Keep an ‘Eye on the Prize’

Related to the need to address the ‘why’ of any IT investment, is the need to keep an ‘eye on the prize’. That, according to the panel, is the big motivator. Let’s expand on this issue and its implications.

Your IT transformation, whether large or small, will entail change and disruption. There will be setbacks and disappointments to test the resilience and discipline of the project team, as well as the level of commitment and collaboration of other functions. How to make it all worthwhile?  As one CIO said recently, ‘if you focus on the prize, you can put up with the pain’.

Q: How will you keep your stakeholders focused on ‘the prize’?

Every IT project or initiative should be based on a shared vision of success and the benefits that it will bring for all those involved.  Now, you may think that success has already been defined in the project plan and is even captured in beautiful prose on a slide used for the project kick-off. Yet, reading the project mission statement probably won’t get people excited. It may not generate much ownership, engagement, or buy-in either.

The definition of success is likely to vary across different stakeholders and team members. The prize for compliance or for credit control may be different from that for marketing or HR, for example. That is not a problem, as long as they are all broadly aligned.

Q: Do you know what your key stakeholders see as ‘the prize’?

Obviously, connecting project outputs and goals to the various KPIs of different stakeholders is key. But so too is connecting to the immediate prize for team members who are concerned about their bonus or their next promotion.

It is important that all the partners involved in your transformation initiative have aligned interests and compatible definitions of success.  There must be a win-win for the building society, the systems integrator, technology vendors and so on. We must win together!

Keeping an eye on the prize also means keeping the hope alive. For example, while there are many challenges facing the Building Society sector, there is also hope. For example, while the average age of the BS customer is in the 60s, Gen Z presents new opportunities. They care more about purpose and society, at a time when trust in traditional banks is at an all-time low. Plus, as Gen Z is found more in the gig economy, Building Societies may have greater flexibility in serving this group’s unique financial needs.