The 4 C’s of Collaborative System Governance
If you have ever been responsible for managing the direction of a technology platform like Salesforce, you know how difficult it can be to identify the organizational priorities and how they align with your user’s needs. There is also a chance that you have lay awake some nights, questioning whether you are creating sustainable solutions, or merely solving today’s problem by creating technical debt for you to handle in the future.
If any of this sounds familiar, then this article is for you. Within this article, I’ll share some ideas and concepts picked up over the span of a 15-year career working to facilitate impactful change with organizations in how they manage their technology. While my focus has been almost primarily working with Salesforce as the center of the technology stack, the lessons I’ve learned are applicable to most technology solutions, especially those that provide you with the ability to choose your own adventure.
First Things First
This is not a new secret way of doing things and in fact, most of what I am going to share is going to sound like common sense stuff. It should be no surprise that you too can do this within your own organization - I’ve seen this work enough times to know that it’s possible!
So what exactly are the 4-C’s and why are they important? The 4-C’s are essentially an easy way to talk about a framework for Collaborative System Governance. Collaborative System Governance is a powerful method for systemic problems and seizing opportunities to strategically improve your technology while strengthening your organizations ability to create intentional impact. Sounds great, right? There’s a lot of fun buzzwords in there, and all that is missing is a “Digital Transformation” or “Paradigm Shift”, but I think you get the picture. If you want to create strategic change, you need to have a collaborative system governance plan and I am here to help!
The Four 4-C’s
The 4-C’s represent the four main concepts required for a Collaborative System Governance strategy, and I like to think of these as the superheroes of system governance. These concepts are:
Commitment: Have clear goals, create transparent expectations with all stakeholders including users and executives.
Communication: Establish effective information sharing processes and create a shared dialogue among stakeholders.
Collaboration: Work together across different departments or teams, through activities like Cross departmental collaboration, Creating User Stories, Backlog refinement workshops, and Testing and training.
Consistency: Once you have established the framework, adhere to it, create schedules, and processes, like recurring events and workshops, document established deadlines, expected velocity, and scheduled releases.
At the core, these all should sound like common sense concepts, but when combined and correctly utilized, they have the potential to alter how you and your organization create strategic outcomes. Luckily, rolling out this type of strategy is not overly complicated, and primarily is handled in only a few steps:
Step 1: Start small but be strategic - you are going to need an executive sponsor if you want this to spread, and I recommend identifying a sponsor that can be not only your champion, but also directly experience the benefits of Collaborative System Governance. Once identified, start working with them to roll out small improvements by leveraging the concepts in the 4-C’s - create clear goals, establish a communication plan, incorporate the stakeholders that will work with you on this, and create a consistent schedule that you can stick to.
Step 2: Share the success - as you work together with your executive sponsor, don’t lose track of your wins! Make sure that the successful outcomes are documented and shared throughout the organization. Change is hard, but people naturally feel more comfortable doing things when they see others having success first.
Step 3: Make it your own - over time, you will need to adjust the different tools and processes used to achieve your Collaborative System Governance strategy. This is okay! The more important thing is that you leverage the framework when making changes, making certain they are Committed, Communicated, Collaborative and Consistent.
Final Thoughts
Every organization is unique and the steps above might not be possible for everyone. However, you should still be able to take away a few core concepts, like creating impact, sharing successes, and aligning ideas within your organization, as those concepts can make change a reality in your organization. If you find yourself struggling to implement a solid Collaborative System Governance strategy, reach out to us - we work with many organizations to help facilitate and enable their success through our Collab Managed Services program. You may not need us to make Collaborative System Governance a reality, but it sometimes does help when industry experts are advocating for it alongside you!
