I’ve been thinking about the old Hans Christian Anderson fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes” lately.  It’s been on my mind as I read current articles regaling us with tales of corporate leadership and management run amok.  It also brings to mind some of the fabled business cases of the past (like the SAP implementations at Hershey and Levi Strauss) where a grand vision was cast and hailed by all as a marvel right up until reality set in and bit hard.  Much of what I see along these lines I think can be attributed to some level of what I’ll call “faking maturity” by organizations that, quite frankly, should know better.  And the fall out at times can approach nuclear grade waste.

FROM FAIRY TALE TO MODERN FABLE
Were I to emulate one of my favorite authors, Patrick Lencioni, and write a corporate fable, perhaps I would choose the parallels I see between our old fable and the presumed (or faked) maturity level in far too many organizations.  In fact, I believe it plays directly into the series of articles we offered on “corporate cataracts” and may even be one of the sources for that particular impairment.  The trouble is, we who are risk and project management professionals have to deal with the aftermath and it really isn’t pretty.  Plus, it’s increasing the propensity for our risks to turn quickly into full-blown issues.

So why am I harping on this (again)?  First, let’s have a quick lesson on what most people mean when they talk about organizational maturity.  Full disclosure, I’m not trained in CMMI or anything similar, but I do consider myself a decent student on the subject and I’m pretty well-read.  So here is my “for dummies” interpretation of a five-point maturity scale:

• Level 1 – the company exists
• Level 2 – the company exists and does something well enough to be profitable
• Level 3 – the company exists, does and measures how/what they do
• Level 4 – the company exists, does, measures and significantly improves
• Level 5 – the company creates the standard others strive to emulate

HEAD FAKES
Now, getting to a Level 2 really isn’t all that difficult.  In fact, I’d wager that most companies (if they measured accurately) would show up there with a fairly strong trend toward being a Level 3 in short order.  And that’s where the wheels usually come off.  Knowing who you are and which measurement is the better indicator of a chance to move to the next level seems to be elusive far more often than you might assume.  Companies often fail to grasp the basic fact that you don’t get to just jump up the scale based on your own whim or vision statement.

So rather than only cast some grand vision or roadmap for what might appear to be a mythical future (once CEO I know of projected his company would double in gross sales volume in five years which was tough to do given they were already the largest in their industry), let’s admit that we need to get better at what we are doing right now.  And I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to stretch … but if everything is a stretch goal, if all we do is futurecast that we’ll be so innovative, we miss the opportunity to actually improve.  We claim a higher level of maturity when we are, in fact, struggling to move beyond being a “solid 2”.  We end up cheating ourselves and we inhibit the actual growth that could happen if we let maturity be a process instead of a marketing claim.

Think about this the next time your corporate leadership casts a vision.  Ask yourself if they are being honest about their current state and what it takes to grow into that future.  If they continue to claim to be more than they are … look for more risk in your projects.

Bio:

Mark Moore has held multiple professional positions in IT and business for nearly 
three decades serving organizations both small and large, public and private.  With over half that time as a project manager, he has successfully managed major initiatives
spanning multiple years with a cost of over $3 Million and teams of over 250 people.  He has been a Project Management Professional since 2002, served as President of the PMI Western Michigan Chapter, and presented at multiple NCPMI Annual Events.  Mark holds a Masters of Education degree from Colorado State University with a concentration in Adult Education and Training.  He is an experienced writer, speaker and presenter on project management and team building topics.  Mark is the Principal Consultant for Broken Arrow Associates, LTD.  He and his family live in a rural area outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.  To contact Mark for opportunities or questions, send an e-mail to info@baa-ltd.com.