Life Coach - Kaikaku - 10 - Value conversations

Everything that we do revolves around value. Either we are adding value, maintaining value or destroying it.

For e.g. our time has value. If we do not use it correctly we are destroying its value. If we use it operationally we are maintaining value and if we use it strategically or in a transformation we are creating value.

As a CGEIT (Certified in Governance of Enterprise IT) I consult in value governance. Recently CIO of CISCO Rebecca Jacoby spoke on her interactions with CEO John Chambers on the topic of value conversations.

In many of my projects the five value conversations that we have revolve around

1. Strategic alignment - does each group understand its objective partnership, what are the strategic imperatives of each group (do we know what is the right thing)
   
2. Portfolio planning - given a choice of options available are we selecting the correct one based on costs, risks and change management (are we doing the right thing)
   
3. Operational efficiency - audit of cost, quality, impact (are we doing it in an optimal manner)
   
4. Continuous improvement - how do we ensure 1 to 3 steps over and over again constantly improving with time

What I and my group do is create a system of processes and metrics that enables the client to understand where they measure - baseline existing reality, identify the gap with respect to the vision and define the roadmap to get there.

And all these conversations is what you should have with your reports and your IO should have with you. Imagine yourself as your Brigade Commander and formulate these questions for your Commanding Officers? What answers do you expect out of them? What do you see you need to educate the COs on?