Adam, from assembleyou, was kind enough to invite me onto their Power Skills Project podcast a couple of weeks ago. It would be very rare to find people who don't work in teams, across the departments and quite often when we have a conversation with somebody, we have an objective in mind, from deciding where to go to lunch all the way to negotiating resources for a project. However, do they get what they want? Do the people they are speaking to get what they want?

In this latest article, learn about the concept of alignment in relationship management and its importance in various business interactions. Discover how to establish alignment through effective communication, active listening, and understanding cultural nuances. Build bridges of trust and create clarity to achieve successful outcomes. Listen to get practical examples and understand the tips on what this means in practice.

Links mentioned in the article:

• https://www.assembleyou.com/

• https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/blog/our-blog-1/post/assembleyou-podcast-alignment-6

• https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/r/Aqi

Other links mentioned in the article:

• Create a Portfolio  https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/blog/tales-from-a-portfolio-manager-2/post/5-create-a-portfolio-of-work-15

• Shared Outcomes Blogpost: https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/blog/tales-from-a-portfolio-manager-2/post/shared-outcomes-8

• Hackathons: https://www.hackerearth.com/hackathon/

• Laboratory environment: https://fabfoundation.org/getting-started/#fab-lab-questions

Imagine the scene. You're a technology director, and you're providing the monthly update to the executive board of your company. The usual finance, project updates, service updates and new initiatives are being discussed. After the regular interruptions and questions, five minutes before the next agenda item, you ask, "Any questions?" 

In this latest blog post, I delve into a scenario that many of us have encountered in our technology roles - presenting a monthly update to the executive board and being caught off guard by unexpected questions about emerging technologies. I vividly describe the moment and the subsequent realization of the need to stay on the front foot when it comes to these evolving trends.

To help professionals like you overcome these situations, I provide eight key enablers that will empower you to excel in your technology role. From aligning team activities with strategic business outcomes to fostering a culture of innovation, I offer practical strategies that will help you navigate the ever-changing technology landscape with confidence.

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Links mentioned in the Podcast:

Free Course Trial: https://bta.news/nmu

Organisation Partner Maturity Model:  https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/strategic-partnerships#OPM 

Shared Outcomes Blogpost: https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/blog/tales-from-a-portfolio-manager-2/post/shared-outcomes-8

Changing Gears Blogpost: https://www.strategicdigitalbusinesspartner.com/blog/tales-from-a-portfolio-manager-2/post/3-changing-gears-13

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Avoiding the Friday afternoon bug: Imagine this scenario. It's 4 o'clock on a Friday, and you receive an urgent voicemail from one of your key account managers. They inform you that a customer can no longer receive order confirmations via the API with your systems. You know it's going to be a weekend of conference calls, troubleshooting, and persuading colleagues to find the root cause and implement a fix, all while hoping to have it resolved by Monday morning. Sound familiar? We've all been there.

In this post, I focus on a higher-level perspective rather than just quick fixes. I re-introduce the concept of the organization partner maturity model, where teams, departments, or organizations demonstrate symptoms related to their level of maturity as reactive partners. I discuss the ramifications of such incidents, which often form a narrative among non-technology peers and can impact budget decisions. I explore the trade-off between additional features and maintenance, often perpetuating a reactive mode that feels like a never-ending cycle.

To break free from this negative feedback loop, I emphasize the importance of trust. Trust measures the quality of our relationships, and it can work either for or against us. By demonstrating good behaviour, clearly communicating and delivering on commitments, negotiating shared outcomes, and actively listening without judgment, we can cultivate trust, build better relationships, and move up the organization's maturity scale toward becoming strategic partners.

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Hi, I'm Jon, and this is a series of short articles called "Tales from a Portfolio Manager". I help people in corporates plan technology across teams. You could be someone who has a portfolio - of clients, projects, services or a backlog of features, and you have to manage them across a wide variety of teams to achieve any number of goals. I have been doing these roles for over 20 years for many corporates, and I have a few tales to tell. The best thing I can do for you is to encapsulate that experience into my advisory, online training and coaching so that you can reflect on how you solve some pretty challenging issues that you come across and, as a result, be more successful in your role. If you like the content, stay tuned for more episodes and try our courses for free with a link in the article description or here https://bta.news/nmu .
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