I also agree that it is not always easy to be specific about mindset change in terms of ROI. However, it is not impossible, if our assessment can help us determine the conditions for success then we can measure the extent to which these have been established and the impact they are having. Far too often the people/mindset related conditions for success are specified in process output terms, E.g. training has happened, communication has been delivered, new structures are in place, rather than in mindset change terms, E.g. people now believe … , people have the confidence to … . Returning to the my original premise, if we don’t even bother to assess what the current mindset is we have no baseline to measure ROI against.

Whilst understanding and changing Role model’s mindsets is clearly of great importance, so it is for those in the formal management structure from the board down. Amongst other things, it is through that structure that personal reward is assessed and given.

In my book The Drowning Director I talk about the need to change the ‘culture’ (which in essence is the same thing) from the top down if we are to make the leap into meeting today’s challenges successfully.

I would just add that in times of great change you need roots for strength as well as wings to fly. Marrying the strengths of the past with the power of the future creates an unstoppable force for beneficial change. Compromising on either (which is not uncommon) creates often huge deficiences.

The need for Mindset (or culture) change receives probably little more than 5% of the attention in change design programmes because it is the intangible that is not easy to be specific about in terms of ROI. It also addresses areas in business life – such as personal power and autonomy – that many would prefer were left unchallenged.

Geoff Codd

Your point on my overly broad use of the electric utility analogy is correct – my apologies for lazy writing.

I very much stand by my point of the shift from ownership to sourcing, and the meteoric rise of cloud computing. Just about every week, research data is published that supports these shifts, and is supported by my own experience (admittedly, limited mostly to the North American market).

I take your point on the importance of information. It is, as you say, “strength of the momentum is what matters, and whether the moment of critical mass is fully recognised by those that need to be convinced”. Again, my apologies for lazy writing.

I also take your point about the meaning of locating a capability (same excuse!) You ask, “Are we just talking about locating – which I proved can be hugely effective – or pay & rations – or performance appraisal – or all three?” I meant all three. That to me is the essence of convergence.

As for the final section, I accept your criticism regarding “IT speak.” It’s a long-earned habit, and my article was primarily intended for an IT audience. I do very much stand by my recommendations – they are based on practical experience with what has worked in progressive companies. I also have no problem with your list of points – all valid, though I’m not sure I understand your reference to “the new e-business.” One of the underlying factors behind business-IT convergence is that just about all business now is e-business – and has been for some years.

As for your final point, yes, “it is a difficult subject to address with conviction if one does not have a mountain of experience to draw on.” I have 37 years of consulting experience, working with Fortune 500 companies on these issues. I also headed global IT research at the Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation, where I worked with some of the world’s leading thinkers and researchers and led groundbreaking longitudinal multi-company studies into IT effectiveness and transformation. I don’t know if that counts as “a mountain of experience”, but I sure hope so!

From owning to sourcing IT capabilities: In my view this ‘shift’ is greatly over stated, as is talk about the ‘meteoric rise of cloud computing’.

Information is becoming both strategic and explicit: The term ‘is becoming’ etc. implies that this is all recent, when it has all been going on for decades. The strength of the momentum is what matters, and whether the moment of critical mass is fully recognised by those that need to be convinced.

So, where do IT capabilities belong? What does ‘IT capabilities belonging in business operations’ mean? Are we just talking about locating – which I proved can be hugely effective – or pay & rations – or performance appraisal – or all three? As in most things, the devil lies in the detail and to be meaningful one needs to get into some of that.

So, what are the leadership implications of business-IT convergence? I had huge difficulty with this section, due mainly to the use of what I would call ‘IT Speak’ rather than ‘Business Speak’. The ‘immediate steps’ as discussed seem to me to be more about assessing, forming, refining, etc. rather than doing specific things that will bring about the change that is required.

My take on that would be:

Ø Focus on Business Process effectiveness and efficiency, rather than overly on IT issues.
Ø Raise top level awareness of IT Critical Success Issues through closer participation by business directors.
Ø Produce better informed and more perceptive board leadership through closer involvement.
Ø Create IT/business cultural cohesion from the top which permeates down throughout the organisation.
Ø Effectively balance business priorities with technological constraints and opportunities.
Ø Improve management performance through clearer business accountability for IT enabled projects.
Ø Provide more emphasis from the top on exploiting lessons-learned more effectively.
Ø Improve business preparedness in the new e-business, through creating more perceptive awareness.

Of course, in order to achieve each of the above, one needs to take specific actions – at all levels in the business – which impact on structure, management process and management culture. This sounds like a horrendous challenge which has to surmount huge cultural and attitudinal obstacles that make the task unlikely to succeed. Not so. Many of the initiatives needed have been extremely successful.

I do hope that I have not been unfair in my critique – it is a difficult subject to address with conviction if one does not have a mountain of experience to draw on.

My book ‘The Drowning Director’ addresses many of the above issues.

As one ex-army captain once put it to me….you have no right to lead, if you haven’t first learned to follow!

Brian