It’s one of the most interesting moments in our working sessions with Ops and Creative leaders. By looking at their history, we tee up the concept that the creation of new value is the result of combining fresh thinking from both inside and outside the firm. We then show the group how to harvest rich insights from a team that is rarely thought of as creative: the Ops team.
To get the session moving, we do a module on getting very clear on just what kind of transformative work the firm is looking for.
To move the thinking to the next level, we go to work on a chart that looks like an aerial photograph of a swimming pool with the lanes running vertically. On the right, we have a lane labeled “status quo” and on the left, “brave new world.” The five lanes in between represent various degrees of change that the firm would need to undergo to implement their chosen strategy, with the amount of change required to support the new strategy progressing upward throughout the lanes. Hugging the right-hand shore we have one variable changed – something like a new feature or fresh capability. On the left, we have a new service in a new market that uses emerging technology from our R&D team.
Initially, most firms like to stay near the right-hand lane – it feels safe and predictable. But, it also limits the upside of what the firm might be able to do if it embraced a more ambitious agenda.
We then discuss how Conway’s Law demands that to build something new, they need to work together differently. Conway’s law states that a firm is predestined to deliver what it is organized to produce. Stated another way, by looking at a firm’s org chart, you will be able to predict what it will make.
It’s when we do the math that it hits them – they need to move to the left one step to see higher returns. This is intuitive and also supported by research. As part of their 10 Types of Innovation Project, a study done some time ago by Deloittes Doblin Group showed that incorporating more elements increased market cap substantially for S&P 500 firms.
Source: Doblin Group, Ten Types of Innovation
Using Conway’s Law To Our Advantage
Of course, there is an investment that needs to happen if we’re to create these higher levels of results. To support the higher level of performance, we need to flip Conway’s law and make it work for us. We do that by building a temporary organization, in most cases a cross-functional team, that can step away from the core of the firm and deliver the results the larger enterprise needs.
One consistent theme of my work from more than 20 countries and dozens of business models, is that cross-functional teams can deliver, but need to be created with a very specific structure to stay on track. In our workshops, we talk in-depth about:
- How to form the right project, the right team, and the right plan to capture these paybacks (for more info, see articles here, here, and here).
- How to find the right people using tools to identify needed skills and capabilities.
We also make project plans, using hypothesis to test key product features, and then we place it all on an execution framework that efficiently uses the time, talent, and resources.
Getting Your Strategy Implemented
Combining careful planning using the swim lanes we talked about above with structuring your cross-functional team to deliver, gives your strategy implementation real traction and a very high chance for producing excellent returns for your investment.
If you would like to talk further about the specific process tools to implement a high-functioning strategy that uses these insights to connect your strategic intention to value, please call my direct line (847-651-1014) or use this link to set up a time for a brief discussion.
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