- livingthedash.tv

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to join the pastors and staff of Woodlands Church in a lunch session with Roger Berry, Senior Vice-President & CIO of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.

I strongly believe that the business world and the church world have a lot to learn from each other. The outstanding session with Roger was a great example of such knowledge sharing.

He shared some information about the role that technology plays at Disney, presented some of his thoughts on IT governance and strategy, and challenged the church to leverage technology to enable transformational experiences.

Here are some of my notes (more paraphrase than direct quotes) from the session…….

• At Disney, technology doesn’t make the “magic” happen, but it does enable it.
• God has given everyone the gift of technology. It is our responsibility to learn how He wants us to use it.
• When things are good, the demand for technology goes up. When things are bad, the demand for technology goes up.
• IT must have a seat alongside Finance, HR, and Marketing at the governance table.
• IT must be a part of the decision making process. If not, it is a formula for disaster.
• His 5 points of focus: 1) Stability & Performance 2) Talent Management 3) Segment Strategy 4) Total Cost of Ownership 5) New Technology & Innovation
• Disney knows everything about their customers. They are a trusted brand and, therefore, people willingly share lots of personal information.
• We are more alike than you think. Disney has Intenders –> Repeaters –> Worldphiles. The church has Seekers –> Members –> Disciples.
• You don’t have the resources that Disney has, but you do have power that Disney doesn’t have.
• I believe technology is given to us by God, but it is also a tool of the devil.
• Does your technology plan align with the mission and vision of your organization?
• Are you continually leveraging new technology?
• Will technology change your brand?
• Iteration is important at Disney. We release then release then release….improving each time.
• When I was at Campbell Soup, consultants told us that bad marketing decisions 15 years ago caused us to miss an entire generation. Don’t be late.

I heard the following line on the BusinessWeek Innovation of the Week podcast……

Culture eats strategy for lunch.

The wrong organizational culture can take a great strategy and make it good…..a good strategy and make it fail.

The most important strategy of all might be a strategy to create the organizational culture that is necessary to make all the other strategies succeed.

What do you think? Does culture eat strategy for lunch?

(image by Txanoduna)

No, we can’t do that because……..

it wasn’t in the original scope of the project.

it wasn’t requested early enough.

we don’t have resources allocated for that.

we don’t have the proper approvals.

it isn’t part of our annual plan.

it isn’t a high enough priority.

it would introduce too much risk.

There are lots of ways to say No.  I’ve heard them all.  And probably used them all.

Individually, these are all legit reasons for saying No to something.  In fact, all healthy organizations strategically say No to good things when those good things would prevent them from focusing on great things. (I posted about that here.)

However, when strategically saying No turns into an avalanche of Nos on the mountain of bureaucracy you could eventually end up with……..

A Culture of No.  A Culture of No, We Can’t.  Instead of a Culture of Yes, We Can.

What kind of culture does your organization have?

How do you strategically say No, but maintain a Culture of Yes, We Can?