Anticlue

Outcomes - The tactic to get to the strategy

Top-down is one of the easier ways to go when placing new processes and procedures in place. My level is middle management. At times I marvel on how the concepts grow into strategies and are brought into existence by my influence. It is enlightening to see how someone can have a concept grow into strategy in an afternoon right before the plane ride home. Concepts and strategies are the same. However discussions gaining consensus, agreement and educating would take about a quarter for me. We would get there, just not in an afternoon, optimistically about a quarter. For an executive CIO with presence and purpose, an afternoon.

If you can't have the CIO discuss openly with the CEO and CFO the need for IT governance. Maybe you don 't even have a CIO. How does one get there the business to the same place?

Outcomes are the answer. Depending on organizational structure, there is one truth with IT demand always outstrips supply. Having the ability to do what you agreed to, when you agreed to it, and having it done when agreed to is powerful. This should be standard operating process, but unfortunately its not. With the overloading of requests, and reactive nature, basic execution is lost. IT is all about the execution.

What happens when one is executing well? Well first the priority is clear. What needs to be done, is actively being worked upon. What isn't on the plate, isn't there. Discussions and planning is done by management for what is next on the plate. Our customers will begin to believe we do what we say we will do. As a department we will begin to have credibility. Afterall Gartner's five credibility / relationship levels are:

1. Uncertainty
2. Skepticism
3. Acceptance
4. Trust
5. Respect

It is up to the IT department to attain acceptance, the lack of acceptance is skepticism, and the lack of acceptance and skepticism yields uncertainty. If you can't forecast when and how, then you are in trouble. Can't really blame the organization being uncertainty with whatever is stated.

Being able to execute on the needed systems and enhancement helps grow credibility to acceptance. It also helps the entire healthcare organization with managing expectations and delivering to strategies.