Overcoming the inertia... of motion - Jinfo for information strategy
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

Strategy and optimisation are two sides of the same problem: the traps of culture and habit. Jinfo's director of research, Robin Neidorf, highlights resources that help you overcome inertia and make progress on strategy.

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Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Peter Drucker originated this statement, and it was later made famous by Mark Fields, president at Ford.

We see it play out all the time in the information teams - and their organisations - we work with. Strategy generates excitement, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of actual change, the grooves of habit trap us in the reality of day-to-day activities.

That's why we at Jinfo emphasise that strategy and optimisation are two sides of the same problem. Strategy is where you create the vision; optimisation is where you do the action.

Getting over inertia

We often think of inertia as the difficulty of getting going, but the principle of inertia actually has two parts:

1. An object at rest will tend to stay at rest;
2. An object in motion will tend to stay in motion.

I've highlighted the second of these because this is where most of us struggle in realising our strategies. We can't stop moving long enough to plan and create the thoughtful changes needed to meet the future.

We understand this problem. All of us face it, no one more so than me! This is why we design Jinfo resources to be practical, bite-sized whilst still meaty, and focused on the next right action.

To make 2020 the year you push past inertia, use the following resources:

Jinfo models

Many of you are familiar with Jinfo models - reports that are designed to enable you to interact with our ideas and frameworks for change instead of just reading about them. The following are our top picks for setting strategy and making the little steps, consistently, to make progress over time:

• Maturity model for value-based operations
• Jinfo model - "known fors"
• Jinfo model - "pillars of service"
• Jinfo model - mapping your service to the Centre of Excellence model

Community session - Jinfo for information strategy

Join our next Community session on Jinfo for information strategy, Monday, 2nd December, to trade ideas with your peers in a facilitated, confidential environment. We talk about what works for changing the culture, one habit at a time, to increase the value and visibility of information in your environment.

If you can't make it to the session, you can access the anonymised notes, published as a report in the Jinfo Subscription.

Workshops: Strategy, optimisation and more

For tailored work with Jinfo analysts, consider adding Jinfo Consulting workshops to your 2020 planning:

• Assessment and planning workshop - benchmarking-based evaluation and workshop to identify high-impact areas for strategic planning

• Future-proof your information service - our best jump-start and guide on strategic planning

• Do better with less: workflow optimisation - tackle the "culture" side of strategy, by changing how work gets done.

Learn more about our workshops, and use the contact forms on any of the pages to start a conversation with our staff.

Whether you have difficulty starting your strategy, or you have the vision but no roadmap yet, Jinfo can help you get where you need to go.

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