Streamline Training & Documentation: A Meeting of the Minds on Business Practices

Saturday, September 15, 2007

A Meeting of the Minds on Business Practices

Whenever two groups have to work together, whether it's two units within an organization, or it's a pair of organizations (perhaps recently brought together through merger or acquisition), there are numerous business practices that need to be aligned. Issues like who takes the lead role in various client contacts, and under what circumstances an approved product design can be changed, need to discussed and all interested parties need to reach agreement.

Sara Moulton Reger, an IBM researcher, has devised a process for resolving inconsistencies between two collaborating groups' business practices which can be a starting point for any organization looking to make adjustments in their culture in order to minimize friction over "how things are done here."¹

IBM is so pleased with Mouton Reger's process that they've patented it. But they've also seen their way clear to having the process described in a book — Can Two Rights Make a Wrong?: Insights from IBM's Tangible Culture Approach — so I imagine you can safely adopt whatever aspects of the process you believe would be helpful in your organization without being too worried about intruding on IBM's turf.

As explained in an IBM Research article by Richard Silberman, the Business Practices Alignment Method (BPA) has four steps:

Reconcile what Moulton Reger calls "right versus right" business practice alternatives. Whenever the two groups have different methods of viably achieving a desired outcome, they need to follow a systematic approach to deciding what method is best in specific circumstances. (IBM provides a template here (xls).) The organization can subsequently monitor how the chosen method actually works out, making adjustments down the road as needed.

Apply the business practices that were established in Step 1 to realistic problem situations to develop outcome narratives. The narratives are structured mini-stories that define the desired outcome along with who should do what, and in what way. (IBM provides a template here (MSWord).)

Identify the gaps between the way the (united) organization wants things done and the current state. Then develop a prioritized action plan to make changes that will help people work in the ways prescribed as best practice.

Evaluate progress towards alignment. Identify areas needing further improvement and take necessary actions until business behavior is aligned.

A key aspect of BPA is that it defines desired business practices with a high degree of clarity. Achieving such specificity and clarity will generally produce markedly better performance than trying to get by with "high level statements that are too vague to put into action."

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¹ Mike Armano and Sara Moulton Reger are co-inventors of the Business Practices Alignment Method. After the initial work Arman and Moulton Reger did to develop BPA, the latter introduced further refinements, which are reflected in Can Two Rights Make a Wrong?. Note that development of BPA is part of IBM's larger effort to promote advances in what they call "service science, management and engineering," a subject introduced in this earlier post.

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Labels: Collaboration, Conflict management, Organizational culture

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