Who cares for what in your organization and why is it important for the technology and innovation role to care for it too?

Every business day, in addition to the complex business rules, we navigate a labyrinth of relationships in our organizations. The maze is not always well-lit or marked and sometimes a wrong turn can result in a disaster for the organization or for us. Adding to the complexity, the larger the organizations the more complex things tend to get. And as teams form and morph so do different goals, priorities, and needs merge for each department.

As a professional in a technology and innovation role in a large organization, I find that my role touches all departments. Sometimes working with >6 teams on certain projects including >20 people in conversations, and from time to time including the whole organization on larger scale projects. Having been included in a multitude of projects of varying complexity and scope, it became important for me to understand each department’s unique goals and needs. Today, this helps me prioritize projects, build bridges, create project outlines, and more effectively speak for the organization as a whole when needed.

It’s worth mentioning that team goals and priorities change from time to time, the most common reason being team head turnover, so it’s always a good idea to annually check in with each department head to update goals and priorities for their teams. This way I can ensure that my technology and innovation roadmap is aligned with their goals and have an impact on the organizational outcomes. The way I keep track of this is fairly simple, I keep a Google Sheet with each department head’s name, their goals, and a timestamp for when I obtained the information so I can follow up the following year.

While I spoke mainly about an internal structure, we should always keep in mind that one of the most valuable stakeholders in all of this is the organization’s customers.