Enterprise Design Patterns | Impact Patterns
#4: Executive Buy-In
“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.”
- The Beatles
Related Patterns:
#8: Clear Ownerships, #13: Nurtured Trust, #24: Corporate Politics, #33: Beauty, #35: Management Instruments
The work you are doing impacts the enterprise deeply and therefore leads to political resistance. You need powerful allies who will handle the political conflicts for you.
In this context:
There are always influential people pursuing their local interests over those of the enterprise. Those interests often conflict and resolving them typically results in a win/lose outcome. Be aware that there are many people in the organisation who perceive your work for the whole enterprise as a threat and try to sabotage it using their network.
Therefore:
You need active support from the highest level of management. They should be willing to resolve political conflicts on the levels below them. You try to meet with them and:
- Nurture trust to better understand their personal concerns;
- Create a map or story in concise management language that shows how you can relieve their pains;
- Position your creations as the perfect management instruments;
- Invite the executives to the safe negotiation space to co-create the co-created Enterprise Design Charter.
Consequently:
You are garnering support from the powerful allies you need to be successful with your Enterprise Design endeavour. You establish regular meetings with them which improve the odds that your management instruments will be used regularly when important strategic decisions need to be made. It becomes clear to everyone that it’s your task to facilitate the collaborative Enterprise Design process that makes political conflicts visible and your allies' task to resolve these conflicts.