Engage Stakeholders
Identify Key Stakeholders
Effectively engaging stakeholders is vital to creating an accurate Business Capability Model (BCM). This process ensures that the model represents the organisation’s actual capabilities and reflects input from the right people. Engaging stakeholders early also helps establish buy-in and commitment to the final product, which is essential for its successful implementation.
What to Do
- Identify relevant stakeholders: Start by listing individuals across different areas of the organisation who understand its key functions. These should include:
- Senior leadership: For strategic alignment and overall organisation objectives.
- Department heads: To provide insights into the capabilities needed for their specific functions.
- Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Those who understand the fine details of day-to-day operations and specific capabilities within their domain.
- Engage the right mix of people: Not all stakeholders need the same level of involvement. Senior leadership might offer high-level strategic direction, while SMEs can provide detailed knowledge about specific capabilities.
- Set up workshops or interviews: Arrange meetings with each group of stakeholders to gather insights. Use workshops for cross-functional discussions and one-on-one interviews for more focused input on specific areas.
Things to Consider
- Diverse input: Ensure input from various departments to capture a balanced view of capabilities. For instance, gather information from operations, finance, IT, and customer service.
- Language consistency: It’s crucial to develop a common language across the organisation when defining capabilities. Different areas of the organisation (especially IT and organisation units) may use different terminology. The model should serve as a unifying framework where all stakeholders align on what capabilities are called, avoiding miscommunication or misalignment.
Potential Issues
- Low engagement: Without proper engagement, key insights may be missed, and the model might lack accuracy or be incomplete. Regular updates and reminders of the model’s importance can help keep stakeholders involved.
- Disparate perspectives: Stakeholders may have differing views on what is important. Use these discussions as an opportunity to find common ground and create a balanced model that reflects the organisation’s overall priorities.
Gather Detailed Input
What to Do
- Prepare stakeholder sessions: Before each session, prepare a set of guiding questions to explore each department’s core functions. Focus on understanding both the broad capabilities and supporting activities for each area.
- Document capabilities: Capture detailed input from the sessions. Start by documenting the high-level capabilities, and where necessary, break them down into sub-capabilities.
- Validate input: After gathering the information, summarise and share the initial findings with stakeholders. This allows them to validate or correct any misrepresentations and ensures the model is on the right track.
Things to Consider
- Common language: As mentioned earlier, the language used in the model should act as a standard vocabulary across the organisation. Be mindful that departments often use different terms for similar capabilities, and part of the model’s value is providing a consistent framework for naming and categorising capabilities across the organisation.
- Adjustments and feedback: Be prepared to adjust the model based on feedback from different stakeholders. Refining the model is an iterative process, so build in opportunities to revisit and update the information collected.
Potential Issues
- Unbalanced input: If one department dominates the discussions, the model could become skewed toward that area, leading to an unbalanced representation of the organisation’s capabilities. Make sure that all departments and functions are equally represented.
- Too much operational detail: Some stakeholders may get caught up in discussing processes or tasks. Remember, a capability model focuses on what the organisation does, not how it does it. Gently steer the conversation back toward high-level capabilities.
Engaging stakeholders ensures that the BCM reflects the true capabilities of the organisation. By promoting a common language across all functions, you create alignment between IT and organisation units, reduce confusion, and ensure that the model is practical and widely accepted throughout the organisation.
Next Step: Identify Organisation Capabilities
Now that you have input from key stakeholders, it’s time to identify and document the core organisation capabilities that will serve as the foundation of your BCM.