It's the Value, Stupid!

Have you ever seen a program* that did a lot of things but didn't really move the needle?

I'm guessing most people have. But why does it keep happening?

In my experience, when organizations have decided to execute a significant effort there is an immediate pressure to start doing:

• Why is everyone talking and not implementing software, pouring concrete, hiring people?
• When will it be done? We need to move with a sense of urgency
• We'll lose the budget unless we spend it

It seems to be human nature to be more comfortable taking action than to spend time setting up the right actions to yield the outcome we are looking for. The optics are not favorable in many environments. And then the juggernaut gets rolling and there is no stopping it.

The trouble with this is that programs then often build the wrong capabilities, undermanage changes and ultimately fail to deliver the value intended. This is painful for everyone involved, and costly: you burn the money you spend and you don't get the benefit you are looking for and you can't execute other desirable activities and you annoy your staff and customers.

How to fix this

The trick is to focus on the path to benefits. You might prefer the word value. Benefits are a bit more specific.

In my approach, aligned with the Managing Successful Programmes framework, there is a step where we co-define the beneficial outcomes we are pursuing, then map back to the capabilities we need to deliver to get those outcomes.

You define your projects, including change, from this thinking.

A couple of key outputs from that step are a benefits map and a target operating model. The benefits map looks simple but is incredibly powerful for clarifying the thought process on the path we take to get the value we want.

Let me share an example so you can start using benefit mapping today.

Imagine a company has acquired another business who make a synergistic product. Now the work to integrate the acquisition is starting. Done right this will release the value of the acquisition. A benefits map might look something like this:

Although this view is simple it has some superpowers. Let's look at a few:

• The finished version is ideal for conveying to your program team and stakeholders why you are doing what. It can form the basis of your change approach and start to align support early on
• The process of building and socializing this view surfaces great conversations to draw out what value should be pursued, what the key projects are, what has less relevance and where you need to drive people-oriented change
• The view above shows how the projects map into the organizational objectives, but you can also do it the other way around, starting with the organizational objectives and unpacking them to get to the projects. In reality you will do a bit of both to produce the map
• You can use it to spot gaps and dependencies. Look at the example. Do you think the company is on track to enhance technology leadership through innovative new products? Why not? Also, might there be more to the cultural aspects than simply moving the team to new offices?
• It is a powerful tool to keep things on track as you move to deliver capabilities and embed new ways of working

I hope this gives some insight into how this simple and powerful tool can increase clarity in your transformation and improvement programs. Please do reach out to me at fieldenablement.com or LinkedIn to explore more about this approach or my services.

Gareth.

fieldenablement.com
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* Please add letters according to your taste.