Below you will find an overview of a case where LeverSource was asked to stabilize an organization after the departure of an executive and provide a smooth onboarding experience for a new executive.

Situation

Sudden departure of the CIO

Complication

Minimizing the disruption across the IT staff.

Approach

Interviewed 25 business and IT stakeholders. Allowed them to express their reaction to the news. Gather from them what things they would like to see changed moving forward.  The suggestions were simplified into possible nouns that complete the sentence: “Moving forward we will be successful if <blank> increases/decreases/stabilizes” The group surfaced 34 unique suggestions.  Using the LeverSource method each suggestion was analyzed against all other suggestions resulting in 1,122 comparisons. This analysis yielded the following insights:
  1. 13 of the 34 suggestions were low leverage in nature
  2. 9 were outcomes that could not be directly influenced but formed the starting point for a tailored management dashboard
  3. 9 were high leverage and should be started as initiatives now
  4. 1 was strategic regarding limitations to the growth and the stability of the organization

Leverage

The LeverSource method suggested “Increasing Process Compliance” as the key strategic initiative moving forward.  The IT organization was immature and lacked discipline in their system delivery processes.  Moreover, the previous CIO gathered all business requirements and kept the IT folks “behind the screen” leading to all kinds of disconnects between what the business wanted and what was being delivered.

Feedback

The CEO and interim CIO were shocked at how short the disruption period lasted. The LeverSource approach enabled a 2 day transparent process that allowed participants to be heard and to reach a shared conclusion on what changes were needed moving forward.

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