IT Solutions Providers: Which Lake Are You In?

By Israel Lang, Executive Consultant, HTG Peer Groups

When I was in college, I spent my summers working at a YMCA camp. I was responsible to keep all the trails, playing fields, and general areas mowed. I also did some general maintenance stuff around the camp as well. Occasionally, I would get to do some work down by the lake. It was here that I would witness hundreds of kids get in a canoe, many of them for the first time.

Most of the time, I could tell who the first timers were. They would be the ones who generally just went in circles. The veterans would be across the lake before the newbies even made it out of the shallow waters. The difference between the two groups of canoers, besides some experience and confidence, was that the more experienced canoers agreed on where they were going and worked together to get there.

Today, I see the lessons I observed in my time at the YMCA camp play out in the consulting and mentoring that I am privileged to do with clients throughout the world. I sometimes witness organizations that are struggling to get out of the shallow waters. In other cases, I see companies who are stuck in the middle of the lake and are struggling to determine where they are going beyond that point. Finally, I see companies that make it across the lake. They celebrate the successful journey and the achievement of their goal. However, they also begin scanning the horizon for the next place to explore, the next goal to achieve.

What makes the latter group so successful? I think it comes down to a few things.

• First, the CEO and many times his or her leadership team have developed a compelling vision. They know which “lake” they are going to put their boats into and they know where on the other side of the lake they want to end up. They get excited about that mission.
• Second, they communicate that vision and mission to everyone on the team. Everybody around the boats knows where they want to end up. When they get to the middle of the lake, they don’t lose their focus. They know what the objective is and what awaits them when they get there.
• Third, they all know how they are going to get there. They know the strategy and tactics they will employ to get there. They will be in boats. They aren’t building rafts. They aren’t swimming across the lake. They aren’t walking the shoreline around the lake. They are getting in a boat.
• Finally, once in the boat they know their role in getting to the other side of the lake. For some it means providing the muscle as they work the oars. For others it is motivating the team as they row. For others it is doing the planning, logistics, and providing mid-course corrections as unexpected obstacles arise.

At the end of the day it is about having a compelling vision and mission and communicating that throughout the organization, what lake we are in and the point across the lake where we are trying to end up. Then the next step is defining how we are going to get to that point, the strategy and tactics to accomplish our objectives. And finally, it’s important to determine who we need in the boat and what roles they need to successfully fulfill to propel us all safely across the lake.

When meeting with a client, I normally end this discussion by asking the following series of questions. Are you and your teams in the same lake? If in the same lake, are you in the same boat or different boats? If in the same boat, are you all rowing in the same direction?

Strategic leadership is all about answering these questions and working towards having everyone closely aligned: knowing which lake they are in, where on the horizon they are trying to get to, what boats we will be using to get there, and their role when on the boat.

The kids in the canoes at the YMCA camp who spent time on the lake getting to where they wanted to go always came ashore with huge smiles on their faces. The others came ashore looking exhausted and frustrated. I hope your organization experiences more of the former than the latter.

Israel Lang is part of a team of coaches and consultants serving the IT industry. Prior to joining the HTG Peer Groups staff, he spent almost 20 years in various roles in service and operations at a solutions and managed services provider.  Israel’s company was a member of HTG for many years, and he is a strong proponent of the peer group experience.  He loves helping companies go further faster through developing executives, managers, and teams into effective leaders who reach their fullest potentials. You can reach him at ilang@htgpeergroups.com or on Twitter @israellang.