When Yoda Was a Business Relationship Manager
I think we are attracted to Business Relationship Management (BRM) for its ability to change the universe. Or at least, our little part of it. The end game of any BRM is to partner strategically with business colleagues to bring about substantial and long lived value.
But the universe is a big place and it is hard to mobilise this BRM force of good against the shadowy influence of Suboptimal IT Help (aka the SITH). Although actual cases of SITH are very rare, their dark powers are strongly influential and even a couple of small instances can persuade folk across the galaxy that IT are unreliable and should not be trusted.
“Value leads to trust
Trust builds confidence
Confidence leads to influence
I sense much value in you … “
BRMs must use all their powers to undo this perception and improve trust and collaboration throughout their organizations. This is a long path and we should heed the lessons of wise Yoda from his days as a BRM.
If trust you want, deliver value you must.
The various people of our organization often live on very different planets. We must spend time on their planet, get to know their people, understand their goals and challenges. Only then will we clearly understand what value looks like on their planet. If we deliver value to enough planets, we will build enough trust to lead a rebellion against the SITH.
Only through trust and confidence will strategic influence you achieve.
To do this we will need to bring planets together. We need to release the dormant value between planets, offering new additional value not possible in isolation. As we gain and build the confidence of more planets and systems we will increase our influence in the galactic senate and be able to drive out the SITH influence once and for all.
When a BRM you are, 300 years old you will feel sometimes too.
But the journey is long. And sometimes we will find ourselves crash landed in a large swamp, on a remote planet, with no help on the way, and seemingly insurmountable challenges blocking our way. And yes, at times we would all like to overcome these challenges using a large Wookie with a laser crossbow, and that even though it is not explicitly forbidden in OHS policy, we probably shouldn’t.
Instead we must persevere with our training at the BRM Institute and win one planet at a time to continually deliver value, develop trust, build confidence and use the BRM force of good to expand our circle of influence.
May the BRM force be with you!
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About the Author
Lindsay Macdonald is an experienced technology leader with over 15 years experience improving business maturity, agility, and growth by building and developing high performing teams to deliver digital transformation across diverse industries including technology and higher education. Lindsay resides in Melbourne, Victoria Australia.