{"id":17299,"date":"2025-10-15T14:14:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ismportal.nl\/uncategorized\/build-on-your-people-not-on-roles\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T09:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T09:35:33","slug":"build-on-your-people-not-on-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ismportal.nl\/en\/blogs-en\/build-on-your-people-not-on-roles\/","title":{"rendered":"Build on your people, not on roles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When organizations want to apply frameworks like ITIL or DevOps, they usually start by designing practices and processes from the top down: <em>What needs to be done? Which roles are required? <\/em><br \/>\nBut we rarely ask the most important question: <em>How do we ensure that the people in the team can actually do this work?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s exactly where things often go wrong. People are not job descriptions.<x id=\"gid_0\"><\/x>But it\u2019s the people \u2014 the professionals \u2014 who actually create IT services. They are the heart of service delivery.  <\/p>\n<p>Yet as organizations, we automatically assume that people can and will simply adapt to the roles we design. We expect them to go along with every new structure, every new process, every reorganization of \u201cthe practice.\u201d We design around roles and teams \u2014 not around the people who actually do the work.  <\/p>\n<h2><strong>Walk the gemba*<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The result is predictable: we fail to tap into the potential of our professionals. We give them no time to grow, no clear goals to connect with, and no KPIs that are achievable, motivating, and fulfilling. We hardly ever tell them how their work contributes to customer value \u2014 missing the chance for positive feedback and pride. We don\u2019t go to \u201cthe gemba,\u201d but sit in meetings instead. We don\u2019t see what really happens, and therefore we don\u2019t know what\u2019s possible \u2014 nor do we appreciate what\u2019s going well.    <\/p>\n<p>In addition, we forget to listen. We don\u2019t ask what teams need \u2014 we give them what we think the organization needs. We don\u2019t involve them in designing the change, yet we still expect commitment and ownership.  <\/p>\n<p>And then we\u2019re surprised when engagement doesn\u2019t follow.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Failure<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As long as we keep treating professionals as mere executors instead of valuable people, we will continue to fail.<br \/>\nThat\u2019s why so many implementations of ITIL, DevOps, and similar frameworks fail: they\u2019re not built on systems thinking that sees people as an integral part of the system, nor are they focused on results that engage people. They concentrate on processes and tools, while real value is created by the people who work with them. <\/p>\n<p>At its core, this holds true: you can manage perfectly well without tools, even without processes \u2014 but not without the professionals who do the work.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Key principles<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Don\u2019t see people as a group, but as individuals \u2014 the art of leadership lies in bringing people together to form a successful team.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make practical decisions <\/strong>\u2014 choose not what must be done, but what can be done by the people you have.<br \/>\u201cIf you can\u2019t staff your solution, you don\u2019t have a solution.\u201d<br \/>A decision that cannot be executed by your people is a wrong decision. <\/li>\n<li><strong>SWYRA \u2013 Start Where You Really Are<\/strong> \u2013 Start with real behavior and the current way the organization works \u2014 not with the ideal design. Change is not a decision, but a continuous process. Professionals need time to change \u2014 and leaders need even more.  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It\u2019s not about being right \u2014 it\u2019s about being successful.<br \/>Not about having a perfect way of working, but a practical one.<br \/>Not about doing everything that\u2019s asked, but about doing everything that\u2019s <em>achievable<\/em>.  <\/p>\n<p>Build change from the bottom up, on the strength of your people. Provide direction with a clear vision \u2014 and give them the opportunity to grow. <\/p>\n<h2><strong>IT service management is organizational change.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s a shared journey in which customer value is created by professionals, facilitated by leaders, and supported by processes and tools.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWalk the <em>gemba\u201d comes from Japanese<\/em> and means \u201c<strong>go to the workplace \u2014 where value is created.<\/strong>\u201d In Lean, it\u2019s used to emphasize that leaders should be present on the work floor regularly.<\/p>\n<p>Wim Hoving<br \/>\nResult-oriented connector of people and methods<br \/>\nArchitect of the ISM method<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Get <a href=\"https:\/\/ismportal.nl\/en\/contact\/\">in touch with us<\/a> if you want to give real substance to results-driven leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When organizations want to apply frameworks like ITIL or DevOps, they usually start by designing practices and processes from the top down: What needs to be done? Which roles are required? But we rarely ask the most important question: How do we ensure that the people in the team can actually do this work? And [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38,37],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-17299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-blogs-en","tag-eng"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Build on your people, not on roles - ISM Portal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In IT, we often let ourselves be distracted by technology. 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