The bus
An interesting angle is to see who or what takes precedence in your organization or department. What do the crew members always talk about, and what do they never talk about? Who is always listened to and who is not? Which department always comes first? Is the customer, the one we do it all for, ever discussed? Or do we mainly talk about ourselves? Is it always about IT and technology, and thus the IT department is in charge, or is IT supportive and business in charge? Structurally not seeing, not involving, not discussing certain matters creates a huge blind spot. We keep doing what we do without knowing why. You can effect a change in culture by making these matters the subject of discussion and seeing what it brings.
An example intervention for discussing the collaboration between business and IT:
- Organize a session with the different departments (e.g., Business Development, Business Operations, IT Development, and IT Operations).
- Set up chairs like in a bus. One chair in front and the other chairs two by two behind it. The bus stands for product development (or choose another theme).
- Now ask the participants to sit in the bus in a way that represents the current collaboration. Who takes the wheel? Who sits in the front, who in the back?
- Ask: why did the participants sit where they did? And where is the customer? This will undoubtedly spark a conversation that participants don’t often have with each other. By gaining insight into the blind spot, they become aware of their own behavior and its effectiveness.
By having these kinds of conversations more often, it slowly becomes “normal” to talk to each other and clarify responsibilities.
Do you dare to organize an intervention like this?
