In this post, I share how CIO's and their teams can develop the challenger mindset and how that can benefit the entire organisation:
- Challenge something (policy, practice, process, assumption, belief systems, behaviours) rather than someone.
- Be soft when challenging. Nudge using exploratory ways like "5 Why's" to arrive at the basic assumption / belief systems / behaviours
- Relentlessly focus on the values of your organisation. Every organisation is centered on some function (sales centric, marketing centric, product centric, partner centric, etc). Challenging status quo in these functions have the highest returns on investments.
- Relentlessly challenge status quo in your own organisation first. This has multiple benefits - you see the benefits for your org and at the same time, you build up social capital with other teams so you can credibly challenge the status quo in their respective functions.
- Build a community of champions. Start with your own teams and enroll people whose lives your team has impacted positively. This community of champions are then your feet on the ground and are multipliers of the challenger mindset that you want to seed within your organisation.
- Run internal debates. Find topics that are top of mind and run debates, inviting people from different background (sometimes vendors and partners as well) who can argue from both sides of the debates. For example - Is AI good for your business (yes and no). You can then pick and choose from both the perspectives and stay away from being on the extremes.
- Run simulations. One of the biggest challenge that established companies face today comes from digitally native startups. Can you organise simulations and invite teams to come up with ideas to disrupt your current business? Then use these ideas to decide if you want to invest in them or to find a way to mitigate the risks posed by these ideas.
Some of the qualities that we need to develop in order to be have a challenger mindset:
- The ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
- The ability to absorb pressure and stay calm.
- The ability to create, maintain and alleviate creative tension.
- The ability to stay focused on the "something" that you are challenging even when "someone" feels threatened by it.
- The ability to access hitherto unaccessible resources by being resourceful.
- Tenacious with a positive attitude.
- Be trustworthy.
As someone once said, "Intelligent challenges are like the oxygen for progress".
"The riskiest thing one can do is just maintain status quo" - Bob Iger, Chairman - Disney
