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

Culture Shock is usually an understatement when an organization makes the commitment to implement a

BRM (Business Relationship Management) Capability. Many traditional philosophies will be challenged right

from the beginning which is why a well thought out plan is a must have.

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Today, we’ll cover: two key elements for change adoption, purpose of a BRM Capability, a tool for use,

factors to change and 5 key steps for success.

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Key Elements

In order to have an effective BRM Capability an organization must be prepared to do the following:

Adopt(take up and or start to use or follow)and Embrace(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.

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Traditionally when we think of an operating model we immediately think about the execution of processes

and procedures within an organization. However, theheart and soul of any organization is its culture.

Workplace culture can be described as the character and personality of an organization. It’s what makes your

organization unique and is the sum of its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors and

attitudes.Workplace culture is as important, if not more important, than your business strategy because it

either strengthens or undermines your business and the objectives it is trying to achieve.

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BRM Capability

A BRM Capability is one-part strategy and two parts culture. According to the BRMI (Business Relationship

Management Institute), Business Relationship Management is both an organizational role and a discipline. As

an organizational role, the Business Relationshipis a connector and translator between the provider

organization to a business unit, and the business unit to the provider organization. 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 their consumers.

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Developing a workplace culture that fosters a new BRM capability transforms the way Business Partners and

Provider Organizations interoperate and is the heart and soul for the adoption and execution a BRM

Capability. The question still remains how does this accomplished?

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As BRM’s we’ve grown accustomed to being “agents of change”and understand reengineering the culture of

a workplace is a monumental undertaking. We don’t subscribe to the Myth “Hoping that the journey to the

future state will be simple and compelling.”As the Transition Leader, the Business Relationship Manager

(BRM) will be instrumental in the adoption of the new BRM Capability which includes the smooth adoption of

the BRM role.

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Tricks of the Trade

Let’s explore a tool that a BRM can use to ensure greater success for the implementation of a BRM Capability.

Business Transition Management (BTM) is normally used by BRM’sto ensure that business areas impacted by

an initiative understand and are prepared for the business transition (not just technology)to minimize

business operations disruption. This same tool can be leveraged to prepare an entire organization for the

adoption of a new BRM Capability.

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BTM is a deliberate approach for managing the human dynamics before, during and after implementing a

business or in our case an organizational change initiativeto prevent “value leakage”.Remember value

leakage is the measure net difference between potential value and realized value. BTM identifies shifts in:

Processes, Behaviors, Language/Terminology, Roles, Structures, Reporting Relationships, Teaming

Interactions, Culture, Day-to-Day Operations, Physical Locations and Technology. BTM identifies who is

impacted and the network of sponsors, change agents and advocates needed to make the change happen.

BTM paves the way for strong and sustained sponsorship. BTM engages stakeholders, created buy-in, and

prepares individuals and groups by determining who should be engaged and how.

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Understanding Change

Now that we’ve identified our tool to assist in ensuring the change. Let’s talk a little about what’s required to

make meaningful change to take place and finally the steps required. The Formula for Change was created by

Richard Beckhard and David Gleicher, refined by Kathie Dannemiller and is sometimes called Gliecher’s

Formula. This formula provides a model to assess the relative 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. (UxVxFS) >R If the product of these

three factors is greater than R(=Resistance) then change is possible.

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FiveKey Steps

1. Build Urgency for Change. While describing “Pain” does drive change, the strongest motivator of change tends to be a current 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 what employees care about.
3. Identify Key Roles.Your transition network is the key to unlocking existing organizational dynamics to move the organization towards adoption of the BRM Capability. Several key roles will be needed. They are: Stakeholders - those individuals impacted in some way and must change their skills, knowledge,processes, behaviors and mindset.; Initiating Change Leader- the person who initiates, sponsors and drives and validates the change for all Stakeholders.; Sustaining Change Leaders – those who have the local power to validate the change within their respective functional areas.; Change Agents – those who guide the planning and implementation of the change such as a BRM.; Advocates – those who personal influence can be leverage but are not sustaining or initiating change leaders.
4. Clarify the Change. Be prepared to answer the following questions: How will we act differently? How will be 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. Some are: Unintentional confusion, Covert sabotage, Unwillingness of Change Leaders asking and challenging those required to change, 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 change those down the organization tree.

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The No-Go Gauge

Last but not least 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 allotted

to ensure 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. It will help to ensure precise clarity around roles and responsibilities and should be agreed upon

by both parties.

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So, if our goal is to mitigate culture shock and develop a workplace culture that fosters a brand-new BRM

Capabilityeachof these items need to be in place, if not our experience has taught us that “Culture Will Eat

Strategy for Lunch”!

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