Culture Shock: Developing a Workplace Culture that Fosters Your Brand-New BRM Capability

by DeWayne Cassel

When an organization makes the commitment to implement a BRM capability, the issue of culture shock is often an understatement. BRM challenges many traditional philosophies right from the beginning, which is why a well-thought-out plan is a must-have to address any resulting organizational concerns and reactions.

In this article, I will address the following to help ease the transition to a BRM capability:

• Two key elements for change adoption
• The purpose of a BRM capability
• A helpful tool for use
• Necessary factors for change
• Five key steps for success

Key Elements

In order to have an effective BRM capability, an organization must be prepared to do the following: adopt (to begin to use or follow) and embrace (to accept or support [a belief, theory, or change] willingly and enthusiastically) a fundamental change in their existing operating model. All of this can be summed up in one-word: transformation.

Traditionally, when we think of an operating model, we immediately think about the execution of processes and procedures within an organization. However, the heart and soul of any organization is its culture. Workplace culture can be described as the character and personality of an organization, what makes your organization unique. It’s the sum of the organization’s values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors, and attitudes. Workplace culture is as important—if not more important—than your business strategy, because it can either strengthen or undermine your business and its objectives.

BRM Capability

A BRM capability is one-part strategy and two parts culture. According to BRM Institute (Business Relationship Management Institute), business relationship management is both an organizational role and a discipline. As an organizational role, the BRM serves as a connector and translator between the provider organization and the business function and vice versa. As a discipline, “business relationship management embodies a set of competencies (knowledge, skills, behaviors) that foster a productive, value-producing relationship between a provider organization and its business partners” (BRM Institute).

Not only can the development of a workplace culture that fosters a new BRM capability transform the way business partners and provider organizations inter-operate, it is the heart and soul for the adoption and execution of a BRM capability. However, the question still remains: how does this get accomplished?

As the Transition Leader, the BRM is instrumental in the adoption of the new BRM capability, which includes the smooth adoption of role itself. Furthermore, as BRMs, we’ve grown accustomed to being “agents of change.” However, let’s face it—understanding the reengineering of a workplace’s culture can be a monumental undertaking, especially when you encounter resistance. Read on to learn about a helpful tip from yours truly.

Tricks of the Trade

Let’s explore a tool that BRMs can use to ensure that the implementation of the BRM capability is successful. The practice of business transition management (BTM) is often used by BRMs to prepare business areas that are impacted by an initiative for any kind of business transition, so as to minimize business operations disruption. The same tool can be leveraged to prepare an entire organization for the adoption of a new BRM capability.

BTM is a deliberate approach for managing the human dynamics before, during, and after implementing a business (or in our case, an organizational change initiative) in order to prevent BTM identifies shifts in a variety of dynamics, including processes, behaviors, language/terminology, roles, structures, reporting relationships, teaming interactions, culture, day-to-day operations, physical locations, and technology. Additionally, BTM identifies those impacted by human dynamics and the network of sponsors, change agents, and advocates needed to make change happen, therefore paving the way for strong and sustained sponsorship. Ultimately, BTM engages stakeholders, creates buy-in, and prepares individuals and groups by determining who should be engaged and how.

Understanding Change

Now that we’ve identified the tool that can assist in setting change in motion, let’s discuss what’s needed in order to make meaningful change to take place, as well as the steps required. Created by Richard Beckhard and David Gleicher (and later refined by Kathie Dannemiller), the following steps are sometimes called Gleicher’s Formula for Change. This formula provides a model to assess the strengths affecting the likely success of organizational change programs.

Three factors must be present for meaningful organizational change to take place. These factors are: U (urgency due to dissatisfaction with how things are now); V (vision of what is possible); and FS (first concrete steps that can be taken toward the vision).

(U x V x FS) > R

If the product of these three factors is greater than R (Resistance), then change is possible.

Five Key Steps

1. Build urgency for change. While describing “pain” can drive change, the strongest motivator of change tends to be a current, tangible problem. To create urgency, business drivers must be translated into detailed pain or remedy discussions for each audience.

2. Translate business drivers. Focus on the WIIFMs (What’s In It For Me?). Examples of business drivers are strategic, financial, customer, operational, employee-related, regulatory and social. All levels in the organization convert business drivers into things employees care about.

3. Identify key roles. Your transition network is the key to unlocking existing organizational dynamics that can move the organization towards the adoption of the BRM capability. Several key roles will be needed—in no particular order, they are:
   1. Stakeholders – The individuals impacted in some way by the change, who must then alter their skills, knowledge, processes, behaviors, and mindset.
   2. Initiating Change Leader – The person who initiates, sponsors, drives, and validates the change for all stakeholders.
   3. Sustaining Change Leaders – Those who have the local power to validate the change within their respective functional areas.
   4. Change Agents – Those who guide the planning and implementation of the change, such as a BRM.
   5. Advocates – Those whose personal influence can serve as leverage, but are not sustaining or initiating change leaders.

4. Clarify the change. Be prepared to answer the following questions, among others: How will we act differently? How will we work differently? How will we interact differently? How will we think differently? What will be valued in the future? How will we talk differently? What different things will we produce?

5. Watch out for black holes. A black hole can form for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to unintentional confusion, covert sabotage, the unwillingness of change leaders to challenge those required to change, and a lack of reinforcement of the change at local levels. However, the core reason for black holes is the lack of sustaining change leadership, which reflects a failure in the initiating change leader’s commitment to impact those down the organization tree.

The No-Go Gauge

Last but not least, the successful integration of a BRM capability begins and ends with the right executive sponsorship from both the business and provider organization. A significant amount of time must be devoted to ensuring that both parties have a thorough understanding of the new operating model and its value based focus. An excellent tool to use for this dialogue is a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), also known as a RACI chart. This tool can help to ensure precise clarity around roles and responsibilities, and should be agreed upon by both parties.

If our goal is to mitigate culture shock and develop a workplace culture in which a brand-new BRM capability can thrive, each of these factors must be taken care of. If not, then well…our experience has taught us that “culture will eat strategy for lunch!”

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