The IT Governance Evangelist

This blog entry was inspired by a comment posted by Rodney Sculthorpe to my recent post entitled "Who owns IT Governance, the Business or IT?" Rodney wanted to know how to convince Executive Management of the merits of IT Governance. I am constantly asked how to go about convincing decision-makers. Whether it is IT Governance, Enterprise Architecture Governance or any other aspect of ITG, my advice is generally the same: you need to evangelize the merits of ITG.

Rodney mentions two specific challenges.

1) The first is the difficulty in convincing organizations they need to work differently as they grow.

Why should they change when what they have been doing to date has resulted in the growth in the first place? In this case, you must "sell" the notion that there is an increased need for "formal" control as an enterprise grows. I say formal because you have controls in place today, albeit they are very likely informal. When we're small, we can get things done by taking individual initiative, talking to one another, or leaving it to him or her. Decisions made at the highest levels of the organization influence work at the lowest levels because, well, there aren't many levels.

I congratulate companies that outgrow this and I empathize with the realization that things will never be the same. That being said, they can be even better. But they can only be better if a cultural transformation occurs, in addition to the systemic transition. Some enterprises can't make this transformation because the controls required as they grow are contrary to the culture and systems that were successful when they were small. To overcome this aversion to change, you will first need to identify and document the "new" problems inevitably associated with organizational growth. Then you must be able to compile and clearly articulate the evidence connecting those problems with growth before you ultimately recommend any tenant of IT Governance as a potential solution.

2) The second challenge Rodney mentions is overcoming the quite common human need to "see" or "touch and smell" something before believing in it.

There are a number of approaches to getting people to "see" IT Governance. Gartner, Forrester and MIT CISR Sloan School of Management each have research and case studies showing the advantages and successes of IT Governance that you can cite.

Another source of proof would be to showcase IT Governance success in enterprises similar to, or admired by, yours. This is not easy given IT Governance is still relatively young and the list of successes is still rather short, though growing. Finding a company willing to share their recipes for success may also be difficult. I won't make the potential for that any easier by equivocally stating that mastering IT Governance creates competitive advantage. If a company realizes this, they are likely reluctant to share. Thank goodness we usually want to brag about our accomplishments and have others share if not admire our success. Take advantage of this.

There is no easy answer to Rodney's challenge. Though IT Governance offers near-limitless potential for enterprises to leverage technology for strategic advantage, it is frequently a struggle to obtain the required Executive sponsorship.

Good luck in your evangelism, and please let me know how it goes.