BRMs, Are You Too Busy to be Strategic?

One of the most common issues I hear from Business Relationship Managers is that they are too busy to be strategic (or just too busy—period!) In today’s downsized business climate, most people indeed feel too busy. The issue is real. When the traditional employer-employee pact—“You work for us until you retire, and we will take care of you for life”—began to erode towards the end of the 20th century, the concept of the benevolent employer dissolved into a frenzy of downsizing, outsourcing, and delayering. More often than not, employees began feeling like ‘victims’ rather than the ‘valued assets’ referred to in their company’s prominently displayed Vision Statement.

In the cases of some of the more ‘enlightened’ employers, there is evidence that the pendulum is beginning to swing back, with employers implementing stronger talent management programs, more flexible Human Resource benefits, and more socially aware leadership. However, in the case of BRM, the underlying issues behind “too busy to be strategic” are often largely self-inflicted.

In my BRM training courses, I use an opening ice-breaker to ask participants about the greatest challenges they see in the BRM role. While “Too busy to be strategic!” is a common issue that is raised early and often, “Too busy” is a symptom, not a problem in itself. Let’s examine some of the potential causes of this symptom.

 

Cause #1: Being Consumed by Tactical and Operational Activities

Late last year, I conducted research into BRM time allocation across ten categories of work performed by typical BRMs. Five of these categories were inherently relationship-centric and largely strategic, leveraging the fact that the BRM’s role is oriented around bridging a Provider with a Business Partner. The other five categories were inherently process-centric and largely operational.

I asked the BRMs how their time was allocated across these categories, and then asked how they thought their time should be allocated. The data showed the current time allocation was strongly skewed towards operational activities, but the desired allocation leaned heavily towards strategic activities. So if people’s workdays aren’t necessarily reflective of their professional goals and desires, what’s going on here?

Based on many years of BRM consulting, I believe that one of the root causes is how BRMs often feel obligated to jump in whenever there’s an operational issue and resolve it. (Operational always trumps strategic!) This is fine—up to a point. After all, why did the issue occur in the first place? Why aren’t people in operational roles addressing these operational issues?

 

Remedy #1: Continuously Reinforce the Strategic Nature of Your Role and Ensure that Operational Issues are Handled Where They Belong

My mantra here is, “Never collude with dysfunctional behavior!” Operational issues are almost always process issues and should be handled as such—in departments that are organized for operational excellence. BRMs are organized for customer intimacy, not operational excellence. In “The Disciplines of Market Leaders,” Treacy and Wiersema say, “Customer intimacy… means segmenting and targeting markets precisely and then tailoring offerings to match exactly the demands of those niches. Companies that excel in customer intimacy combine detailed customer knowledge with operational flexibility so they can respond quickly to almost any need, from customizing a product to fulfilling special requests.” Therefore, BRMs are not positioned to solve operational issues, but rather for strategic value.

My suggestion? Read Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s 14 Points. Become familiar with the concept of process management and use your influence and persuasion skills as well as Organizational Change Management techniques to help the appropriate people step up to the plate. Note, as Deming reminds us, this is not about blaming those people. You don’t have to throw any Provider colleagues under the proverbial bus! After all, it’s a process issue—throw the process under the bus!

Remember, every time a BRM jumps into an operational issue, they reinforce the message that they are tactical resources to their Business Partner. It’s as good as saying, “Don’t engage me for the strategic issues—I’m here to fix the tactical stuff!”

 

Cause #2: Becoming Trapped by Your Comfort Zone

A contributing factor to Cause #1 above is the BRM’s comfort zone. Here’s a common scenario:

The BRM has been successful in their career development, perhaps as a programmer, analyst, or project manager—often literally following those roles as a career path. They then move into a BRM role, a role that is full of ambiguity and inherent tensions (e.g., Business Partner versus Provider, Strategic versus Tactical, being liked versus being valuable, etc.). Under stress (and the BRM’s life has plenty of opportunities for this!) they subconsciously fall back to what they know best: their comfort zone. “Oh, here’s a project issue that I recognize. I can fix this!”

 

Remedy #2: Be Who You Need to Be, Not Who You Used to Be!

Look in the mirror. Often, we are our own worst enemy. Take stock. Closely examine the detail in the BRM Institute BRM Competency Model. Do a self-assessment. Ask yourself, “What are my strengths? What new strengths do I need to develop? What messages am I sending to my Business Partner through my behaviors? Do these behaviors reinforce my strategic role? Or do they reinforce my comfort zone?”

 

Cause #3: The Hero Culture

Some Provider organizations operate under a “hero culture.” Here’s an example that leans on the more extreme side:

Fred comes in to the office late in the morning, unshaven with bags under his eyes. His well-practiced theatricality makes it clear that he’s very tired. “What happened to you last night?” asks a surprised colleague.  

“The system went down, and I got an emergency call at 2am. I had to come into work and debug the problem. It was tough, but I found that someone had made a software change and moved it into production without proper testing. I fixed it.”

At the next departmental meeting, Fred is asked by his boss to stand and take a bow, while the whole department applauds his dedication. Fred is handed a pair of movie tickets as a sign of the department’s appreciation for Fred’s efforts.

Meanwhile, Anne has been leading an effort to get stronger Service Management process discipline in place. Management has sponsored this effort, but is hardly visibly supportive. Anne does not get any rewards or recognition for trying to prevent the kinds of problems for which “heroes” like Fred are frequently rewarded.

As I said, this is an extreme case, but I often see examples of this hero culture. If the heroes are the problem-fixers, people will gravitate to problem-fixing and shy away from problem prevention.

 

Remedy #3: The True Heroes

It’s simple: use your influence and persuasion skills alongside your Organizational Change Management techniques to help your provider improve their processes, by implementing Process Management and Service Management disciplines. After all, isn’t strategy one of the reasons you jumped into the BRM role in the first place?