5. Stay in touch. All relationships require nurturing, and the one shared by a business and its third-party IT services provider is no exception. Seale explained that one of the biggest mistakes people tend to make is assuming that it’s going to be a “set it and forget it” relationship, when, in fact, it’s one that requires ongoing communication and some tweaking every now and then. Not only does technology change as time goes by—so too do the companies that use it. “Companies’ business models change and their company strategies change, and the service provider wants to make sure that it is staying in line with its customers’ strategies and that what it’s doing is in sync with them,” he said. At the same time, how- ever, it’s up to the IT customer to con- vey organizational changes—which means that the individual charged with managing the third-party pro- vider needs to be in the know on com- pany strategy. “[Sometimes what happens] is that there is an executive that is part of the buying process and all of the right people are involved in that initial purchase, but then over time that relationship gets pushed down to someone who doesn’t necessarily understand the big picture,” Seale explained. “Then when things change in the organization, the relationship isn’t moving with it. As a result, it’s important to have the relationship and the ownership of it sit with the right person.” ; Heinze is a freelance writer and editor. She can be reached at carolynheinze@ free.fr.
WHAT CAN THE ELEC- trical industry learn from a clan of meerkats living in southern Africa? Quite a bit, actually. In That’s Not How We Do It Here!, John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber share the story of a colony of meerkats living in the Kalahari Desert. The book follows Nadia, a bright and curious meer- kat, who is being raised in a bureaucratic and unwa- vering culture. Nadia, frus- trated with the current lea- dership of the clan, leaves the colony in search of new ideas. She eventually finds another colony of meerkats that has a creative culture but little organization. The new clan ultimately faces its own problems as the colony grows in number yet has little structure in place. Nadia finally leaves the creative clan and re- turns home, where she helps initiate a process of merging the two different cultures in her home col- ony, inspiring the meer- kats to thrive. Throughout the book, Kotter and Rathgeber explore three starkly different types of orga- nizational culture: a bu- reaucratic culture that suppresses creativity and cannot adapt to new chal- lenges; a creative culture that lacks organization, limiting its growth; and a culture that combines management and creativ- ity, allowing the organiza- tion to prosper. Leading innovation in a large company is a hot topic in today’s business world, particularly as it relates to the new gen- eration of ambitious pro- fessionals. How many times has a great idea been shot down by corporate bureaucracy? That’s Not How We Do It Here! is mindful of illus- trating the organizational difference between man- agement and leadership. As the book concludes, leadership is concerned with vision, while manage- ment is more operations oriented. Leadership ener- gizes us to innovate and propels us into a prosper- ous future. Management, on the other hand, gets regular work done effi- ciently, even in large sys- tems. The reader will learn the advantages and disad- vantages of both extremes —and that the best solu- tion lies somewhere in the middle. ; Dan Nitowsky, president of Cleveland-based Leff Electric, has more than 20 years of industry experience and has erved on the Board of Direc- tors for both NAED and the Electrical League of Ohio. He can be reached at dnitowsky leffelectric.com.
THAT’S NOT HOW WE DO IT HERE!
