whileComputerworld named her a “Premier 100 IT Leader” in 2005. In2007, Baseline named her one of the “Top 100 CIOs” in the country.

Ms. Ellyn worked her way through the IT industry, beginning as aprogrammer. She has held systems analyst, project leader, knowledgeengineer, and systems architect positions. Ms. Ellyn combines astrong hands-on technical background with an equally strong knowl-edge of all aspects of business. She has successfully held leadershippositions in five industries: healthcare, automotive, high-tech,consulting, and energy.

In 2012, Ms. Ellyn completed a postgraduate certificate in theFoundations of NeuroLeadership with Middlesex University inManchester, UK. After a 32-year career in IT, she now focuses onleadership coaching, team development, IT strategy, public speaking,and consulting for Cutter Consortium. Ms. Ellyn also does equine-facilitated leadership training. (More information about equine-facilitated leadership training can be found at www.pasobility.com.)

Ms. Ellyn is passionate about building high-performance teams, coach-ing leaders for high performance, and managing complex businessrequirements. In addition to her postgraduate study in neuroscienceand leadership, Ms. Ellyn has a bachelor’s degree from OaklandUniversity and an executive MBA from Michigan State University.She can be reached at [email protected].


For virtual project teams, visions of high performanceoften vanish near the middle of the kickoff teleconfer-ence. People commonly experience virtual teams asawkward and frustrating. Many attribute the difficultyto the nature of virtual teams, because they are dis-persed in space, time, and/or organization.1 Someteams are also dispersed in language and culture,but high performance can be compromised evenwhen the dispersion is only geographical.

The term “high-performance virtual team” need notbe an oxymoron if we change our approach to leading,managing, and supporting virtual teams. The requiredchanges are challenging, because they touch every partof the enterprise, including the way we think aboutinvesting in people. But they are achievable.

In this article, I focus on IT virtual project teams, butmuch of what follows applies to other types of virtualteams, possibly with slight adjustments.

THE PROBLEM

Why do virtual teams reach high performance at somuch lower rates than conventional teams? Can weaddress this problem with team training alone? I thinknot. Team training that yields positive results for con-ventional teams doesn’t seem to work as well for virtualteams. For example, after team-building workshops,conventional teams do work better together. But forvirtual teams, the effect is much less pronounced, andbecause of travel, the costs are much higher. To saveon travel, some have tried distance or remote teambuilding, but results are mixed at best.

The fundamental difficulty is perhaps most easilyunderstood in terms of Harvard Business School pro-fessor Robert Simons’ Four Spans model of high perfor-mance (see Figure 1).2 Although the model is intendedto explain the potential performance of an individual,it can be adapted to model team performance. Briefly,Simons’ model adapted to teams would hold that highperformance is possible only if the team’s resourcesmatch its need for resources. Its resources are deter-mined by its span of control and its span of support.Its need for resources is determined by its span ofaccountability and its span of influence. For equilib-rium, and hence high performance:

Span of Control + Span of Support = Span of Accountability + Span of Influence

The span of control defines the range of resourcesover which the team has decision authority. The spanof support defines the level of assistance the team canexpect from other units and teams. The span of account-ability describes the team’s freedom to make tradeoffsand deals to achieve success. The span of influencedescribes the breadth of the team’s need to collectinformation and influence the behavior of other teamsand individuals.

In terms of the Four Spans model, the difficulty withvirtual teams is that there is a significant gap betweenthe resources they have and the resources they need.

©2013 Richard Brenner. All rights reserved.CUTTER IT JOURNAL May 20136

Creating High-Performance Virtual Teams: Expanding Our Perspectives on Investing in Peopleby Richard Brenner

PLAN FOR SPANS


Figure 1 — A span configuration in which resources and need forresources can be in equilibrium, because C+S can equal A+I.

(Source: Adapted from Simons.)


Some conventional teams also face this problem, butthe problems of virtual teams are far more vexing fortwo reasons:

1. Some required resources reside outside the enterprisethat employs the team’s sponsor, thereby reducingthe team’s span of accountability and increasing itsspan of influence.

2. The virtual environment (VE) is far more chaotic thanthe conventional environment, which reduces theteam’s span of support.

Since the span of control is typically narrow and thespan of influence is wide, the conditions above ofteneliminate any chance of meeting the team’s need forresources. To achieve equilibrium for virtual teams, wemust act so as to increase their spans of support andaccountability and decrease their spans of control andinfluence.

The model suggests two strategies for fostering highperformance in virtual teams. First, calm the chaos.Second, invest in people, facilities, and processes thatlie outside the domain we conventionally regard as thedomain of the virtual team.

THE ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS OF FOSTERING HIGH-PERFORMANCE VIRTUAL TEAMS

Although high performance in any team is welcome,results must justify the cost of attempts to achieve it.Most organizations know the cost of their attempts toachieve high performance, but determining the advan-tages of high performance is a subtler problem. We canignore second-order effects, such as lower turnover,lower rates of burnout, and lower absenteeism, becausethe first-order effects are so much larger. They are two:

1. All teams benefit. Inspection of the recommenda-tions below shows that many of them benefit allteams, virtual or not. Although some of the recom-mendations require investments that scale with thenumber of teams deployed, most do not. The largerthe organization, the higher the return on investment.

2. The cost of merely adequate performance is delay.For projects whose deliverables lead to increased netincome, delay is expensive. In most cases, we cancompute the cost of a month’s delay as a percentageof project costs. If we know the cost of the changesthat we expect will foster high performance, we candetermine how much sooner delivery must occurto justify that investment. Especially in the case ofrevenue-enhancement projects, the choice is usuallyclear: do it.

Thus, if we adopt the recommendations that follow,organizational performance will improve and the costreductions or revenue enhancements we expect fromthe team’s deliverables will then arrive earlier.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FOSTERING THE DEVELOPMENTOF HIGH-PERFORMANCE VIRTUAL TEAMS

Each recommendation is followed by symbols such as -C or +A. They indicate how the recommendationincreases or decreases the team’s spans of Control (C),Support (S), Accountability (A), or Influence (I).

Reevaluate the Net Benefits of Running Lean and Mean(-C,+S)

Organizations that operate “lean and mean” achievelower costs, in part, by sharing staff across teams,which leads to an elevated incidence of split assign-ments. Split assignments do reduce headcount, butthe price is a reduced ability to adapt to unexpectedchanges in project schedules. For example, when teamsencounter delays, their scheduled needs for peoplewith split assignments change. Changes like this canthen affect the other teams to which these people areassigned, if those teams already had plans in place.This phenomenon degrades the performance of virtualteams more than it does conventional teams becausethe incidence of unexpected events is relatively elevatedin the VE to begin with. The hidden cost of operatinglean and mean is thus the suppression of virtual teamperformance relative to the performance of conventionalteams. Enterprises that deliver value using virtual teamswould do well to consider running a little less lean anda little less mean.

Adopt Zulu Time as a Standard for Multiple-Time-ZoneTeams (+S)

When virtual teams span multiple time zones, confusionabout times can cause delays and rescheduling becausepeople misinterpret the schedule. Equinoxes exacerbatethe problem, as some sites switch to or from summertime. It is even worse for teams with sites in both hemi-spheres, because the equinoctial time change can resultin two-hour relative time differences. Citing all teamtimes in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, or Zulu)


Enterprises that deliver value using virtualteams would do well to consider running a little less lean and a little less mean.


addresses this issue. If everyone then tracks timerelative to Zulu, the incidence of confusion drops.

Recognize That Virtual Teams Need GenerousTravel Budgets (+S,+A)

Effective travel strategy for virtual teams rests on threeprinciples:

1. Relationships are the foundation of high per-formance. High performance requires forthrightexchanges of ideas. Members don’t have to like eachother, but they must share a desire for collaborativeachievement, which requires strong relationships.Those relationships are best formed face-to-face(F2F),3 because members can interact in fully humanways. Email, telephone calls, texting, and video donot suffice.4-6

2. Front-end relationship building is most effective.For interpersonal collisions, like vehicular collisions,prevention is more effective than repair. Buildingrelationships at the outset of an effort is the superiorapproach.7 With no history, and especially no pastdifficulty, team members can focus on relationshipbuilding in their early meetings, rather than relation-ship repair.

3. Travel costs must be considered relative to delivery.If high-performance teams are more productive, thentheir contributions to organizational objectives aregreater and arrive sooner than would those of lower-performance teams. If travel contributes to perfor-mance, then we must evaluate travel costs in termsof early delivery of superior results. Yet we rarelycompare the cost of travel to the value of results.Instead, we compare the cost of travel for virtualteams to the cost of travel for conventional teams, orwhat is worse, we compare it to zero. More sensiblecomparisons demonstrate the wisdom of generoustravel budgets for virtual teams.

Conduct Kickoff Meetings Face-to-Face (+S,-I)

The online disinhibition effect (ODE)8, 9 is a modelthat explains why toxic conflict afflicts virtual teamsso often. Briefly, because the VE lacks ways of connect-ing individuals with the consequences of antisocialbehavior, it suppresses inhibitions that limit suchbehavior in the F2F context. Because fostering strongrelationships among team members mitigates this prob-lem, an in-person kickoff meeting is perhaps the bestmeans of avoiding ODE. Periodic F2F meetings are nec-essary for relationship renewal, and they serve to intro-duce new team members as team composition evolves.

Provide Too Much Videoconference Capability (+S)

Videoconferencing is more than a means of meetingvirtually — it also helps limit the risks of ODE. Limitedvideoconference capability is better than none, butpeople will actually use it only if availability and band-width are ample. Ideally, the capability should be avail-able on demand. For example, if a group is talking byphone and decides to switch to video, they should beable to switch within five minutes. Longer delays riskdisrupting the discussion. Unconstrained spontaneityhas a high return.

Treat the Team’s Communications Substrate as a Project (+S,+A)

The communications substrate for virtual teams is com-plex, in some cases involving telephone, video, email,text, wiki, the Web, documents, and all software andhardware that support these channels. Maintenanceinvolves capabilities that team members might lack. Formost teams, this maintenance activity is an expensivedistraction.

Relying on an operations-oriented group or departmentfor maintenance of the communications substrate is notrecommended. Serving multiple independent teamsinevitably exposes such departments to load burstsresulting from schedule collisions. Treating the commu-nications needs of each team as a full-fledged project —with a project manager, a sponsor, and a risk manage-ment plan — is a superior approach, because it facili-tates coordination across virtual teams.

Provide Professional Testing Services for VirtualMeeting Communications Platforms (-C,+S)

The communications needs of virtual teams arecomplex, especially when the firewalls of multipleenterprises are involved. Ensuring both security andtrouble-free passage of all needed data streams requiresskills and expertise that are likely beyond the capacity— and certainly beyond the charters — of most virtualproject teams. To ensure reliable communications, pro-vide testing services as specified in the project plans foreach team’s communications substrate.

Provide Professional Remote Facilitators (-C,+S)

Facilitation is the art of managing information exchangewithin groups, typically in synchronous meetings.Remote facilitation is the kind of facilitation requiredfor virtual meetings. As rare a skill set as facilitation is,remote facilitation skills are even rarer. Nevertheless,as is usual with facilitators, effectiveness depends on



maintaining neutrality with respect to content. Remotefacilitators ought not be members of the virtual teamsthemselves.

Provide Professional Translator and Interpreter Servicesfor Multilingual Teams (-C,+S)

Multilingual teams require both document translatorsand real-time conversation interpreters. For these func-tions, avoid relying on team members with languageskills. Professional translators and interpreters provideboth superior results and content objectivity. For criticaldocuments, perform closed-loop translations to verifytranslation accuracy. For less-than-critical documents,perform random closed-loop translations to monitortranslation accuracy.

Provide Round-the-Clock Communications TechnologySupport for the Virtual Meeting Substrate (+S,-I)

Communications technology support services formultiple-time-zone virtual teams might be neededwhenever a team meets, on a standby basis, or when-ever the team tests its communications substrate. If thetime zone span is wide enough — more than two orthree hours — the team probably needs 24-hour com-munications technology support at all sites, becausethe team must rotate the inconvenience of its meetingsacross its respective sites.

Accept That Virtual Leadership Requires a UniqueSkill Set (+A)

Effective leadership in the virtual context is distributedand adaptive.10 It is distributed in the sense that itdoesn’t necessarily reside solely in the formally definedorganizational slots. In virtual teams, even more than inconventional teams, many people must play leadershiproles because the team is dispersed. Those who do leadmust be willing to circulate and travel, even more thanin conventional teams.

Virtual team leaders must also be able to adapt theirstyles to the needs of people from different organiza-tions and different cultures. In the conventional envi-ronment, we can afford to give team members time toresolve issues on their own, because they can easilymeet with each other.11 In the VE, opportunities forteam member interactions are fewer and less frequent.In virtual teams, empathetic and creative interventionby leaders is often essential to high performance.Special skills and talents are required.12

Include People with Technical, Project Management,and Technical Support Expertise on the ContractNegotiation Team (+S,+A)

Surprises encountered during project execution areexpensive. Bringing technical, project management,and technical support experts into contract negotiationsgives the negotiation team what it needs to producea contract that is relatively clear of the pitfalls thatcause so many problems for virtual project teams. Ifall counterparties’ negotiation teams do likewise, thenegotiators can resolve issues such as Microsoft Officeversion skew well before they can degrade team perfor-mance. Even if negotiations can’t eliminate some prob-lems, they can at least identify them early enough toaccommodate them in the contract.

Ensure That Contracts Include Constraints and PenaltiesRegarding Staff and Resource Availability (+S,+A,-I)

One problem that plagues virtual teams is sudden lossof access to resources that partner organizations weresupposed to contribute. The political power neededto rectify such situations is often lacking in the virtualteam. Reassignments, capital freezes, and hiring freezesare examples of these difficulties. To supply the virtualteam with the political power it needs, include in con-tracts constraints and penalties severe enough to ensureavailability of critical resources. Naturally, all participat-ing organizations must be subject to these constraints.

Include Contract Provisions Regarding Retrospectives(+S,+A)

An effective retrospective is the key to learning, whichis essential to reaching and maintaining high perfor-mance. But since retrospectives occur after project deliv-erables are available, some organizations have difficultycommitting time and resources to them. Contract provi-sions requiring retrospectives, including resource andduration specifications, ensure that retrospectives willoccur. Because of the sometimes volatile nature ofretrospectives, they are best conducted face-to-face.

In virtual teams, even more than in conven-tional teams, many people must play leader-ship roles because the team is dispersed.



HOW TO GET THERE

Some of these changes are dramatic, affecting organiza-tional activities that seem unrelated to virtual team per-formance. Expertise in effecting broad organizationalchange is required, implementing first those recommen-dations that have the most tightly focused organiza-tional impact. Success with those changes can facilitatethe more complex changes.

Investing in virtual team performance doesn’t guaranteeenhanced organizational performance, because manyfactors affect performance. But electing not to invest invirtual team performance will likely limit the organiza-tion’s success.

ENDNOTES1Powell, Anne, Gabriele Piccoli, and Blake Ives. “Virtual Teams:A Review of Current Literature and Directions for FutureResearch.” The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems,Vol. 35, No 1, Winter 2004, pp. 6-36.

2Simons, Robert. “Designing High-Performance Jobs.” HarvardBusiness Review, July-August 2005, pp. 54-62.

3Hunsaker, Phillip L., and Johanna S. Hunsaker. “Virtual Teams:A Leader’s Guide.” Team Performance Management, Vol. 14, Nos. 1-2, 2008, pp. 86-101.

4Driskell, James E., Paul H. Radtke, and Eduardo Salas.“Virtual Teams: Effects of Technological Mediation on TeamPerformance.” Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice,Vol. 7, No. 4, December 2003, pp. 297-323.

5Oertig, Margaret, and Thomas Buergi. “The Challenges ofManaging Cross-Cultural Virtual Project Teams.” TeamPerformance Management, Vol. 12, Nos. 1-2, 2006, pp. 23-30.

6Pentland, Alex. “The New Science of Building Great Teams.”Harvard Business Review, April 2012, pp. 60-70.

7Warkentin, Merrill E., Lutfus Sayeed, and Ross Hightower.“Virtual Teams Versus Face-to-Face Teams: An ExploratoryStudy of a Web-Based Conference System.” In EmergingInformation Technologies Improving Decisions, Cooperation,and Infrastructure, edited by Kenneth E. Kendall. SAGEPublications, 1999, pp. 241-62.

8Suler, John. “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” CyberPsychologyand Behavior, Vol. 7, No. 3, June 2004, pp. 321-326.

9Goleman, Daniel. “Flame First, Think Later: New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior.” The New York Times, 20 February 20 2007.

10Hunsaker (see 3). 11Furst, Stacie A., Martha Reeves, Benson Rosen, and Richard

S. Blackburn. “Managing the Life Cycle of Virtual Teams.”Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 18, No. 2, May 2004, pp. 6-20.

12Pentland (see 6).

Rick Brenner is Principal of Chaco Canyon Consulting. He workswith people in dynamic problem-solving organizations who makecomplex products or deliver sophisticated services that need state-of-the-art teamwork and with organizations that achieve high perfor-mance by building stronger relationships among their people. Mr.Brenner focuses on improving personal and organizational effective-ness, especially in atypical situations, as in the case of continuouschange, technical emergencies, and high-pressure project situations.Since 1993, he has taught a course in business modeling at theHarvard University Extension School. He publishes a weekly emailnewsletter and has written a number of essays that are availableat his website (www.chacocanyon.com). He can be reached at [email protected].


An essential leadership skill for any organization is theability to build and lead high-performing teams. This isespecially critical for small to medium-sized businesses.In those situations, people must work closely together,wear many hats, and work effectively across the orga-nization to get tasks accomplished quickly enough toremain competitive.

In fact, building a high-performance team is one of themost valuable investments that an organization canmake. Once established, such an investment can bringhuge returns to the organization, not the least of whichis retaining those key employees who contribute toachieving business results and ultimately make theorganization successful.

A high-performance team doesn’t just occur by chance.It requires that team members, team leaders, and man-agers have the communications skills and resolve to col-laborate to achieve a set of team or organizational goals.

Many organizations continue to lose sight of whatoftentimes is their most valuable asset: their people.The continual pursuit of shareholder value and theshort-term thinking that such a pursuit promotes fre-quently manifest themselves in the devaluation anddiscarding of the very assets that are the key to bothshort- and long-term success.

In this article, I will focus on some of the keys to creat-ing and sustaining high-performance teams in today’sfluid and ever-changing business landscape.

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

In order to fully appreciate the capabilities needed tobuild and lead high-performance teams, it is essential todefine the term “team.” Here is a simple but effectivedescription from The Wisdom of Teams:

A team is a small number of people with complementaryskills who are committed to a common purpose, perfor-mance goals, and approach for which they hold them-selves mutually accountable.1

The successful and consistent development of high-performance teams depends upon three foundational

competencies (see Figure 1). These competencies formthe basic building blocks that team leaders must callupon and execute on a consistent basis in order toachieve a high level of performance. These basicbuilding blocks are:

1. Vision — ensuring that the team understands thevision or “end game” of the team, its goals and objec-tives, and how each member of the team contributesto that vision

2. Knowledge — ensuring that the team has adequatesupport structures and information to achieve thestated goals and objectives and realize the vision

3. Interaction — facilitating team interaction to buildtrust, maximize individual performance, optimizedecision making, manage team conflicts, and, aboveall, gain buy-in from the team members that they areindeed all high performers

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAMS

To better understand how excelling in these competen-cies creates highly effective teams, let’s examine thesebasic building blocks and some of their core characteris-tics more closely (see Figure 2).

11©2013 Jason Stradley. All rights reserved. Vol. 26, No. 5 CUTTER IT JOURNAL

High-Performance Team Buildingby Jason L. Stradley

EYES ON THE END GAME


Vision Knowledge

Interaction

Figure 1 — Foundations of high-performance teams.


A high-performing team understands the grandscheme that gets the team to the end game. In a high-performance team situation, each team member veryclearly understands the context of the work to beaccomplished by the team. This includes understandingthe relevance of the tasks being asked of each teammember, how the execution of those tasks will impactthe other members of the team, and the contribution ofthe tasks to the realization of the vision. There are manysituations where individuals are asked to work on atask without being made aware of how the completionof that task contributes to the desired end game —successful completion of assignments that contributeto the overall value proposition of the organization.

A second aspect that allows members of high-performance teams to align with each other iseffective definition and dissemination of the vision,goals, objectives, and task-level assignments. Eachteam member must understand their individualvalue proposition to the team and the expected teamoutputs that will signify success. Each goal, objective,and task-level activity should have some appropriatemetric attached to it that clearly demonstrates teameffectiveness and improvement.

Highly effective teams work in a collaborative fashion,as units that recognize and embrace interdependenceas a criterion for success. Collaboration and inter-dependency in a team will stimulate opportunitiesfor improvement and reduce “passing of the buck”or blaming behavior. Without such a sense of inter-dependency in both rewards and responsibility,blaming behaviors may occur that will quickly grindaway at team effectiveness.

Leadership

Without a doubt, one of the critical elements to the suc-cess of a high-performance team is leadership. Greatleadership creates the atmosphere and establishes thephilosophies and values that are favorable to high per-formance. This is clearly evident in organizations whosemanagers have a track record of creating effective teamsover and over again. Some of the operating character-istics of such leaders include: a systematic and highlyorganized approach to building high-performanceteams, an understanding of what to say (and, equallyimportant, what not to say), and the ability to envisionthe end game and work backward before sorting out thecurrent realities. Dynamic leaders are able to:

Clearly and concisely describe the vision of thefuture state or end game

Describe a broad-brush framework of actions toachieve that end game

Use language to instill trust, encourage forwardthinking, and create enthusiasm within the team

Put the right people together to execute againstthe vision

Processes

High-performance teams leverage efficient and effectiveprocesses to achieve their goals and objectives. Anytype of successful team has highly effective processesthat it relies on to assist in achieving that success.Whether it’s a athletic team making a championshiprun, a symphony orchestra performing Beethoven’s“Eroica,” or a surgical team performing an open heartsurgery, they all have their own set of processes thatthey practice over and over again until the conduct ofthose processes is second nature. High-performanceteams in business have playbooks as well that mightinclude processes for decision making, solving prob-lems, conducting a meeting, or designing a piece ofhardware.

In highly effective teams, each team member clearlyunderstands that he or she has a clear and specific role-based function, expertise, and skills. There are manyexamples of business settings in which these processesdon’t exist or are inadequate for the needs of the busi-ness. In contrast, high-performance teams identify,map, and master their key processes. The effectivenessof these processes should be the subject of constantreview, evaluation, and improvement as required. Thequestions “How are we doing?”; “Have we learned


Vision Knowledge

Interaction

End GameGoals

ObjectivesFrameworkkworkrk

ProcessSupport

Information

SkillsExperience

nged PlanningaileDDetaile

CommunicationCCC

Interdependency

Self-Assessment

Ownership

yDiversity

Figure 2 — High-performance team characteristics.


something new?”; and “Can we do better?” form thebasis for that review and evaluation activity.

Chemistry

One of the biggest myths in the annals of teams andteamwork is the belief that working and interactingeffectively requires team members to be friends. Itmay seem counterintuitive, but just the opposite may betrue. The diversity of skills, knowledge, and experienceneeded to divide tasks effectively almost prohibits highlevels of personal friendship, which is most often basedon the common interests and/or beliefs of individuals.

It seems that the more diverse the team complement,the more effective that team can be. A team whosemembers see the world differently based on their gen-der, ethnicity, personality, knowledge, experience, andperspective has an unequivocal advantage over a morehomogenous group. The greater the diversity amongthe team, the greater will be the collective intelligencebrought to bear on attacking problems, making deci-sions, and addressing other issues. The team will seea greater continuum of creative solutions so long asteam members can channel their differences intosynergy as opposed to strife.

Great team chemistry provides the atmosphere neededfor greater collaboration and is characterized by accep-tance, courtesy, respect, trust, and understanding. Trustis clearly the nonnegotiable component of interdepen-dent relationships. Leadership cannot mandate trust;it can only endeavor to create a climate and opportuni-ties that will aid its development among team members.Interdependence cannot be established among the teamuntil a certain level of trust between all team membersis achieved; therefore, where there is a lack of trust,there is a shortfall of collaboration.

Communication

Communication is the means by which collaborationand cooperation transpire. One of the primary moti-vations of companies that choose to implement a teamconcept is that team-based organizations are more nim-ble and respond more quickly to changing conditions.By definition, a team is incapable of moving faster thanit communicates. Speedy, accurate, clear, and timelycommunication is a hallmark of highly effective teamperformance. High-performance teams become profi-cient at the art of speaking succinctly; there is littleeffort wasted through misunderstanding or confusion.The team understands that effective communication is

crucial, and as a result, team members approach com-munication with great determination.

Ownership

Members of high-performance teams make themselvesaccountable for the success of the team and are empow-ered by a sense of ownership of the team’s product.In highly effective teams, this sense of ownership is“baked in” from the beginning by virtue of the fact thatthe team members themselves had a part in creating thesolution sets that result in the final product. Throughthe inclusion of team members in the development ofgoals and objectives, the sense of ownership is a tangi-ble thing and can make all the difference between ahigh-performance team and a no-performance team.

The science of developing high-performance teams isfor leaders to ensure that all these characteristics aregiven an opportunity to develop. Given the many vari-ables associated with each team and its surroundingenvironment, the art of building highly effective teamsis knowing how to cultivate these characteristics and inwhat proportion.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT TEAMS

There are many misconceptions about high-performanceteams. While the list below is certainly not complete, ithighlights some of the more prevalent ones.

Misconception #1: All work at all levels within anorganization should be team-based.

Reality: It depends. Some tasks are more effectivelyaccomplished with approaches other than a teamapproach. It is important to understand when to“team up” and when not to.

Misconception #2: Any grouping of individuals isa team.

Reality: There are different types of teams. Successfulteams are those that are appropriate for the job at handand the people assigned to complete the task.

Misconception #3: The act of participating in a teamsetting reduces all team members to the lowest com-mon denominator and incentivizes mediocrity.

Reality: The reality is quite the opposite. Great team-work encourages individual differences and allowsthose who are high performers to be even more produc-tive, creative, and effective. Good teams tend to makeall team members better!



Misconception #4: Working as a team makes thework easier.

Reality: Team work is hard but satisfying and makesthe work more productive, more effective, and some-times more fun, given the right people and managementsupport.

Misconception #5: Teams are a threat to the authorityin an organization and are not compatible with organi-zational hierarchies.

Reality: Teams work extremely well within traditionalorganizational hierarchies and complement thosehierarchies.

Misconception #6: Good teams will always make theappropriate decisions.

Reality: Without the appropriate support from seniormanagement and consistent access to relevant infor-mation, a team — no matter how strong it is — will bechallenged to produce positive results.

WHY SOME TEAMS DON’T WORK

As we have already discussed, forming a team to com-plete a task or set of tasks doesn’t guarantee success.Sometimes teams don’t work. There are a variety of rea-sons why a team may not succeed. Some things that cankill or severely disable a team’s effectiveness include:

Vision miscommunication. A team may not performup to par if a clear vision of the team’s purpose iseither lacking or has not been effectively communi-cated to some or all of the team.

Poor or unsuitable leadership. Another cause forpoor team performance could be that the leaderand/or team members have not had sufficient train-ing in how to work as a team. Without managementsupport and good team leadership, individual teammember contributions could be reduced to a lowestcommon denominator.

Skills mismatch. Individual team members may nothave the requisite knowledge or skills to perform therequired tasks, or there may be a duplication of skillsets among team members that limits the overall

capabilities of the team and detracts from achievingthe desired end game.

Inadequate management support. If team work isnot that important to senior management, it mightnot provide the support and commitment requiredfor the team’s success.

Misaligned incentives. When the incentive systemwithin the larger organizational hierarchy pits indi-vidual performance against team performance, itmay be counterproductive to the team’s achievingits goals.

Artificial morale. Team spirit and morale might bebuilt on artificial hyperbole, instead of the actualachievement of team goals. The focus on team workcan become so intense that the work and thosewho will benefit from it (or pay for it) becomesecondary.

Lack of trust. Without the trust that typicallydevelops though a set of shared goals and the inter-dependency that is required to achieve them, a teammay self-destruct or hinder its ability to achievethose goals.

Insufficient self-assessment. The team may takeinsufficient opportunities for self-assessment, whichresults in the team missing signs of trouble until it istoo late.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAMS

Ten key principles that organizations should considerwhen attempting to implement high-performanceteams are:2

1. Teams are not formed; they are built to accomplisha specific mission.

2. Teams and their development are about one thing:results!

3. Team development is a journey, not a stop alongthe way.

4. There is no quick solution for team effectiveness.

5. The best time for training and developing a teamis when they are needed.

6. Development must be a perceived need of theteam as a whole.

7. The team’s work must be the basis for buildingthe team.


Teams and their development are aboutone thing: results!


8. Willingness and determination come before skillas far as collaboration is concerned.

9. Organizations should spend less time on strategyand more time on team culture.

10. Teams should take the time to celebrate appropri-ately when milestones are achieved.

MOVING FORWARD

As we’ve seen, there are definite reasons that someteams achieve the designation of high performance andothers miss the mark. It is crucial to understand andexecute against the three foundational competencies ofvision, knowledge, and interaction in the proportionsappropriate to the task at hand.

There are five critical elements on the path to teamdevelopment, which incorporate the three foundationalcompetencies and lay the groundwork for the devel-opment of the characteristics associated with high-performance teams (see Figure 3):

1. Orientation. Orient both the team and the individu-als that make up the team.

2. Envisioning. Define the team vision to ensure clarityof tasks and alignment of all team members to thosetasks.

3. Process building. Identify and build mission-criticalteam skills and processes.

4. Relationships. Cultivate solid team relationships.

5. Self-assessment. Ensure continual team monitoring,measurement, and adjustment of performance basedon the achievement of short-term and intermediate-term goals.

Aspiring leaders of high-performance teams need tofocus on these areas with the goal of providing supportand guidance to instill the concept of team interdepen-dency and product ownership. These will ultimatelymove the team in the right direction and help it achieveits end game, whatever that end game might be.

ENDNOTES1Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom ofTeams: Creating the High-Performance Organization. HarvardBusiness Review Press, 1992.

2Thiel, David. “A Process to Build High-Performance Teams.”DesignIntelligence, 7 July 2009.

Jason L. Stradley is a visionary security executive and a publishedthought leader in the security sphere, specializing in assisting organi-zations achieve security excellence by establishing the balance betweenbusiness risk and security. With over 25 years’ experience in the ITand security industry, Mr. Stradley counts among his clients manyFortune 500 companies to which he provides C-level securityadvisory services.

Mr. Stradley has experience in a wide variety of security technologies,such as encryption, IDS/IPs, data protection, enterprise risk manage-ment, security information and event management, enterprise threatmanagement and vulnerability management, and identity and accessmanagement solutions. He currently holds the CISSP, CGEIT, CISM,GSLC, CBCP, CRISC, CCSK and C|CISO certifications as well asseveral more technically oriented certifications. Mr. Stradley has beennominated for a number of industry awards, such as the 2007 SecuritySeven Award and the 2008 Information Security Executive of the YearAward. He can be reached at [email protected].


Orientation Envisioning Processing Relationships Self-Assessment

Figure 3 — Critical team development tasks.

For many organizations, IT is in a rising position ofpower, especially the CIO. However, many peopleon the IT team are still stuck down the chain of com-mand fighting an uphill battle to adequately servetheir organization. Many are overworked and under-appreciated for what they do to keep their organizationrunning. That’s where IT leadership is critical to suc-cess. In this article, we present concepts to encourage ITprofessionals to develop as leaders and provide specificsteps for improving their leadership capabilities.

This article will take readers to the next level of ITleadership by providing:

Illustrative ways that IT leaders can enhance theirauthority and influence without being antagonistic

Strategies for positively motivating others to createa more effective and efficient IT environment

Methods for projecting the positive professionalimage of an IT leader

New perspectives on coaching, communication,and collaboration that will promote best practiceswith a high return on investment

Real-world leadership tips and techniques forstrengthening an organization’s IT program whilemeeting business objectives

Regardless of your managerial level, you can use theseactionable techniques immediately to positively influ-ence any situation. Leaders are masters of bringing outthe best performance in others. Rather than issuingdirect instructions or orders, the best leaders indirectly,yet profoundly, enhance the thinking and creativity ofthe people around them. This should be the ultimategoal of everyone in IT.

IT LEADERSHIP GAP

There is a leadership gap within IT today. It’s character-ized by IT personnel having responsibility for IT func-tions within an organization but no authority to makepositive change or have a positive influence within theirlarger organization. IT personnel are often in their own

chain of command away from standard business oper-ations. They’re responsible for the installation, configu-ration, and management of information systems andtechnologies within the organization but are otherwisedetached from day-to-day activities. Many are out oftouch with their primary users. They commonly lackan understanding of psychology, sociology, and humanrelations. IT personnel promoted to management areoften introverts who would much rather spend a fewhours on a computer than with a group of gregariouspeople.

There are generally two avenues people take to becomea manager in an IT role: up through the IT ranks orthrough the business side with training in technology.The majority take the former route, starting with abachelor’s degree in computer science or managementof information systems (MIS). They are promotedbecause of their technical knowledge and abilities aswell as their tenure with the organization. It’s oftennot due to their ability to lead or manage. Those witha business background tend to better understandwhat makes people tick and how to motivate them.This article is for those who are somewhat unexpectedlythrust out of their techie comfort zone and into amanagement role.

Managing Techies

Highly qualified technologists can be a challengingbreed. As management guru Jonathan Lewis observes,“When you lead IT, you lead programmers, analysts,database analysts, system and network administrators,and the rest of the cast and crew required to keep acompany’s systems running. These are very brightpeople, often narrowly focused, with diverse interestsand a high degree of independence. Many are constitu-tionally incapable of respecting leaders who can’t dealwith them on their terms.”1 IT analysts frequently havediverse backgrounds yet have a similar trait of intro-version with a myopic perspective.

This is consistent with a 2005 study in whichresearchers Jo Ellen Moore and Mary Sue Love dis-covered that IT professionals tend to demonstrate


Using Leadership as a Secret Weapon in ITby Ronald Woerner and Timothy Sweeney

TAKING C.A.R.E.S. OF BUSINESS



significantly lower organizational citizenship behaviorthan professionals in non-IT areas.2 Moore and Love’sstudy suggests an opportunity to investigate factors thatinfluence an IT professional’s emotional and socialmaturity levels. It is these levels that often determine anemployee’s success in an organization. The associationof maturity level and leadership acumen further provesthat there is a gap in the leadership knowledge, skills,and abilities demonstrated by most IT professionals.

WHY IT NEEDS LEADERS

IT’s Role in Business Leadership

The CIO’s role has increased in importance over the last10 years. That person is now viewed as one of the orga-nization’s top-level leaders. But what about the CIO’ssubordinates? Today, IT managers have the critical jobof ensuring the technology is up 99.999% of the time.That doesn’t leave much room for error. A recent studypredicts that worldwide IT spending will reach US $3.7trillion in 2013, a 4.2% increase from last year. Anotherexpects the global technology market to grow by 5.4%this year and 6.7% in 2014.3 All this IT spending meansadditional manpower and greater influence for IT lead-ership. This further demonstrates the need for qualityIT leadership to ensure the technology and the person-nel who manage it meet organizational and customerneeds.

IT/Business Collaboration

IT and business functions must collaborate in order tosurvive. In his book Does IT Matter? Nicholas Carr asksthe question, “Isn’t it enough for IT to enable companiesto operate more efficiently or deliver better services,to reduce costs or heighten customer satisfaction?”4 Ina word, no — it’s more than just that. While IT is seenas a utility (like electricity, water, etc.), it can still bean enabler and differentiator for the business. Thereare great advantages to having a mature, efficient ITfunction. But it takes a joint effort among business,operations, finance, and IT. IT alone can’t cut it. ITprofessionals must be able to work with and be seen asthe equals of their business counterparts. Strategic fitamong the various systems components and the busi-ness processes they support is fundamental to competi-tive advantage and the sustainability of this advantage.5

Responsibility Without Authority

IT leaders must have the authority to make changes thatmatch their responsibilities in the organization. To para-phrase security expert Eugene Spafford, “If you have

responsibility for [IT], but have no authority to set rulesor punish violators, your own role in the organizationis to take the blame when something big goes wrong.”6

While Spafford wrote this about security, it appliesequally to IT leadership. Many organizations want todiminish the importance of IT personnel because theirvalue is not understood. They do so at their own peril.

STEPS ON THE PATH TO IT LEADERSHIP

There are definitive steps anyone in IT (or any otherposition for that matter) can take to dramaticallyimprove their effectiveness. Current or future IT leaderscan use these steps no matter their job title, status, orposition in the company. All it takes is a willingness totry and practice.

Understand People

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper is famous for say-ing, “You manage things; you lead people.” You leadwhen others follow.7 If understanding people is soimportant, why don’t more IT leaders take the time tostudy human behavior? It’s often because it’s a “soft”skill that’s generally not included in the computer sci-ence curriculum, and there are so many more cool tech-nology topics to take up our time. However, IT leadersshould study how people operate, just as they’d studyhow their technology works. You wouldn’t ask a sys-tems administrator to take care of an operating systemhe or she isn’t familiar with. Why, then, do we maketechies into team leads when they haven’t taken thetime to understand how to motivate the people aroundthem? While leadership can be a natural talent, it takespractice to build it into a true strength. Technologistsshould be given the opportunity to study and practicein a safe environment under the tutelage of an experi-enced mentor.

Inspire Confidence

Leadership is the capacity and the will to rally men andwomen to a common purpose and the character whichinspires confidence.

— Gen. Bernard Montgomery

That sentence alone describes many of the necessarycharacteristics of effective leaders. Those traits includethe ability to positively influence those around them, nomatter where they are in the organizational structure. ITleaders must also be able to establish a vision to preventor resolve problems. It’s a focus on solutions rather thanproblems. Leaders must also be able to communicatethat vision so others can understand. This may be in



the written or spoken word or both. Leadership alsorequires trust between both the leaders and the follow-ers. The people you are leading must have confidencein your knowledge and abilities. This trust comes fromsome type of validation that the leader has the abilitiesto get the job done. It’s also about integrity to do theright thing, in the right way, at the right time.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,do more, and become more, you are a leader.

— John Quincy Adams

Use the CARES Methodology

To help current or future IT leaders improve their lead-ership skills, we offer the CARES Method: Confidence,Attitude, Relationships, Education/Encouragement,Service. It is based on methods for establishing goodrelations with others and thereby influencing theiractivities and behaviors. Without all these elements,you cannot be an effective leader.

People don’t care how much you know until they knowhow much you care.

— Dr. John C. Maxwell

Confidence

Leaders must have confidence in themselves along withthe confidence of their followers. As stated earlier, lead-ers establish a trusted relationship with those aroundthem. First, leaders must believe in themselves, andknow their own strengths and weaknesses, so otherscan believe in them. This doesn’t mean cockiness or self-adulation; rather, it is a basic understanding ofoneself. A true leader must have the confidence totake command when the time is right.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growingyourself. When you become a leader, success is all aboutgrowing others.

— Jack Welch

Attitude

Leaders must have the right attitude, for whatever theirattitude is, it will be reflected and multiplied by thosethey lead. Your attitude controls your mind, and yourmind controls how you are perceived by others throughyour words, actions, and body language. Having theright attitude can make up for other deficiencies or evenmistakes. Conversely, a poor attitude can and usuallywill bring down those all around you. Leaders needto be aware of their demeanor. Even if you can’t bepositive, at least be neutral.

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation deter-mines what you do. Attitude determines how well youdo it.

— Lou Holtz

Relationships

Leadership is about establishing a relationship withthose you lead. It doesn’t need to be a formal relation-ship, nor does it need to be long-lasting. You don’t needto be an extrovert to do this, just have a willingness toget to know people. True leaders need to understandthose they are leading and how they work and function.This includes knowing when to empathize and encour-age and when to challenge your people. The only wayto do this is to understand what motivates them. Thismeans being present for your followers and letting themknow that you’re there for them. It can be as simple asLeadership By Walking Around (LBWA). LBWA willincrease your accessibility and therefore your ability torelate. While you’re with your people, take the time toreally listen to them and understand both the good andbad things that are happening. It’s important not to“shoot the messenger” but to listen with an open mind.By actively listening, a leader can learn a lot about hisor her people, team, and organization.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

— Dr. Stephen Covey (echoing Saint Francis of Assisi)

Education/Encouragement

Leaders are learners and educators. They keep an openmind along with an open door. This encourages theirteam members to move forward together and utilizeeach other’s strengths. Leaders cannot know everythingand cannot do everything. Both managing an organi-zation and maintaining IT take teamwork. IT leadersshould know their team, its strengths and weaknesses,and then use that knowledge. When a team memberdoesn’t understand a problem or solution, the leaderthen becomes an educator for that person. This takespatience and the ability to teach and mentor. When thisis done right, it encourages everyone to continuallygrow their knowledge and skills. This also meansthat the leader needs to practice CYA — Check YourAssumptions. Leaders shouldn’t assume anything butshould continually check facts to ensure their accuracy.They also shouldn’t assume things about their peoplebut let themselves be pleasantly surprised at what theycan do.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

— John F. Kennedy



Service

Leaders serve their followers, not the other way around.They need to empower their subordinates and col-leagues through an attitude of service. Leaders cannotdo everything themselves. They must be able to recog-nize the talents and strengths of others in order to createthe synergistic environments most effective in overcom-ing the challenges and obstacles that hinder getting thejob done. To do this, leaders must be keenly aware ofthe necessary skills and abilities of their team membersand be able to use them according to their strengths. Butperhaps more importantly, servant leaders must knowthemselves, be willing to consider feedback, adjustwhen appropriate, and move forward with thought andconsideration for others’ opinions and feelings. In doingso, they become good role models for employees toemulate.

To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.

— Andre Malraux

RESPONSIBILITY AND LEADERSHIP

A key characteristic of leadership is responsibility.Leaders not only need to take responsibility but todelegate it as well. Furthermore, leaders must knowwho in the organization is responsible for each function.Leaders should seek out those people and bring themon board. This requires skills in communication andcollaboration along with the willingness to compromise.Leaders must be clear and concise in their commu-nications or else misunderstandings will occur. Thismeans that they need to have a feedback loop in placeto ensure there are no ambiguities in their direction. Inaddition, leaders need the ability to collaborate with alltypes throughout the business. They need to seek outthe experts in each area in order to use them as a sound-ing board for setting the vision and solving problems.

Who Owns the Headache?

One method for determining ultimate responsibilityfor IT systems and processes is to ask, “Who owns theheadache?” The person who shoulders the responsibilityis often the same person who will be most affectedif/when there is an issue with the system. This is a sim-ple way to determine both those who are responsible forthe system and those who use it. A business user may beslightly inconvenienced by an outage, but the systemsadministrators and managers will be up all night fixingthe issue. It’s those systems administrators who ownthe headache and therefore need to be engaged by theIT leader.

Authority to Match Responsibility

As mentioned earlier, leaders must have the authorityto match their responsibility. Otherwise there’s discord.They must be allowed to work across business unitsto ensure requirements are gathered and solutions areoffered that meet business goals. Business leaders needto provide IT leaders with the opportunities to see thatthis occurs. If upper management doesn’t provide ITleaders with respect, then the IT leaders’ job will bemuch more difficult. IT leaders must do everything intheir power to guarantee that they earn the respect oftheir business peers. This in turn establishes that theIT leaders’ authority matches their responsibility.

Tips for Practicing Leadership and Teamwork In and Out of IT

In order to improve any skill, you must practice. Inorder to practice, you must be given a safe learningenvironment where you can receive constructive feed-back on how to improve. Established leaders must takeon a mentoring role. Those looking to move into leader-ship must seek out mentors. The mentor provides theIT leader with someone to emulate and offers honestfeedback for growth. A mentor-protégé arrangementhelps develop a symbiotic relationship that enhancesthe growth and effectiveness of both the mentor andthe IT leader alike.

IT leaders need to be willing to take calculated leader-ship risks. They need to understand the risks andrewards associated with their decisions. In order todo this, IT professionals must get out from behind theircomputers and get to know people. It’s as simple asanswering an email in person rather than with anotheremail. Another technique is to go to lunch with businesscounterparts — everyone needs to eat — and get themto talk about themselves and what they do. This buildstrust and understanding for each of the parties. It alsoestablishes an advocacy group for the IT leader who canhelp develop the vision and see that it’s accomplished.

A mentor-protégé arrangement helps developa symbiotic relationship that enhances thegrowth and effectiveness of both the mentorand the IT leader alike.



CONCLUSION

There’s a definite need for more skillful leaders in IT.Many IT professionals are put into positions of leader-ship without the proper training and mentoring. It’sup to all IT leaders to develop their skills, talents, andabilities in this area. They must recognize the impor-tance of quality IT leadership for their organizations,their employees, and themselves.

Leadership is a constant growth process. It cannot beachieved by sitting at a desk or even reading a leader-ship paper, journal, or book, but — as we’ve outlinedin this article — by thoughtful and diligent practice.It comes down to one simple thing: get out and do it.Practice being an IT leader, learn from your mistakes,and help others grow.

Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are madejust like anything else, through hard work. And that’s theprice we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

—Vince Lombardi

ENDNOTES1Lewis, Bob. Leading IT: Still the Toughest Job in the World.IS Survivor Publishing, 2011.

2Moore, Jo Ellen, and Mary Sue Love. “IT Professionals asOrganizational Citizens.” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 48,No. 6, June 2005, pp. 88-93.

3“Global IT Services Market Expected to Grow in 2013, RecentStudies Find.” DISYS, 2013 (www.disys.com/latest-news/global-it-services-market-expected-to-grow-in-2013-recent-studies-find).

4Carr, Nicholas G. Does IT Matter? Information Technology and theCorrosion of Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business ReviewPress, 2004.

5Yodokawa, Koki, “The CIO as the Driving Force Behind ITRestructuring.” NRI Papers, No. 7. Nomura Research Institute,June 2000.

6Garfinkel, Simson, Gene Spafford, and Alan Schwarz. PracticalUnix & Internet Security. O’Reilly & Associates, 1996.

7Lewis (see 1).

Ron Woerner is a noted speaker and writer in the IT and securityindustry and the Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Educationat Bellevue University in Belleview, Nebraska, USA. He has over 20years of corporate experience in IT and security and has worked forHDR, TD Ameritrade, ConAgra Foods, Mutual of Omaha, CSGSystems, and the State of Nebraska. Mr. Woerner earned his BS incomputer science from Michigan State University and his MS ininformation resources management from Syracuse University. He isa Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) andCertified Ethical Hacker (CEH). He has also earned the ToastmastersAdvanced Communicator and Leader designations. Mr. Woerner haspublished in Cutter IT Journal and many other industry journals. Heloves to talk to others who are passionate about leadership, security,and privacy. He can be reached at [email protected].

Tim Sweeney is the Assistant Dean, College of Science andTechnology, at Bellevue University. Prior to his arrival at Bellevue,Mr. Sweeney spent 20 years as an officer in the US Air Force, withthe highlight of his career being his service at the US Air ForceAcademy as a commander, executive officer, and adjunct professor.He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from MontanaState University, a master’s degree in managerial economics from theUniversity of Oklahoma, and a master’s degree in counseling with anemphasis on educational leadership from the University of Colorado atColorado Springs. Mr. Sweeney is a leader in the community throughcharitable organizations and most notably is a youth character andleadership mentor and coach. He and his wife are the proud parentsof seven children. He can be reached at [email protected].


What good is a high-performance team in a vacuum,and how long will one last without an environment inwhich it can thrive?

This is the question that comes to mind when I’masked to comment on the role of leadership in high-performance teams. Teams may be able to achieve vari-ous states of high performance for a time, or from timeto time, perhaps experienced by the team as being “inthe zone.” But my thoughts turn toward questions ofcausing teams to be in the zone on demand, and ofsustaining a state of high performance.

THREE SIMPLE WORDS ...

Be. Do. Have. These three words outline what I’velearned in life, and they work as a sequence to achiev-ing sustained success. Ironically, in most cultures I’veencountered, the success sequence is often performedbackward, and doing it backward isn’t successful. Infact, instead of success, the reversed sequence leads toa state of sustained unfulfillment. Too often, peopleoperate in a “have-do-be” sequence. For example,“Were I to have money, I would do what people withmoney do, then I could be what people with money are”(rich). As a result, following this sequence leaves peopleperpetually unfulfilled because how much “have” doyou need before you can start “doing,” and how much“doing” is needed before you can declare yourself to“be rich”? Typically, starting with the “have” leads tonever getting to the “be.”

You can put anything in place of “money” (try “happi-ness”) and see people running their lives and compa-nies using this never-successful-but-always-alluringoperating model (i.e., have what happy people havebefore you can be happy). Put another way, this is basi-cally the “get something before you can be something”model.

We’re inculcated in this approach practically from birth.It starts in most schools and sounds something like this:you’re not considered smart unless you prove it with

grades. (“Have good grades, be considered smart.”)Then we mature to: you’re not qualified until you grad-uate; then that’s not enough, and it becomes: you’re notqualified until you’re certified; and then: you’re notqualified until you’ve done it before. It never ends …

Have-do-be is a self-defeating and demoralizing Catch-22 of an approach that almost no one questions.To question it is even cause for being ostracized as aneccentric anticapitalist nonconformist. Meanwhile, wecontradict ourselves by telling our young people, sub-ordinates, and peers that they’re to take risks, try newthings, have confidence, “put yourself out there.”The latter prescriptions are the exact opposites of the“you’re not qualified until…” cycle. Who’s crazy now?

To be clear, I’m not dismissing the value of doing whatit takes to get grades, education, certification, and expe-rience, but all too often these are relied upon as poorproxies for the more important and harder-to-pinpointattributes that make people and teams perform at ahigh level. These are attributes such as initiative, inter-personal and communication skills, empathy, reason-ing, confidence, and analytical skills — as applied in thereal world, not in the classroom, not on a certificationexam, and not in the antiseptic environments of manyregimented workplaces.

IN THE RIGHT ORDER

I’ve found the inverse of the above — that is, “be-do-have” — to be a far more effective model. Let’s use itwith happiness this time: “Were I to be happy, I woulddo what happy people do, then I could have what happypeople have.” Or, in the case of our careers, employees,and teams, it would be less about “qualifications” andmore about how people conduct themselves, what’simportant to them, and how they work with others. Inother words, to be a high-performance team, peoplewould conduct themselves in the ways in which mem-bers of high-performance teams behave. They’d be effec-tive communicators; they’d be autonomous; they’d begood team players. The problem, however, is obvious:


A Model for Creating High-Performance Teams — From a Most Unexpected Sourceby Hillel Glazer

TO BE OR NOT TO BE ... THAT IS THE QUESTION



telling people to “just be a high-performance team”or “just get it done” isn’t realistic either. People in theworkplace need the foundations that only leaders canprovide.

Too many organizations and consultants are operatingbackward, starting with the “do” instead of the “be.”And in order to start with the “be,” as in, “be a high-performance team,” we must start with what that takes.Hint: It’s not in the practices of what higher perfor-mance teams do; it’s in everything that makes it possibleto be high performance. That is where leadership, coach-ing, mentoring, and team building come in.

IT STARTS WITH LEADERSHIP

In fact, where coaching, mentoring, and team buildingcome in is not necessarily where most organizationsbring them into. Too often, they’re brought in at theteam (or staff) level, whereas I believe they need to bebrought in first for the leaders. Creating and fosteringthe cultural, interpersonal, and motivational environ-ment for high performance will practically cause thehigh-performance practices and trappings to appear.Leaders who know how to allow high-performancebehaviors to exist in their midst must be in place beforethese behaviors can ever be expected. Then, after con-siderable leadership navel examination, modest coach-ing and mentoring “in the trenches” are all that’snecessary.

We also see this happening with “stealth” instantiationsof high-performance practices. In these efforts, in orderto gain the buy-in of the leaders to allow changes togo wider and deeper, a small cadre in an organizationis cultivated with the right leadership so that its suc-cess can be marketed around the company for broaderadoption. Such an approach doesn’t change the factthat within the microcosm, leadership came first.Unfortunately, organizations commonly take a cargocult approach where they mimic the practices of themicrocosm but leave behind the underlying foundationof leadership that makes the practices not only viable,but worth doing. All of which, basically, demonstratesmy underlying point: “the really hard stuff” is all about

leadership, while everything else is either enriched orstarved as a reflection of the strength of the leadership.

Consider, for example, the simple idea of teaching con-tinuous improvement as a mindset to every memberof an operation, from the top executive to the newestentry-level employee. This is often referred to as a“kaizen culture.” Continuous improvement to thatdegree requires an appetite for change. Often com-pletely surprising and innovative ideas for change willshow up, and leaders need to be open to receiving suchideas. Teaching people a kaizen culture is a lot easierthan truly allowing the culture to materialize in theorganization and for any true improvements to beactualized. Again, leadership is where it starts.

A GUIDE TO “BE”-ING

So what’s an organization to do? How are leaders toknow what “be” looks like? How do they make “be”happen? Maybe if there were a few clues about whatthey could “do” to guide them, the “be” will becomemore obvious?

Barring an existential spiritual awakening towardenlightenment, how can leaders work through whatoften appears as an endless, unformed cloud of possibleapproaches? This topic certainly can’t lack for resourcesto foster what’s needed. And, of course, it doesn’t. Butfar too often, of the literature I’ve seen, so much of itstarts and ends with behavior and culture and paysscant attention to the practical side of making the reallyhard stuff happen.

Daniel Pink,1 the Heath brothers,2 Tony Hsieh,3 Maryand Tom Poppendieck,4 and Jim Collins5 (to name afew among many others) have done tremendous jobsof raising awareness among business leaders of theneed to address this really hard stuff. Their works evenoffer ways of making the difficult practical. I’ve takena shot at it myself in my own book, High PerformanceOperations.6 However practical, many leaders seek a sys-tematic (if not exactly laid-out) approach to putting inplace an organization-wide, long-term infrastructure tosustain what it takes to “be” a high-performing team.

Leaders want an approach that can be applied inany context. They want structure, not scattered casestudies. They also desire something that can match thedynamics of their operation and their teams and thatworks under many circumstances, not just once in acontrolled setting. They also want a way to respondto the unknown and to be resilient in the face ofunexpected twists. More than any of this, they want

Leaders who know how to allow high-performance behaviors to exist in theirmidst must be in place before thesebehaviors can ever be expected.



to apply a proven, predictable, step-by-step body ofknowledge that doesn’t inherently assume they’re eviland bias the results toward one particular outcome.And, while they’re at the wishing well, it would be niceto have a measurable progression of activities to letthem know how far they’ve come and how muchfurther they have to go before they can credibly saythey’ve done just about everything they can.

Until such an approach comes along, too manyleaders are simply willing to forgo the benefits of high-performing teams because it’s just “too hard.”Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for their orga-nizations, their time for excuses is now history. It turnsout, in fact, that it’s been “history” for decades. Exactlysuch an approach for dealing with these challengeshas existed and has been available for free for nearly20 years (more if you count the drafts).

From — Believe It — the SEI

It’s a little-known gem from the most unlikely source.It’s called the People Capability Maturity Model®(CMM®),7 otherwise known as People CMM or P-CMM. And yes, as the name implies, it is from theSoftware Engineering Institute (SEI)8 at Carnegie MellonUniversity. Perhaps it’s the source that kept both lead-ers and consultants from ever learning about (let aloneusing) P-CMM. Perhaps it’s the fact that it never had the“benefit” of being foisted on industry by a major forcein the market. Whatever the reason, for many (if notmost) readers, this may be the first they’ve ever heardof a “People CMM.”

People CMM, like all CMMs, is a set of practices orga-nized in a way to give organizations a maturation pathfor growing their capabilities. As the name implies, thecapabilities in question are those that address how theydeal with people — specifically, individuals and workgroups in organizations.

Do these characteristics sound familiar?9

Inconsistency in performing practices

Displacement of responsibility

Ritualistic practices

An emotionally detached workforce

No, these are not organizational problems identified bysome agile doctrine, except by happenstance. Instead,these words actually come from a publication producedby the very same SEI so many people in IT love to hate— the SEI that is demonized for having models that are

“out of touch” with the market and the “realities” of IT.Plus, they came out anywhere from two to 16 yearsbefore the Agile Manifesto.

To be specific, these words come directly from adescription in P-CMM of “low maturity” organizations,meaning organizations that haven’t yet effectivelyincorporated some of the basics of a “more mature”organization. A more mature organization wouldmore effectively deal with work overload, reduceenvironmental distractions, provide clear performanceobjectives and feedback, ensure people have relevantknowledge and skills, and communicate effectively. Allthese activities of a slightly more mature organizationwould also better address matters of morale.

PERUSING THE P-CMM

Let’s look a bit, but not much, deeper into what’s inPeople CMM. As all CMMs are, P-CMM is also brokeninto “levels” of maturity. Individual Compensation andIndividual Training and Development are considered“lower” on the ladder and more basic to achievingresults, while Workgroup Development and matters ofindividual and group competency and group cultureare higher, indicating a “take care of the basics first”approach. Empowered Workgroups and Mentoring arehigher still, since empowerment and mentoring arepretty empty if the people aren’t effectively trained andcompetent to be empowered or are not yet sufficientlymature to give or receive mentoring.

As in both Software CMM® and CMMI®, MaturityLevel 1 has no content defined in it, making Level 2 theearliest level that contains defined content. In PeopleCMM, the Level 2 process areas are:

Staffing

Communication and Coordination

Work Environment

Performance Management

Training and Development

Compensation

Again, this is the earliest set of process areas. Beforesystematically addressing more lofty concepts such asmentoring, empowerment, or innovation — at an organi-zational level — these basics are laid out as the buildingblocks for a high-performance organization. Whilewe may squabble over when or whether to introducehigher-maturity activities beyond these basics, I expect



we would agree that team members are not going to bevery productive (let alone high performing) when theyaren’t compensated fairly, aren’t trained to do theirwork, aren’t given fair objectives, and aren’t measuredfairly on the work they do — even if they are “empow-ered” to do their own thing. And if all this occurs in anenvironment where management and staff can’t everseem to get on the same page, they aren’t going to takementoring very seriously either. In other words, theywon’t really get to, or sustain, the “be” of a high-performance team. Thus, the breakout of the levels.

Organizations are free to apply P-CMM practices asbroadly or deeply as they see fit. Nothing in P-CMMlimits or expands the practices within it to any portionof the organization (whole or subset). Nonetheless, posi-tive results are more likely to be produced when certaintopics are laid as a foundation to address others to fol-low. For example, Competency Analysis (in Level 3)is meaningless without Performance Management(in Level 2), and Participatory Culture (in Level 3) ispointless prior to dealing with Communication andCoordination (in Level 2).

Granted, not every organization has issues with thebasics. Keep in mind, P-CMM is an improvement frame-work. An organization that already handles Staffing (inLevel 2) pretty well doesn’t need to invest improvementenergy there prior to working on improving WorkforcePlanning (in Level 3).

Let’s look more closely (but not too closely) at just oneof People CMM’s process areas, Staffing:10

The purpose of Staffing is to establish a formal process bywhich committed work is matched to unit resources andqualified individuals are recruited, selected, and transi-tioned into assignments.

Goal 1 Individuals or workgroups in each unit areinvolved in making commitments that balancethe unit’s workload with approved staffing.

Goal 2 Candidates are recruited for open positions.

Goal 3 Staffing decisions and work assignments arebased on an assessment of work qualificationsand other valid criteria.

Goal 4 Individuals are transitioned into and out of posi-tions in an orderly way.

Goal 5 Staffing practices are institutionalized to ensurethey are performed as managed processes.

What’s this all about? From what you perceive as beingat the heart of high-performing organizations, howdifferent is this from what you’d expect to see? You’dexpect all this from a high-performing organization,wouldn’t you? Yet it’s not about the team at all, is it?It’s about the leadership.

There are 28 pages of explanation, examples, and broadpractices described to help leaders understand thisone P-CMM process area. On these pages is guidanceon what to do to help ensure there’s commitment toachieving the goals, how to measure for performance,and what to put in place to see to it that the organiza-tion has the ability to conduct its affairs so that thesegoals are routinely achieved.

How well does your organization accomplish thesegoals? I know I’ve been in plenty of workplaces (as anemployee as well as a consultant) that can’t get a handleon four of the five. You can probably guess which oneof the goals above most organizations have no troublewith — and they don’t see why being effective at thatone goal absent the other four leads to so many issues.In fact, I’ve been in organizations that are willfully dis-missive of several of these goals. With this much con-tent on just improving Staffing — ordinarily consideredthe most basic activity of growing and running anyorganization — imagine what else is out there that orga-nizations around the world are failing to accomplish inthe five other basic process areas.

And those are merely the beginning! For completeness’sake, I’ll list the remaining process areas and the matu-rity levels they fall into:

Maturity Level 3

Competency Analysis

Workforce Planning

Competency Development

Career Development

Competency-Based Practices

Workgroup Development

Participatory Culture

Maturity Level 4

Competency Integration

Empowered Workgroups

Competency-Based Assets

The only thing P-CMM lacks is excusesfor not doing what it takes to foster a high-performance organization.


25Get The Cutter Edge free: www.cutter.com Vol. 26, No. 5 CUTTER IT JOURNALNOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • For authorized use, contact Cutter Consortium: +1 781 648 8700 • [email protected]

Quantitative Performance Management

Organizational Capability Management

Mentoring

Maturity Level 5

Continuous Capability Improvement

Organizational Performance Alignment

Continuous Workforce Innovation

HELP WITH “THE REALLY HARD STUFF”

What we can see from the full list of P-CMM processareas is that it is quite thorough in covering topics thatcreate high-performance organizations. P-CMM is notabout forcing processes on people; it’s about leadershiptaking the subject matter of their people seriously.

What we can also see is that an organization’s leadersdon’t have to guess their way around dealing with thereally hard stuff. People CMM provides everythingthey’re looking for: a clear path forward, predictability,structure, a systematic approach, and guidance on whatto do that’s not prescriptive, static, or contextually out-of-sync with their organizations. It even has a conve-nient way to measure progress and to benchmark teammembers’ performance. The only thing P-CMM lacksis excuses for not doing what it takes to foster a high-performance organization.

We can cry together into our collective beers over thesad reality that companies don’t often effectively investin their people. We can lament the seemingly indiscrim-inate nature of cuts organizations make to programsand infrastructure that affect their people. We can cyni-cally roll our eyes over jargon-filled slogans intended tocover up the fear and discomfort of making real behav-ioral changes. We can shake our heads ruefully at theapparent carelessness, if not callousness, of decisionsthat undercut the performance of an operation.

Or we can use the structure and discipline embedded inPeople CMM to give true leaders the tools to create anorganizational infrastructure to “be” a high-performanceorganization, so that their people will “do” what high-performance organizations do, and then they’d “have”what high-performance organizations get to enjoy.

ENDNOTES1Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What MotivatesUs. Riverhead Books, Penguin, 2009.

2Heath, Chip, and Dan Heath. Switch: How to Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard. Crown Business, 2010.

3Hsieh, Tony. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion,and Purpose. Reprint edition. Business Plus, 2013.

4Poppendieck, Mary, and Tom Poppendieck. Leading LeanSoftware Development: Results Are Not the Point. Addison-WesleyProfessional, 2009.

5Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ...and Others Don’t. HarperBusiness, 2001.

6Glazer, Hillel. High Performance Operations: Leverage Complianceto Lower Costs, Increase Profits, and Gain Competitive Advantage.FT Press, 2011.

7People Capability Maturity Model® (P-CMM), Version 2.0,CMU/SEI-2001-MM-01.

8As of December 2012, People CMM and other products ofthe SEI have been transitioned to Clearmodel, LLC. Basedin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and part of CarnegieInnovations, a technology commercialization enterprise and100%-controlled subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University,Clearmodel is an organization dedicated to the cultivationand commercialization of best practices and model-basedimprovement methodologies.

9People Capability Maturity Model (see 7).10People Capability Maturity Model (see 7).

Hillel Glazer, a Senior Consultant with Cutter’s Agile Product &Project Management practice, is recognized as the world’s leadingauthority on introducing Lean and Agile concepts into the regulatedworld. In particular, he’s the “AgileCMMI guy” (agilecmmi.com) andthe SEI’s go-to authority on Agile, having coauthored its only paperon the topic and contributed the Agile content in the new CMMI forDevelopment v1.3. Mr. Glazer has helped companies of all sizes andin all locations successfully blend agile with CMMI and achieveperformance benefits, not just artifacts and ratings.

Mr. Glazer’s professional passion is to work with companies that aremotivated to achieve world-class operations and excellence. Recently,as a Visiting Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, and now asan independent contractor, he has contributed to the SEI’s Servicesconstellation, where the concepts of Kanban fit well with the Servicemodel. As such, he is working with more and more companies toadopt Kanban and CMMI to achieve their performance objectives.His approaches have successfully harmonized Lean and systemsthinking in highly regulated industries that demand complianceand governance while in pursuit of excellence and profits. His bookHigh Performance Operations lays out exactly how he does it.

Mr. Glazer is founder and Principal of Entinex, a company withglobal reach that focuses on generating powerful results for high-performance operations among companies motivated to be Lean andAgile and to achieve world-class levels of operational excellence. Hecan be reached at [email protected].

Until recently, most analysts were predicting the deathof the CIO role. The emergence of cloud computing,which offers migration of software (SaaS), platform(PaaS), and even infrastructure (IaaS) to the cloud,made the traditional CIO post look redundant or lim-ited to managing service-level agreements with cloudvendors.

But while cloud adoption in the industry is indeedgrowing rapidly, is the advent of cloud computingmoving the CIO role toward obsolescence? The answeris no. Then where did the analysts go wrong? Whatthey missed is a host of new technologies: namely, BigData, analytics, mobility, and social channels. As thesetechnologies have emerged, they have brought withthem disruptive innovation in the IT landscape, whichis difficult for any business to ignore. The role of CIO asan adopter and propagator of emerging technologies inthe organization has thus become pivotal for the busi-ness to succeed, by leveraging these technologies todecrease operating costs, improve time to market fornew products and services, engage and enhance cus-tomer satisfaction, and stay ahead of the competition.

As a result, CIOs today not only act as the custodiansof technology and information for their organizations,but are also working with various departments to buildnew skills and help the organization get the most outof its IT investments. In one such role, CIOs are increas-ingly working hand in hand with the HR departmentto define and implement crucial IT-related training pro-grams in order to disseminate new technologies and ITskills in the organization, as gradually more and morebusiness functions are being carried out by IT systems.

Now, one might feel that it is the adoption of these newtechnologies that requires the CIO to get involved indesigning training programs for the organization. Buteven if organizations do not adopt the latest technolo-gies immediately, the CIO must still help the businessachieve its goals/objectives in today’s knowledge-driven economy through leveraging existing IT capa-bilities. In one of our consulting engagements with alarge public-sector bank in the Asia Pacific region, my

colleagues at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) andI were charged with improving process efficiency inthe bank’s IT department, which houses one of thelargest core banking IT system deployments in theworld. During our interview with top IT executives,we repeatedly felt that the lack of an effective trainingand knowledge management program was one of themajor pain areas. As bankers, the officers behind the ITsystem were the best in their field, but they lacked keyskills for running the core banking IT system they haddeployed and were heavily dependent on the externalvendor that was running it for them. The CIO could notfind inhouse skilled resources to support the legacy sys-tem and establish a knowledge management environ-ment. This was a major risk to the organization, since itscore business was being run by an IT system that wasfully dependent on a vendor. It was not just credit risk,swap risk, or the other banking-related risks that threat-ened the business — even IT had become a risk item.Not surprisingly, the CIO was worried.

This context brings us to the broad question of how aCIO should develop an effective training program, tak-ing into consideration the aspirations of all the stake-holders, including employees and business colleagues.The framework described here, which I call the “PrismView” framework, will help CIOs build a clear pictureof the current IT training landscape, define the targetdesired state, analyze the gaps, and build effectivetraining programs for the organization.

THE PRISM VIEW FRAMEWORK

When white light passes through a prism, it scattersinto a spectrum of seven colors, each color having itsown identity and place in the spectrum (see Figure 1).The spectrum colors may look bright or dull, dependingon the property of the prism and the surface on whichthe spectrum is projected.

Imagine the current training program initiatives under-taken by your organization as the white light. Nowscatter it through the view of a prism. The prism is a


The Prism View Technique: A CIO’s Framework for DesigningSuccessful Organizational Training Programsby Debabrata Pruseth

OVER THE RAINBOW



metaphor for the current organizational strategy. Thesurface on which the scattered light is projected is thecurrent organizational training infrastructure andresource landscape that supports and facilitates thesetraining programs. The subsequent sections of the arti-cle introduce each entity of the framework in detailand lay out the methodology for defining, building,and implementing the framework for developingsuccessful training programs.

ELEMENTS OF THE PRISM VIEW FRAMEWORK

Prism: The Organization Strategy

The prism represents the existing strategy of the organi-zation and the place IT holds in it with regard to achiev-ing the goals. Is the current IT strategy aligned with thebusiness strategy? Does the business consider IT as apartner or merely an enabler? Just as a prism of inferiorquality does not give the proper spectrum, nonalign-ment of business and IT strategy hampers the buildingof an effective training program. There are three typesof prisms that symbolize the current business and ITstrategy alignment:

1. Dark prism. The role of the CIO has not matured.The business still thinks IT is just an enabler andnot a partner.

2. Shady prism. IT is helping hand-in-hand in businessprocesses. Nevertheless, the CIO takes a back seatwhile the business takes important decisions.

3. Transparent prism. The business and IT work asa single entity. The CIO takes part in important day-to-day business meetings and is a part of thedecision-making process. The business realizes thevalue of IT as a strategic partner.

Which type of prism characterizes your organization?

Spectrum: The Individual Training Programs

Spectrum colors represent the training programs. Asthe colors in a spectrum have a priority sequence — redbeing the first and violet being the last — it is importantthat the individual training programs be identified,prioritized, and analyzed in detail. In the Prism View,we will consider only the top seven training programinitiatives.

Each Color Has Its Position in the Spectrum

For example, in Figure 1, IT security training has beenidentified as the top-most priority (red) followed bycloud (orange), Big Data (yellow), and so on. Similarly,each organization will have its unique set of trainingprograms prioritized as per the organizational needsand strategy. For example, in a steel plant, the red colormight be quality training, while orange might be safetytraining. Prioritization does not necessarily imply thatone training program is more important than another inan overall sense; it just indicates which program is mostaligned with the organization’s needs right now.

Each Color Has a Unique Characteristic

The color contrast (dull/bright) represents whetherthe target goal of establishing the individual trainingprogram has been achieved successfully and the organi-zation is compliant. For example, in Figure 1, a brightred color represents that the security training has beensuccessfully implemented; all employees have beensuccessfully trained in it, and it is well practiced inthe day-to-day activities of the organization.

In contrast, a dull red color indicates that though theorganization has prioritized security training as the top-most priority, it has not been able to successfullyimplement it. There are a lot of security breaches, whichis clearly a concern for the organization. More effortneeds to be devoted to achieving the individual training


RED

ORANGE

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

INDIGO

VIOLET

IT Security

Cloud

Big Data

Agile

Technical Language Training

Project Management

Analysis

Training Program Initiatives Organization

Strategy Prism

Training Infrastructure and

Resource Landscape Surface

Figure 1 — Current training program as-is landscape for an organization.


program objective. You need to assess which colors inthe spectrum are bright and which are dull.

The Spectrum Surface: The Infrastructure andResources Available for the Training Programs

The surface on which the spectrum is projected repre-sents the infrastructure and resource landscape that sup-ports and enables the training programs. The majorentities in this landscape would be the training depart-ment, the trainers, the medium for conducting training(Web, classroom lectures, etc.), the infrastructure forconducting training, the mechanism for collecting andevaluating training feedback, and so on. A smooth sur-face indicates that the organization has the necessaryinfrastructure and resources to support all types of train-ing program requirements. A rugged surface indicatesthat IT systems and resources are not mature enough tosupport various training initiatives effectively.

FRAMEWORK METHODOLOGY

The Prism View framework contains steps that will helpCIOs capture the current IT training landscape, definefuture training requirements, analyze the gaps, developeffective solutions, and implement these solutions (seeFigure 2). Let’s discuss each one in turn.

Capture the Current IT Training Landscape

Before embarking on designing new training programs,it is important for the organization to know where itcurrently stands with respect to its training needs andthe current training initiatives. To capture this, beginwith understanding the prism; that is, the organizationstrategy. Is your organization strategy conducive to ITinitiatives, including training programs? Does the busi-ness consider such training initiatives as sunk cost orvalue-added investments? Is the prism dark, shady,or transparent?

The second step is to capture the current training pro-grams being undertaken and their state. What are thered, orange, and yellow colors of the spectrum? Whichtraining programs are the focus of your organization,and how successfully have they been implemented?Which colors are bright and which are dull? A qualita-tive analysis backed with quantitative data (if available)will help you draw this current as-is picture.

The third step is to capture the current training infra-structure and support function capability and maturity.Do you think the organization training landscape isconducive to supporting the training initiatives? Is thespectrum surface rugged or smooth?

While building the current state landscape, keep thefollowing questions in mind:

What are the actual training needs of the organization?

Do the current training programs cater to all theseneeds? Are the objectives of the training programsbeing achieved?

Are the current skills being imparted actually beingused by learners in the workplace?

What is the current skill inventory of the organizationat different proficiency levels?

What is the demographic makeup of the organiza-tion? How significant is the population of Gen Y?

These questions will help in the subsequent gap analy-sis and solutions devising phase.

Define Future Training Requirements and Landscape

For any training program to show results, the organiza-tional strategy must support IT initiatives. The prismhas to be transparent. This is the first goal.

Second, the organization must define and lay downthe training programs it needs to focus on in the futurebased on its needs and strategy. Most CIOs don’t spendmuch time in understanding and defining the exactneeds of the business with respect to training require-ments but rather jump over to the next phase of design-ing the training program. If needs are not capturedcorrectly, the program developed will not meet thedesired expectations. Many training programs havebackfired because the people who developed themweren’t clear about the ground-level learning needs,stakeholders, or necessary business results.

What should be the top-most training priority in thenext quarter? If a company is outsourcing most of itsinfrastructure to the cloud, then cloud training shouldbecome the top-most priority. In the case of our hypo-thetical organization, this would mean cloud wouldbe red, while agile training can be orange, Big Data canbe yellow, and IT security can be green (see Figure 3).


Capture

Current IT

Training Landscape

Define Future

Training Requirements

and Landscape

Do Gap Analysis

and Devise Solutions

Build

Implementation

Roadmap

Figure 2 — Steps involved in the Prism View methodology


Also the organization needs to ensure that all futuretraining programs achieve their target goal; the colorshould be bright, not dull.

The third task is to smooth the spectrum surface if itis rugged. The training support infrastructure andresources should be agile and productive.

Keep the following questions in mind while buildingthe target to-be state:

What should be the target skill inventory for theorganization?

What is the industry trend; what are competitorsdoing to train their employees?

Do Gap Analysis and Devise Solutions

Once you have decided on the to-be state, it is essentialto detect the gaps between the current and target stateand develop solutions to close these gaps to achievea perfect spectrum. In the example we have been dis-cussing so far, there are three main gaps that have tobe resolved.

Gap 1: Making the Prism Transparent

The CIO needs to ascertain the importance of IT to thebusiness and take business peers into his or her confi-dence. IT cannot just be an enabler; it has to be made astrategic partner. The CIO might present case studiesand scenarios showcasing how IT has been addingvalue to the business and how in the future IT will helpthe business expand and sustain itself. It is essential toget the confidence and backing of the business beforeembarking on any strategic initiative, such as long-term IT training programs. Otherwise, the businessmight feel that IT is a black hole with negative ROIand consider the training initiatives a sunk cost.

Gap 2: Restructuring the Spectrum and Making All Colors Bright

In the long run, the training programs need to be repri-oritized and perhaps some new training programs intro-duced based on organizational strategy and requirements.In the example we have been discussing so far, cloudtraining needs to be given top-most priority now.

Also, we have to look into why the red in the as-is state— the IT security training program — is dull (meaningit failed to meet its objectives). Gather the informationfrom managers and all stakeholders whose departmentswere the targets of the security training program.Brainstorm with a group of experts and study bestpractices and successful case studies in the marketto find solutions. Past mistakes must be rectified andnot carried forward or spilled over into other trainingprogram initiatives in the future. On the other hand,best practices and learning need to be highlighted andcarried forward.

Gap 3: Making the Spectrum Surface Smooth

If extra resources are required for building traininginfrastructure or conducting the training, then go aheadand bring them on board. The training infrastructureshould have the capability to evaluate each training pro-gram initiative. Also, even if you have the best-in-classtraining program but not skilled and qualified trainers,then the entire program will be in vain.

While working on a solution to design the trainingprogram, keep the following in mind. The trainingprogram should:

Meet both learner and business needs1

Produce measurable bottom-line results for the business


RED

ORANGE

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

IT Security

Cloud

Agile

Big Data

Technical Language Training

Project Management

Analysis

Training Program Initiatives Organization

Strategy Prism

Training Infrastructure and

Resource Landscape Surface

INDIGO

VIOLET

Figure 3 — Target training program to-be landscape for an organization.


Not repeat earlier mistakes

Involve vendors, wherever possible and appropriate,to facilitate specific trainings for the organization

Individuals have different learning styles. Psychologicalprofiling of the learners will also go a long way indesigning the optimal methodology for imparting thetraining program. There will be a one-time cost forundertaking such an assessment of all the existingemployees, and new hires can be given the test whenthey join the organization. Training expert KarenLawson has identified four learning styles: doer, feeler,observer, and thinker (see Table 1).2 Identifying whichstyles your learners favor will help you identify the besttraining approaches, whether they be lectures, onlinetraining, or practical exercises administered to a groupof learners.

Build Implementation Roadmap

While building the implementation roadmap for thetarget spectrum design, it is advisable to take a phasedapproach. Don’t try to resolve all issues at one time. Forexample, in the first phase, you might work to make theprism transparent and make cloud training the top-mostpriority. In the second phase, go for filling in the gapsfor the IT security training program and turning dullcolors bright. The smoothing of the spectrum surfacecan take place in a parallel phase encompassing all theabove phases. Keep abreast of the changing require-ments of the business and market dynamics and beagile enough to change the spectrum accordinglywhenever the need arises.

It should be understood that the spectrum colors onlygive a high-level indication of the skills that need to beadopted in the organization. The CIO needs to sit downwith various stakeholders, including HR, to build thedetailed implementation plan. Some questions to pon-der are:

What should the organization’s skill base be?

Which training should be imparted to whom? Whoshould be a part of the cloud training, and whoshould receive the agile training?

How many associates should be trained and howmany skilled lateral hires recruited?

Which roles in the organization need which specificskill sets and at which proficiency levels?

What should be the mode of the training program?Should the training capability be built inhouse orshould it be outsourced?

Nowadays, with the explosion in online learning, mas-sive open online courses (MOOCs) are gaining hugepopularity among students and professionals, whocan learn new skills for free or at competitive pricesjust by connecting to the Web from anyplace in theworld.3 Online learning platforms such as Coursera,edX, and Udacity provide detailed courses on emerg-ing technologies by some of the best professors in theworld. Industry is slowly coming to recognize thesecourses. To reduce overall training costs, havingemployees trained through MOOCs is not a bad idea.


Learning Style Characteristics of the Individual Preferred Training Method

Doer Prefers to be actively involved in the learning

process, wants to know how he or she will

apply learning in the real world, likes informa-

tion to be presented clearly and concisely

• Practice

• Applying concepts

• Simulations

Feeler People-oriented, expressive, focuses on feelings

and emotions, thrives in an open, unstructured

learning environment

• Personal experience

• Role playimg

• Group exercises

Thinker Relies on logic and reason, likes to share ideas

and concepts, analyzes and evaluates, enjoys

independent work

• Reading

• Questioning

• Independent activities

Observer Likes to watch and listen, tends to be reserved,

will take his or her time before participating,

thrives on learning through discovery

• Lectures

• Discussion

• Problem solving

Table 1 — Preferred Training Methods According to Learning Style (Source: Lawson)


Another important thing the CIO needs to keep in mindis balancing between training cost, time, and effective-ness (see Figure 4). In most cases, for a defined targetset of training objectives to be achieved with giveneffectiveness, the cost involved in conducting the train-ing program and the time required to train the associ-ates remain inversely proportional (see Figure 5). If youdecrease the cost, then the time component will increaseand vice versa. For example, if you invite everybodyto one place for an in-person classroom training, thenthe cost of the training program will increase and thetime required to effectively train the employees willdecrease. On the other hand, if you try to decrease costsby using online training, then the time taken to train theassociates with the same effectiveness will increase. TheCIO needs to find the best balance of all three factors.

Some additional suggestions for this stage:

Implement a performance analysis tool to checkperiodically that the training program is meetingthe stated goals.

Implement an evaluation tool to measure thereactions of trainees, learning levels, and ROI.

Establish a procedure to check that the new skillstaught are being used in the workplace.

For large implementations, go for a test run first.

Define the key milestones and success factors.Periodically share updates with business and otherstakeholders.

Do not try to build everything new. Try to leveragethe existing infrastructure and resources.

CONCLUSION

With tech-savvy Gen Y now moving into the workforce,IT moving hand-in-hand with the business, and theemergence of new technologies like the cloud, Big Data,mobility and social channels, it is becoming more andmore challenging for today’s CIOs to build and maintainthe necessary skill sets within the organization. Thedynamics call for building effective training programsthat take into consideration the needs of all stakeholders.

The Prism View framework can enable CIOs to assessthe current training landscape, define the target state,analyze the gaps, and implement successful trainingprograms for the organization. This framework is easyto comprehend, learn, and use. It uses a simple analogyfrom nature and science, the spectrum created by aprism, to help create a framework to design and deploysuccessful training programs.

ENDNOTES1According to a Wall Street Journal article, “US firms spent about$156 billion on employee learning in 2011…. But with littlepractical follow-up or meaningful assessments, some 90% ofnew skills are lost within a year.” See: Silverman, RachelEmma. “So Much Training, So Little to Show for It.” The WallStreet Journal, 26 October 2012.

2Lawson, Karen. The Trainer’s Handbook. Jossey-Bass, 1998.3Dua, André. “College for All.” Insights & Publications,McKinsey & Company, May 2013 (www.mckinsey.com/insights/social_sector/college_for_all).

Debabrata Pruseth is an IT Strategy and Architecture Consultantwith the Global Consulting Practice (GCP) of Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS). Mr. Pruseth has more than six years’ experience inIT and management consulting in various roles and across diversifiedtechnologies. His core competencies are IT strategy, enterprise architec-ture, and transformation. Prior to joining GCP, he was a consultantin Capgemini India, where he worked primarily in the core banking,financial services, and insurance (BFSI) domain. Based in Chennai,India, Mr. Pruseth is a TOGAF 9-certified Enterprise ArchitecturePractitioner and is also Six Sigma black belt certified. He holds anMBA degree in finance and a B.Tech in chemical engineering. He canbe reached at [email protected] or [email protected].


Cost Effectiveness Time

Figure 4 — Balance among training cost, time, and effectiveness.

Cost

Effectiveness

Time Cost

Effectiveness

Time

Figure 5 — The inverse relationship between training cost and time.

Investing in human capital should always be the prior-ity for individuals, organizations, and societies in orderto constantly move forward.1 It is people who makethe difference — they have been and will always be thedifferentiating factor in a world increasingly driven byfierce and timely competition. Business schools aroundthe world regularly look for niches to better serve theirlocal community and establish their place in the globaleducational landscape. The American University inCairo (AUC) School of Business is just one exampleof over 12,000 business schools around the worldthat are trying to make an impact for their differentconstituents. The school is driven by the notion thatentrepreneurial education is invaluable for Egypt’sdevelopment and growth. This has been the case in thepast and has been reinforced following the events thathave unfolded as of January 2011.

Since the mid-1970s, AUC has emphasized itsdetermination to focus on promoting the private sector.Back then, the public sector was dominant in Egypt,and fresh graduates’ optimal employers were the gov-ernment and the public sector. For the last four decades,AUC, through its executive education platforms —namely the Management Center established in 1977and the International Executive Education Instituteestablished in 2008 — have been investing in humanresources across different sectors. During that period,over 160,000 Egyptian executive, government, andpublic- and private-sector employees were trained.For all those years, the school has been offering themost comprehensive and diversified executive educa-tion portfolio in Africa and the Middle East. The offer-ings have been synchronized on a regular basis withdecision makers in business, government, and industryto incorporate know-how and timely content based onmarket needs. The school-corporate collaboration repre-sents a model partnership that has catered for the needsof a community eager to develop an agile private sector.This partnership has targeted investment in humanresources in priority sectors and areas that could benefitthe economy.

Egypt is a country of over 90 million people — 58% ofwhom are under the age of 25 — which is growing at1.9% per annum. For years, the aspiration of many ofits youth has been to work for the government and thepublic sector. Due to the efforts of AUC’s executiveeducation and lifelong learning programs, togetherwith many other efforts across the nation, this situationstarted to change over the last decade. There has beenan increasing interest in promoting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups, and the privatesector in general. This has led AUC to focus the content,curriculum, and associated activities of executive edu-cation and lifelong learning on promoting the privatesector and the creation of the entrepreneurial space.Investing in people is investing in the future of society,and the core investment space is the private sector.2

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION PROGRAM

Entrepreneurship as a theme and a direction was per-ceived by AUC School of Business as one of three build-ing blocks that can take the nation to the next level; theother two are innovation and leadership. To create theentrepreneurial space and culture, there was a needto think outside the box — to avoid being risk-averseand instead be driven by innovation and creativity.Therefore in October 2010, the Entrepreneurship andInnovation Program (EIP) was formulated to help real-ize the mission the school set in 2009: “to create an envi-ronment that fosters the development of principled andinnovative business leaders and entrepreneurs who canmake a difference.” EIP was established with a dual-pronged goal: on the one hand, to spread ideas of entre-preneurship and innovation to a broader audience byeducating students, graduates, and interested individu-als, and on the other hand, to identify, mentor, incu-bate, connect, and support those who possess naturalentrepreneurial talents, skills, and capacities in theirendeavors in the entrepreneurial space.

The key strategic objectives of EIP include:


Investing in Human Capital and Creating anEntrepreneurial Culture: The Egyptian Experienceby Sherif Kamel

PRIVATE-SECTOR PUSH



Encouraging employment and job creation

Investing in people

Fostering innovation

Focusing on the development of high-growth SMEs

Empowering and engaging youth and building theirentrepreneurial capacity

Engaging the private sector in community develop-ment, such as corporate social responsibility andgood citizenship

In order to achieve these objectives, EIP has been sow-ing the seeds and tilling the ground for a rich and suc-cessful entrepreneurial environment that invests inhuman capital and addresses organizational and soci-etal needs.3 The last two years have been quite eventfulfor EIP, which has lit the spark of entrepreneurshipthat has started glowing in thousands of young smartEgyptians eager to learn more, get mentored, and bringtheir ideas to fruition.4 Moreover, unlike the conven-tional wisdom that says everything in developingcountries happens in the capital and the big cities,the talented students that are benefiting from EIP arecoming from all over Egypt’s 27 provinces, with repre-sentatives from 4,000 remote villages and underprivi-leged communities among them. EIP is open to studentsfrom all universities and to all of Egypt’s young entre-preneurial citizens. The program has gradually becomethe core educational component in an ecosystem thatis still in the making. By design, EIP looks for talentedentrepreneurs in order to stimulate their ideas, establisha web of those ideas, cultivate a society of mentors, helptransform ideas into startup ventures, and open doorsto many sources of funding to turn those ideas intofinished products and services.

In collaboration with different stakeholders withinAUC and school partners within the community, EIPaims to educate, train, and inspire entrepreneurs in theintricacies of entrepreneurship through a combinationof seminars, workshops, networking events, mentorship

opportunities, business boot camps, and business plancompetitions.5 All elements represent complementaryparts of an integrated learning experience. The compre-hensive learning map is designed to help entrepreneursgenerate ideas for businesses and then connect the mostviable startups to incubators and help them find ven-ture capitalists, angel investors, and other sources ofseed funding. Mentoring is an integrated element in thecurriculum, consisting of a series of 30-minute network-ing sessions with a range of startup veterans in differentfields. Mentorship and learning from role models reflectthe integration of theory and practice, while blendingindustry and market experience into the knowledge dis-seminated among the participants. All these elementscontribute to the development of human capacities thatcan meet market needs with value-added impact andbenefits. Table 1 shows some of the impacts EIP has hadfrom its inception to the present.

INVESTING IN HUMAN CAPITAL IS INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

AUC has formulated a strategy that focuses on entre-preneurship, innovation, and leadership while address-ing the issues of ethics, responsibility, and citizenship.6

The platform for implementing the strategy is EIP,which couples academic content with extracurricularactivities, societal projects, and a strong industryrelationship. Investing in people and human capitalis investing in the future of a nation, and EIP’s visionis to help educate Egypt’s potential leaders and entre-preneurs as well as create a robust and competitiveprivate sector. The latter could transform a weakeningeconomy that now stands at 1.8% annual growth asopposed to close to 5% five years ago.7 It is an encour-aging sign that EIP has demonstrated success in creat-ing a pipeline of young entrepreneurs who are in theprocess of launching their startups and contributingto economic growth. Obviously, given the size of thesociety, sustainability and scalability are integral to thesuccess of such initiatives.


150+ undergraduate and 50+ graduate students trained annually

60+ faculty and educators trained

5,000+ participated in entrepreneurship awareness programs

40+ organizations have participated in creating the ecosystem

2,000+ competed in startup competitions

100+ case studies developed on entrepreneurial startups

5 startups funded through the newly established investor network

Table 1 — EIP Impacts (2010–Q1 2013)


ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION EDUCATION IN EGYPT

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)Egypt 2010 Report, the total entrepreneurial activity(TEA) rate — which measures the percentage of thepopulation between the ages of 18 and 64 years old whoare either actively trying to start a business or alreadyown and manage a business — was 7% in 2010. Withsuch a level, Egypt ranked 37th among 59 countries thathad their TEA measured in 2010. It is important to notethat the majority of Egypt’s young entrepreneurs choseto pursue entrepreneurship because they do not havebetter employment opportunities.8 This confirms thattraining and executive education should be formulatedaround the priority areas and concepts important forthe development, scalability, and sustainability of smalland medium-size enterprises.

Despite the small percentage of entrepreneurial activity,the government of Egypt has established several supportprograms offering training, financing opportunities,and technical assistance to encourage entrepreneurship.In terms of rules and regulations that ease the processof doing business, Egypt was considered among the topglobal reformers for the simplification of administrativework in 2007.9 Egypt’s reforms are further highlightedby the creation of “one-stop shops” that allow thestartup of a business to become an easier and morestraightforward process.10 In addition, the government issupporting entrepreneurship through financial opportu-nities, such as banks’ creation of departments to addressparticular SMEs’ needs as well as other vehicles such asthe programs for SMEs created by the Social Fund forDevelopment and the Industrial Modernization Center.11

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL UPRISING

Sometimes a business school chooses just the right strat-egy at just the right time.12 This was the case when AUCSchool of Business decided to launch EIP just three

months before the country’s uprising againstthe Mubarak government, one of the most importantpolitical, social, and economic events in Egypt’s recenthistory. These events left the nation with a general sensethat the private sector and growing entrepreneurialculture will change the lives of Egyptians, a major shiftin mindset. It was about time to think creatively andavoid being risk-averse. There are 7.1 million peoplewho work for the government, which leaves a hugepopulation ready for a more robust private sector.Historically, Egypt is not home to many large corpora-tions; it has more SMEs. The key was to produce inno-vative leaders who will develop more of these startupsthat will transform the society. The answer lies with astrong, agile, and timely educational system.

Entrepreneurial education is changing how people think,generate ideas, perceive opportunities, promote innova-tion, and develop alternative solutions. Some peopleclaim that entrepreneurship cannot be taught — thatsome are born gifted with entrepreneurial skills whileothers are not.13 In reality, people differ according tomany influencing factors, and they are all receptiveto development and improvement through customizedprograms supported by proper guidance and mentorship.

CONCLUSION

Investing in human capacities should reflect local mar-ket needs in a timely fashion. Such an attitude helps tocreate job opportunities and to close the gap betweenvacant opportunities and a growing pool of graduateslooking for employment. Egypt’s youths are passionateand talented and are experiencing exceptional momentsnot only in their own lives, but in the history of theircountry. That country is more than 7,000 years old,but it is still a land of opportunity, and so much of itremains untapped. Thus, it is the right time for AUCSchool of Business to build on its role in producing andpromoting the next generation of innovative and cre-ative private-sector leaders in Egypt and the region. Thesolution for moving forward — developing the currentgeneration’s entrepreneurial capacities and skills andcapitalizing on the existing potential — will only mate-rialize through investing in the nation’s “oil” of the21st century, its human capital.

Egypt’s youths are passionate and talentedand are experiencing exceptional momentsnot only in their own lives, but in the historyof their country.



ENDNOTES1Kamel, Sherif. “Managing After the Arab Spring.” EFMDGlobal Focus, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2011, pp. 56-59.

2Kamel (see 1). 3Kamel, Sherif, and Ayman Ismail. “EIP@AUC: A Case Study ofa University-Centred Entrepreneurship Eco-System in Egypt.”Proceedings of the International Conference on Innovation andEntrepreneurship (ICIE). Academic Conferences and PublishingInternational Limited, 2013.

4Kamel and Ismail (see 3).5“About EIP.” The American University in Cairo (www.aucegypt.edu/Business/eip/Pages/AboutEIP.aspx).

6Kamel, Sherif. “Entrepreneurial Uprising.” BizEd,November/December 2012, pp. 46-47.

7Kamel (see 6).8Hattab, Hala. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) EgyptEntrepreneurship 2010 Report. GEM, April 2012.

9Overcoming Barriers to Administrative Simplification Strategies:Guidance for Policy Makers. Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD), 2009.

10Doing Business in a More Transparent World. The InternationalBank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank,2012.

11Egypt Private Sector Country Profile. African Development Bank,2009.

12Kamel (see 6).13Kamel and Ismail (see 3).

Sherif Kamel is founding Dean of the School of Business at theAmerican University in Cairo (AUC) and Professor of ManagementInformation Systems. Prior to joining AUC, he was Director of theRegional IT Institute and managed the training department of theCabinet of Egypt Information and Decision Support Centre. He hasextensive experience in establishing and managing professional devel-opment institutions that address management development, entrepre-neurial, and leadership issues. Dr. Kamel is a cofounding memberof the Internet Society of Egypt. His research and teaching interestsinclude management of IT, IT transfer to developing nations, elec-tronic business, human resources development, and decision supportsystems; he has published widely in the areas of IS and management.Dr. Kamel serves on the editorial and advisory boards of a number ofIS journals and is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Cases onInformation Technology and Journal of IT for Development.He is an Eisenhower Fellow and serves as a member of the EisenhowerFellowships Alumni Advisory Council. Dr. Kamel is a member ofthe board of trustees of the Information Technology Institute andthe Sadat Academy for Management Sciences. He holds a PhD fromLondon School of Economics and Political Science, and an MBA anda BA in business administration from the American University inCairo. He can be reached at [email protected].


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