When we launch an ITSM adoption effort, we have plans for everything: project plans, resource plans, documentation on the process scope, timelines, milestones and so on.  But the one thing that is almost never planned for is often the biggest challenge to most ITSM adoption efforts: managing the political landscape.

Politics is often viewed as a dirty word or an evil that should be wiped from the face of an organization.  But politics are a reality in any group of people and is really just a way of saying that we all have motivations, needs and aspirations that we may not share openly with others, but which may drive our behavior in some way.  It is a fact of life, yet most ITSM adoption efforts spend little to no time understanding the political landscape nor devising a strategy to manage it.

Now, I’m not advocating that you should actually write a formal Political Action Plan.  The point is that it is not enough to merely acknowledge (or bemoan) that politics exist.  You must actively seek to understand the politics and culture of your organization and take steps to either leverage or mitigate it in an effort to achieve your project objectives.  Let me also be clear that actively managing politics is not the same thing as manipulating people to get what you want.  The goal of any ITSM adoption effort should be to create a collaborative and energized working environment - and manipulation will never get you there.  But you also cannot ignore that while each of us may express our desire to do things “for the good of the company,” we all have things that drive us.  The better you understand those drivers, the more successful you will be in making your adoption effort a success.

Your conceptual Political Action Plan must operate at two levels:

• on the broader cultural landscape of your organization
• on an individual basis 

Every organization has a unique culture and a set of unwritten rules which guide how teams and business units interact.  You must start by understanding and cataloging this cultural landscape in a cultural map: the first component of the Political Action Plan. Creating a cultural map is critical for two reasons.  First, it will help you develop an appropriate governance structure.  In order for an ITSM adoption effort to succeed, it is critical that you have rock-solid executive support and that you craft a mechanism to enable rapid decision making.  The second reason is that creating your cultural map will help you clearly identify the elements of the culture that you will have to work through, around or perhaps even change to ensure the success of your effort. 

The second component of your Political Action Plan deals with individual considerations.  There are a number of key individuals who will play a significant role in the success or failure of your initiative and it is critical that you begin with identifying them.  In identifying these people, your first and foremost objective is to seek understanding.  Why are they supporting your effort?  Or why are they not?  Do they see your initiative as a threat to their position or career aspirations?  Or perhaps something that they feel may help advance their career?  Is there something within your initiative that could impact their bonus or compensation plan in some way?  Were they responsible for building the team or process you are trying to improve?  Do they hold themselves out as an expert in the area that your initiative addresses, but are not actively associated with your project?  Do they simply feel that they have something to contribute, but are not being heard?

As the leader of an ITSM adoption effort, it is very easy to assume that everyone is just as excited as you are about your initiative.  In reality, the reactions within the organization will range from excitement to hopefulness to skepticism to cynicism to fear to outright (although often hidden) hostility.  Failing to recognize and deal with this fact is what leads most ITSM efforts to hit major political roadblocks early and often during execution.  If you instead take the time to actively understand these motivations and concerns, you can craft strategies to assuage the fears and meet the needs of your sponsors, stakeholders and team members. 

There is nothing disingenuous about the process I have described above.  By understanding both the organizational culture and the personal motivations of your stakeholders, you are simply seeking to communicate and act in a way that is personally meaningful to them. By doing so, you will break through the common political barriers that often destroy ITSM adoption efforts and build a strong and cohesive team that can affect tremendous, positive change within your organization.