Future-proofing your information service, in the company of peers
Jinfo Blog

By Scott Brown

Abstract

Co-facilitator Scott Brown reflects on the Community series "Future-proof your information service" which offered participants the opportunity to work on structured approaches and to take practical frameworks and models back to their organisations.

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Jinfo Subscribers from various industries came together over three months to discuss their key stakeholders, services, and strategies for the next three years. The "Future-proof your information service" Community series wrapped up this month, and it got me thinking differently about how we position our services in our organisation.

Through participation in the sessions, delegates were particularly keen to gain insight from and interact with peers, get individual feedback from myself and co-facilitator Robin Neidorf (Jinfo's director of research), and to get materials to share with their teams in working through strategic discussions.

Focused environment

One of the key benefits of the sessions was a structured approach that brought together Jinfo themes and content in a comprehensive way. "Jinfo Subscribers are familiar with some of the approach and content," one participant noted. "This session really helped to pull it all together into a coherent framework that I can use with my team."

This guided approach, along with team exercises and dedicated time to meet and interact, created a focused environment that helped members incorporate many concepts and key areas into their strategic discussions, and to share their experiences and pain points.  

Defining value

In one of the exercises, attendees examined their "known fors" - how they want their stakeholders and customers to think of their service - and defined the unique value that the information function provides in their organisations. In looking at these "known fors" and defining pillars of service offerings, delegates took an intensely customer-focused approach to their value and how they talk about what they provide to their organisations.

The discussions ranged from thinking broadly about stakeholders, to issues of moving away from the sometimes more comfortable, transactional services that we do really well in order to bring more value to our "A-list" stakeholders.

In having the opportunity to co-facilitate and work with the delegates, I found myself constantly taking notes to bring back to my own organisation as we work through our own discussions.

But what really stood out for me was the unique opportunity to hear from peers, especially in a focused area such as strategic planning. Attendees told us that as well - they most valued the chance to interact with peers, and, going forward, want even more time to do so.

Strategy can't be neglected

We often push off our strategy planning time due to the urgency of our daily work. For me, another key benefit of the series was the dedicated time to think about strategy in the company of peers. Personally, I’m looking forward to co-facilitating another series, and the opportunity to plan in more time in for peer discussions.

Join us for "Improving information team workflow and operations" running from April to June or "Whole-portfolio strategy and management" running from July to September. 

If you don't yet have a Jinfo Subscription, start yours today to access these sessions and much more.

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