A Race Car or a School Bus? Who Wins?

Last week, a client and I had a breakthrough.

You see, at the outset of our project, we had pushed a vision which required new technology. We knew what we needed and believed with all our hearts it was the right “go forward” call.

However, the rest of the organization didn’t see it that way and refused the technology purchase. We “only” got the green light to operationalize the new process with existing tools (basically the Microsoft suite).

The client team was defeated but I was convinced this was a great thing. We could have huffed and puffed while highlighting all the pain this was going to put the organization through and/or all the benefits we were leaving on the table… However, that would have led us to alienate the stakeholders we needed mobilized for success.

The rest of the organization was simply not ready to hear us… I made the case that they were simply not ready to hear us YET… By rolling up our sleeves and doing the work in earnest, my bet was that our stakeholders would eventually meet us at our position by themselves. We had to work on building the people before we got to the systems.

Last week, the organization acknowledged we probably should have gone with our initial recommendation. ❗❗❗

Sometimes the shortest way to your objective is the long way. The “theoretical shortest way” may not be viable if you’re missing key people on the bus to your destination… Keep that in mind if you meet resistance in your endeavors this week. Stay Zen… You’ll get there.

Have a great week ahead.

Best,

Joël

A Race Car Only Seats 1 Person…

You’ve just been hired to stand up a brand new strategic Procurement function in a growing corporation. You’re a top Procurement expert. The management team hired you because you’re the best! You’re excited. You’ll finally be able to build out the function like you’ve always wanted to… You won’t be limited by “that old boss.”

You build your roadmap. It has a technology component. Let’s say it’s a sourcing tool. You show up at your first executive committee meeting and pitch your roadmap. You’re excited. You know this will yield massive positive results for the business. It’s a no brainer. It pays for itself.

Poof. It falls flat.

“Yeah… We don’t have budget for that this year.”

😑

Then you think to yourself: “Why doesn’t my executive committee have any vision…?”

What was your mistake?

You’re trying to drive a race car when you need to be driving a school bus.

In this scenario, your executive committee members don’t have anything against a sourcing tool per say. They want benefits as much as you do. However, this result means they don’t understand the sourcing process and its value levers.

You’ve jumped into your race car, raced into the distance and left your key stakeholders behind. What happens if you do get a sourcing tool in this scenario? You won’t have any requests to source from the business once it’s implemented! They won’t understand what you are trying to do…

You need to start driving a school bus.

Pick up your stakeholders 1 by 1 where they are. They all need to be on this journey together to get to the end destination. Start with a sourcing project proof of concept. Get a win. Build from there. The funding for tools will happen as a natural extension of this exercise. Your stakeholders will thank you instead of fighting you.

You can apply this logic to any change you’re seeking to make.

Here’s a framework you can use to ensure you’ve covered your bases with each and every stakeholder, the ADKAR model:

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Quote of the Week

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