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In addition to my many other hats, I recently completed a novel (a sci-fi thriller) with my co-author Edward Miller. As those who know me well can attest, I’ve long had a passion for fiction and film, so this was a great opportunity to delve further into that arena. Hopefully this will be the first of many others.
During the writing process (stay tuned for more details in the future about the book itself), something I already knew became even more apparent. People don’t care about abstract concepts. They really don’t. What they DO care about are individuals, the challenges they’re facing (assuming they can relate to it), and whether or not they were/will be successful in overcoming those challenges. Individuals, challenges, and outcomes. That’s what counts. The same is true whether you are trying to sell a fiction book or whether you’re trying to convince an organization why they should take on a certain initiative.
A good story touches people’s emotions, plain and simple.
Here’s a website with an introductory article on story, arcs, and the three act structure. These tips are invaluable, whether you’re a fiction writer or an organizational leader and communicator. The goal is the same–to move people.
Bud Bilanich, aka The Common Sense Guy, interviewed me recently on the topic of Conquering Complexity through the powerful principles of simplicity, clarity, and focus.
Hope you enjoy the interview. It runs about 45 minutes or so…
 Most organizations spend time on value statements, ending up with words such as trust, integrity, honesty, fairness, and so on. The problem is, while these are simple, they are not clear. People don’t automatically associate these words with their daily actions, nor will these words help when they need to make a quick decision. In other words, it doesn’t focus them toward correct action. And remember, we must achieve simplicity, clarity, and focus to be effective.
Disney has the right idea. In training progams at the Disney Institute, a consistent theme is that successful organizational cultures are pre-defined, goal-oriented, and clear to all. People do not have to stop and think about the culture. It’s ingrained.
To help with this, Disney uses something they call prioritized service quality standards in all their theme parks.
In some organizations, this could end up being an exhaustive list of hundreds of items that one must think about and digest. But not at Disney. Disney knows that nobody would remember any of that in the heat of the action. Instead, Disney has four service standards, in priority order:
- Safety
- Courtesy
- Show (e.g., guest experience, themes, costumes)
- Efficiency
Efficiency, while still important, comes after the others. Above all comes Safety. Nothing trumps safety. Then it’s important to be courteous, but again, never at the expense of safety. After that, comes Show. It’s vital to uphold the Disney image and maintain character integrity, but not at the expense of courtesy or safety. Indeed, it’s OK to break some rules if it’s necessary to address a guest’s issue or a safety concern. Finally, we have efficiency. It’s important to be efficient, but Walt Disney never wanted to sacrifice safety, courtesy, or even show, for the sake of efficiency.
In their training programs, Disney reinforces these principles with stories and examples. For instance, one training facilitator told of a story where a Disney cast member was helping someone with directions (courtesy), but noticed a child playing on the edge of a stage, so they immediately ran over to caution them (safety). Afterward, the cast member, went into a shop and grabbed a free gift for the child, and the person they were helping (courtesy and show).
With these simple standards, at any service decision point it is clear to each cast member what criteria should be used for making the right decision. As Roy Disney said, “When values are clear, decisions are easy.”
 Nowhere is clarity more needed than in the way IT relates to the business/finance areas and vice-versa. In many ways, CFOs are from Mars and CIOs are from Venus, as a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study suggests. According to the study:
- CFOs believe IT lacks understanding about business strategy
- IT managers say CFOs don’t communicate goals effectively
The other day I attended a session at the Harvard Club in New York titled CFO/CIO Straight Talk. My Creating WE Institute colleague Judith E. Glaser, CEO of Benchmark Communications, gave the keynote on dialogue and collaboration, which was followed by a panel discussion with CIOs and CFOs.
Judith shared the results of an extensive study she conducted among CIOs and CFOs. Overall, CIOs were much more optimistic about areas such as effective collaboration, information validity, successful execution, and managing relationships. The CFOs were more prudent in their evaluation, which isn’t too surprising. But it does illustrate the differences in perception across the two groups. And perception is everything.
Areas where they aligned the most, according to Glaser’s study, were in mutual respect, shared understanding of the current business environment, and the knowledge that technical strategies have the potential to provide value. Areas where they disagreed most were around success metrics, effective communication, adequate resources, and a shared understanding of how to implement strategies.
As Glaser showed, once CIOs and CFOs were trained to communicate more effectively and more candidly, the charts showed that they were working more harmoniously toward the same goals, plus they both had a greater sense of urgency and passion.
The panel discussion that followed seemed to support this information. They shared ideas and practices that worked for them, including:
- Demystifying IT – through one-on-ones, lunch and learns, and regular touch-base meetings
- Speaking in business language, not acronyms or system-talk
- Focusing on benefits as opposed to solutions, making this clear in all goals and initiatives
- Creating a business relationship/analyst role, and having them sit in the business as opposed to IT
- Boosting project management skills to deliver on promises better from a time, cost, and scope perspective
- Always pairing a project manager with a subject matter expert to bridge the communication gaps
- Simplifying processes (one CFO spoke of a complex registration process that was reduced to a simple YouTube video)
Clearly—and as Judith noted in her presentation—this emphasizes the need to develop a shared way to make decisions (ie. better governance and portfolio management); a common view of what success looks like; agreement on a select few key metrics; and perhaps most importantly, greater focus by all parties on shared goals.
In essence, CFOs and CIOs need to conquer complexity through simpler processes, clearer communication, and greater focus. Over the last month, I’ve been working with a Marengo colleague to develop a practice area around Business-IT Alignment that helps them do just that. Stay tuned for more.
 When I talk to people about conquering complexity, they sometimes ask, “Well what about organizations or systems that are by nature complex?” Typically, they are referring to what’s known as Complex Adaptive Systems. An example might be the weather system, the global economy, or the cells in our body.
But scientists have proven that even the most complex systems have simple roots. The problem isn’t complexity per se; it’s trying to manage complexity in complex ways. It’s a futile cause. Indeed the way to conquer complexity is not with more complexity—it’s with simplicity.
Sometimes, less control—not more—is the answer, and simple guidelines and checklists are more effective. It’s the same with detailed project plans. Sometimes, it’s best to stay high level and let the experts manage the individual actions themselves. Dee Hock calls this concept “chaordic” (operating on the edge of chaos, with just enough structure to keep things moving in the right direction). I’ll be examining examples of this and posting them here.
Meanwhile, check out Bas De Baar’s interesting blog post on Complex Adaptive Systems…
And here’s an intriguing YouTube video that talks about how Complexity Management is the new Risk Management. It’s from Ontonix, an organization that has tools for measuring complexity.
 Excessive or unnecessary complexity is one of the biggest barriers to organizational success. This is true both internally and externally.
For one, processes and forms aren’t as simple as they could be, and tools often become barriers instead of enablers.
Secondly, the organization’s vision and strategy are typically unclear, if they exist at all, so efforts get diluted by non-valuable work.
Hours are wasted in long meetings, watching drawn-out powerpoint presentations that are more bullet-ridden than Bonnie and Clyde. Valuable information is lost in the noise. Unclear communication in general causes errors, confusion, and conflict.
Is it any wonder employees and customers disengage?
Indeed, simplicity, clarity, and focus are three areas organizations struggle with most. This manifests itself in the organization’s business processes and forms (including project plans); its communication with employees, suppliers and customers; and even its vision and strategy.
I have decided to dedicate this blog to the mission of conquering complexity—through simpler processes, clearer communication, and greater focus. It’s what I’ve been doing for 30 years, with my books, my workshops, and my consulting engagements. Let’s enjoy this journey together, and, well… let’s be clear from here on.
- Jerry
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