Chapter 9

End state: Buh Bye Moats, Rickety Drawbridges, Divisions, Fiefdoms

Chapter 9

End state: Buh Bye, Moats, Rickety Drawbridges, Divisions, Fiefdoms

Shared Cross-Functional
Insights ModelUnstructured data, by its very nature, is hard to structure and share. But the current state of tech means that even functional area structured data remains equally as challenging to share in a meaningful way.Our path away from the moats and drawbridges of yore, umm today , will take both new human skills and technology that works. It won’t work if we have the skills, but not the technology; nor the technology without the human skills.

Even though I’ve been working this model, and on this book, since 2017, it’s only recently occurred to me that organizations often call their sub-organizations Divisions . DIVISIONS. Literally dividing people into separate groups.It’s so baked into our business DNA that it can’t be turned around overnight.But together we can get there with this Shared Cross-functional Insights Model. Commit to developing both new skills for humans and raising our collective voice for tech with minimal workarounds.

Where to start:

Every step of the way, look up and outside of your organization for additional insight.
- Chances are, your network has loads of expertise that can help you.
- Build and utilize your own Personal Advisory Board.
- Look to others who have credibly solved for what you’re solving for (I’ve highlights in the Read, Watch, Follow and in After Words | Leaders Envision, where I’ve asked some of my most trusted colleagues to share their perspective).
Understand where your organization is missing insight and what it’s likely costing you.
See Chapters 1 and 2
Assess where you are on the maturity curve of current tools and human behavior, in order to begin to understand key insights and act on them upstream. See Chapter 3
Be familiar with the underlying causes so you can help your team and your colleagues across the company see the challenges, and feel the pain. Empathy is a key skill here, which you can read more about in this chapter’s Read, Watch, Follow. See Chapter 4
Evangelize the Art of the Possible - you and your colleagues need to be able to see that the benefits to this change far outweigh the cost of this change (potential discomfort for a bit). See Chapter 5
Embrace Structured Mining. See Chapter 7
Tech: Use our collective voices to herald the brilliant and the grim; advocate for the tech we need!.
See Chapter 8

Are you an #InsightHarnesser?

Will you consider expanding your Insights Initiatives?

Yes, absolutely
No, not yet

The best news, as you might have gathered from the research in Chapter 3, is this: your competitors are likely not great at structured data sharing either.So that’s a huge opportunity for you. Be the first.Ditch the Moats and the Drawbridges. Be an #InsightHarnesserNo matter the size of your organization or the resources you have available, this is absolutely work you can start doing TODAY to close these gaps, deepen your collaboration with your colleagues, and positively impact both the customer & employee experience, as well as the bottom line.Join in the conversation to inspire and be inspired with #InsightHarnesser on twitter and LinkedIn.