Page 248 - Performance Leadership

Chapter 12 Performance Networks • 237

At the same time, for other relationships, the values need to match.
In order to codevelop, cobrand, and comarket a product or a service,
the product or service needs to be recognizable to the market. If peo-
ple do not share the same passion for the customer or for innovation,
the result will be a noncompetitive product or service that is not rec-
ognized in the market. A values exercise, to uncover the positive and
negative values that stakeholders have, helps predict many of the col-
laboration problems we can imagine. It also helps stakeholders to
read each other’s intentions and read through the performance data
alone.

Case Study 2: IT Department
Externally and internally, different stakeholders have different values
and objectives. One of the business areas that in many organizations is
most exposed to having to manage many different stakeholders is the
information technology department.
This IT department, depicted centrally in the performance network
consists of two parts. As in most IT organizations, there is an IT devel-
opment part, which takes care of implementing new applications, and
there is an IT operations part, responsible for maintaining all existing
applications. It is important to also understand the values and the cul-
tural context of performance management, to understand the behav-
iors and assumptions people have, in order to have a trusting
relationship. The IT performance network shows this, first between the
two parts of the IT department, then between IT and a few external
stakeholders. See Figure 12.6.
In this IT department, IT development is driven by an “all-the-way
culture.” Perfectionism is seen as a good thing. The department is very
innovative; it is always looking for the next generation of technologies.
As a downside, there is also a negative value: the department has trou-
ble accepting standard applications. It suffers from the “not-invented-
here syndrome.” The IT operations department has a very distinct set
of values too. It is very thorough. Every change will be checked, dou-
ble-checked, and checked again. The department aims at keeping a
stable status quo; it has a “don’t touch attitude.” It is more open for
change, though, when there is a cost-saving opportunity.