Enablement solutions are NOT meant for enabling land grab
I was an entrepreneurial leader in the corporate world about 10 years back. I had a great team and my management knew that I delivered results. There was good money, lots of vacation, security and influence. My business card meant something! But I decided to quit!
At least half my time was lost to political battles and every new idea would but solve a tiny slice of a larger puzzle. And I could see clearly where the transformative ideas that I was fighting to implement would at best make little impact on the whole as it was not really about solving problems; it was about turf and dominion. It was about the number of people and dollars that me, my peers, my boss and his peers controlled.
When leaders that exist to solve problems relegate to politicking managers, entrepreneurial solutions are but tools for land grab!
It was not hard for anyone in the company to see that simple problems were becoming complex because people did not want to give up dominion. “If I made it easier, my team or my budget may shrink” was the general sentiment. Simple solutions therefore had to be made more complex to satisfy the group heads each of whom controlled a small slice of the whole.
I then started a company of my own. My interest was solving real problems. Solutions that did not need to be manipulated to satisfy specific people; rather, those that could impact human life. The most recent solution that we produced reduces 2 to 8 months of effort for a team of software and Cloud engineers down to the click of a button to help technologists focus on business outcomes vs. losing time to technology setup.
Now, as we try to sell this tool, we are back in front of corporate managers who play much the same role that I escaped from a decade back.
They do see value in our solution! But their questions bring back memories of the time when I played that role:
“How do you sell this in the face of organizational politics and split budgets?”
“What does your tool do to help tech leaders gain more power in the organization?” which translates to how can I increase my budget and justify adding more people into my group?
Our solution that impacts the whole is in conflict with the personal agendas of people whose interest is in controlling a slightly larger piece of the whole.
We will therefore have to target tech leaders whose dominion is the whole of technology in their respective organizations. And this will have to be in smaller entrepreneurial organizations where the agenda of the leaders is truly driving efficiencies and maximizing business outcomes.
We will leave political battles off for now!
If you are an Entrepreneurial leader that influences technology in your organization, visit us at BOSframework.com
