Presented at InnoTech Oregon 2013. All rights reserved.

1. How To
Communicate
With Your
Pointy-Haired
Boss
Rich Bader
President & CEO

2. How To Communicate with Your Pointy-Haired Boss

3. Geek Values

4. Knowledge IS Power

5. Geeks Value Knowledge

6. Suits and Geeks
 Live in different worlds
 Use different language
 Often seek different rewards
 Have different cultural norms
 View risk differently
 Are mutually dependent on each other

7. The Problem Statement
 According to Claudio Ciborra[9] among others, Information
Systems failures are mostly caused by the inability of our
current methods to identify and analyse the complex Social-
Technical issues that have to be addressed in order to be
successful. [VPEC-T Wikipedia]

8. Complex Social-Technical Issues

9. Start With Assumptions…

10. Geeks Make Stuff Up Too

11. Sometimes, It’s Just Basic Trust

12. The Core Issue is Lack of Trust
 Relationship and task trust
 3 scenarios for proposal approval
 Gaming the system
 Who do you trust?
 People that are “like you”; common social identity
 Low trust trading; an environment of fear
 The Moors and gold miners of Africa
 Common Ground
 What are the geeks’ weapons?

13. The Cold War lives on

14. Wally Teaches Trust

15. Lack of Trust Creates “Friction”

16. The higher the perceived risks, the longer the review

17. VPEC-T
 The terms Values, Policy, Events, Content and Trust are the
principle means through which communication concerning a
topic is viewed. Ensuring that these dimensions are all
considered, while avoiding technological issues at an early
stage helps to create a balanced and complete view of the
system
 Of necessity the language of business users of an
information system embraces ambiguity, tacit knowledge
and willingness to change: Business must operate in the
environment of a constantly changing market. Of necessity
the language of the IT function embraces high specification,
certainty and avoidance of change: The IT function must
minimize change to systems that require cost, time and risk
to implement.[5]

18. VPEC-T Off to a Great Start

19. Even Good Systems Don’t Work With Low Trust

20. Finding Common Ground Builds Trust
 Find common interests other than work to build stronger
relationships
 Based on honesty, benevolence, fairness
 Do you really have their best interests in mind, taken to heart?
 Confidence vs. competence
 Easier to forgive incompetence than a lack of benevolence or honesty
 Geeks focus on competence and may not be benevolent to the suits
 Other constructs, frequently discussed together with trust,
are: control, confidence, risk, meaning and power.

21. Lack of empathy cause mistrust

22. First, you have to want it to work

23. Wilson Social Styles
Analytical Driver
Amiable Expressive
Assertiveness
E
m
o
t
i
v
e
n
e
s
s

24. Personalysis
“Doing” “Collaborating”
“Structuring" “Creating”

25. EasyStreet: Where Geeks and Suits Get Along!
 Call 503-671-1885
 Email richb@easystreet.com
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