Learning to change

We have been working with a charity, over the last couple of years, going through clarification of their strategy, applying an IT strategy, and a few IT projects. During this time, we have also been working to help them make systematic use of data, and the organisational change that goes with making that shift. This is, as far as I'm concerned, the cornerstone of good organisational practices, and the most valuable part of approaching IT from a strategic perspective.

This charity works with volunteers who come from the UK and spend several months overseas, as part of the International Citizen Service (ICS). Volunteers apply, interview, learn what country they're going to, get any vaccinations, work on the program, and continue involvement upon their return.

Satisfaction rates were lower than expected, due to a high volume of complaints around expenses. Expenses for the program are all paid, including travel and vaccinations, which can reach £500-1000. Volunteers frequently don’t have that kind of money, so timely expense repayment is crucial.

They originally thought the an automated expenses system would fix everything, at a cost of thousand of pounds per year. They couldn't figure out why people were unhappy - they told volunteers that expenses would be repaid within 4 weeks, and they were sure everything was being repaid in 4 weeks or less (2 weeks for the repayment team to verify expenses, and a payment run every 2 weeks).

When we dug into the data, we learned there wasn't any. Nobody kept track of when expenses came in, when they were signed off, or when they were paid, so nobody knew whether the process worked. They had defined a process, and assumed it worked.

Our first step was to create a spreadsheet to keep track of when expenses came in, and when they were paid. From this data, we learned that it took anywhere between 5 and 115 days to repay expenses. Normal repayment time was anything up to 51 days.

Armed with this data, we gathered everybody responsible for any aspect of expenses repayments in a room and mapped out what the process was supposed to look like, as well as what the process actually looked like. They identified 6 things that could be changed to improve the process, some of which could be undertaken by those in the room, and some of which would require external help.

Armed with the new ideas, we talked to the senior team about the changes that needed to be made, then implemented them and measured their impact by seeing whether the expense repayment time was reduced. Once those ideas were bedded in, new ideas came up, and more after that. From 5-50 days, the team reduced the repayment time 16-22 days, from start to finish. Reliably. And continues to work on it.



Once they understood how to capture the problem, and measure it, they were able to make the process reliable, and fast. Feedback started improving. Reported experiences were better.

The cost of this project was £0, plus time spent learning, which they can now share with the rest of the organisation.

This happens frequently when digging into 'IT' problems. Things which look like IT problems turn out to be something else entirely. This isn't unusual.

So, if approaching IT strategically isn't about software or hardware, what is it about? I define IT strategy as

the application of knowledge to organisational and stakeholder needs^*, with the possibility of IT contributing to the fix, when the time is right

 No matter what needs you look at addressing it, ultimately, none of it matters if you aren't addressing end-users' needs. Focusing on stakeholder needs allows people to step outside their daily roles, seeing things across departments, and helping people understand that they're all working toward the same goals. It moves the conversation from 'accountability' to 'collaboration,' from 'What do I want?' to 'What do our stakeholders need?' With increased collaboration and understanding comes better prioritisation, and increased focus on the things that really matter.

At the end of the day, your organisation is only as effective as its ability to serve its users, whoever they are. Helping everybody focus on external user needs moves people from 'mine' to 'ours,' and helps them think about how their work contributes to the organisations purpose. Giving them the tools necessary to measure their effectiveness allows them to figure out whether what they're doing works, and provides an environment in which they can try to do things differently, and learn whether changes make things better. It becomes a short jump from this to working to constantly improve things, and when you've reached that point, you're set - it does't matter where an organisation starts; if it learns to constantly improve, it'll eventually be the best organisation of its type.