Venn Factor
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Contents |
[edit] Introduction
The Venn Factor principle is simple. For people who work at companies and/or on teams which have both business and technology experts there is a certain amount of knowledge overlap and understanding that needs to be in place for that team to perform at its peak. That is, even though the CEO may not understand the details of a technology of AJAX, (s)he better understand it's capabilities and what they mean for the business.
Below you will find all three articles in the Venn Factor series. I wrote the first two and worked with Alex Bovee and Derek Gaasch on the last article. Please shoot me an email or post your comments on the wiki or my blog if you'd like.
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[edit] Venn Factor I - Introduction to the Venn Factor: The Overlap of Business and Technology Knowledge Leads to Agility
- Author: Zachary Sachen
- Excerpt:
In the past, IT enabled business primarily through technical services like telephones, desktops, printers, and large tightly coupled systems. Today IT manages flexible infrastructures and assembles business solutions from inventories of application parts. As corporations look to take advantage of these advances in technology the lines begin to blur between what is “IT” and what is “Business”. This evolution requires more overlap of knowledge1 between the Business and IT in order to perform well enough to outpace and outperform competitors, and increase agility.
We can use the classic Venn diagram, coupled with the high performance team2 concept, to discuss this knowledge overlap. A Venn diagram can be used to help organizations determine how many, and to what extent, high performing team members have both business and technology knowledge. The high performance team concept characterizes skills these people bring to the table to help the organization achieve agility.
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[edit] Venn Factor II - Eat Right and Exercise
- Author: Zachary Sachen
- Excerpt:
The Introduction to the Venn Factor article contends a company whose employees have a high Venn Factor is much more agile than one whose employees have lower factors. This idea isn’t necessarily a complex or a difficult one to understand. In the words of a noted world leading business thinker, David Maister1, “The keys to losing weight are fairly simple, eat right and exercise.” It’s not enough just to understand and believe in eating right and exercising, as execution of these are the key to success. The Venn Factor is analogous to this principle in that leadership must take action if they believe in the value of having an overlap of knowledge. Many executives realize the benefits of cross-training, but may not know where to target increasing the Venn Factor in their organization or, once that is known, just how to go about increasing it. This article assumes there is value in the overlap and focuses on helping executives understand the what and how of eating right and exercising or, in this case, determining the what key employees need to improve their Venn Factors, the right amount of overlap (i.e. factor), and how to go about achieving that overlap.
Many organizations commit to the Venn Factor in principle, but then fail to execute on its principles.
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[edit] Venn Factor III - You Can’t Get There From Here
- Authors: Derek Gaasch, Alex Bovee (editor: Zachary Sachen)
- Excerpt:
In Parts I and II of The Venn Factor, we discussed the imperative for having employees and leaders with skill sets which cross the boundaries typically ascribed to ‘IT’ or the ‘Business’. As presented, one who has a composite view of these two perspectives has the potential for far greater impact within an organization. This article intends to highlight the roadmap for achieving such high-performing teams and provide some examples of measurable benefits.
When confronted with the challenge of adopting and instituting enhanced Venn Factor across an organization, an executive’s response might be similar to that of Kevin Nealon’s response in the Saturday Night Live Skit ‘What’s the Best Way?’ where, as a contestant on a game show, he is asked for directions from Boston to Maine. His response was: “You can’t get there from here”. While Kevin Nealon’s response is incorrect, in that one can of course get from Boston to Maine, many executives may still follow Kevin’s lead by saying that they can not ‘get there from here’ when asked if they can go from having dysfunctional or low performing teams, to high performing teams. This is because sometimes executives have not hired the right people, defined their operations, nor structured their organizations to foster high performing teams. As a result, these executives must make substantial changes, including at times a radical shift in the culture of the organization, to realize the enhanced performance associated with improved Venn Factor. Only in conjunction with these behavioral, operational, and organizational changes will a culture steeped in Venn Factor emerge.
The following are essential changes necessary to transitioning towards higher performing teams: ...
