Starting a new position

By applying the CUBE® framework Core Theory, Alex can much quicker connect all the different pieces and components that together make up the organisation. And most importantly, it helps Alex identify and establish a good foundation for collaboration with colleagues.

This can both reduce the stress of not understanding how things work in the new organisation by organising everything into a clear structure, as well as help identify important information or assets that aren’t included in the on-boarding procedure.

The first thing Alex does is to identify the stakeholders for the organisation as a whole and the team Alex is working with. 

To identify the stakeholders for the organisation as a whole, Alex starts by asking questions to colleagues: 

• “Who affects our ability to operate as an organisation?”
• “Who is affected by the operations of our organisation?”

Alex notes the findings about the stakeholder groups, their needs and what the organisation does to fulfil those needs down in a Stakeholder analysis template.

Alex then does the same thing, but this time Alex asks in reference to the team Alex is working with.

After performing this, Alex now understands who the key stakeholders are, what the organisation does as a whole to fulfil those needs, as well as who the most important stakeholders are for Alex’s team.

With this information, Alex then continues to review the organisations owner’s direction. Alex does this by reviewing the following documents:

• Vision
• Strategy
• Values
• Business Idea
• Code of Conduct
• Financial Model
• Policies
• Statements in the annual report
• Owners directive (if relevant and possible)
• CEO directive (if relevant and possible)

..and other related documents that state the owners will and direction. 

By reviewing the owners will, Alex builds an understanding where the organisation is heading, plans how to get there as well as how it should act.  

This all reflects down to Alex team as Alex must understand how the team shall operate to contribute to the organisation’s direction.

Now that Alex understands where the company is heading, Alex needs to understand more what needs to be done now, and what frames for operations that Alex and the team needs to operate within. 

To understand this, Alex reviews the following documents:

• Business plans
• Budgets
• Operating Model
• Management Systems and standards
• Organisational charts
• Development plans (Project, Programs)
• Relevant processes

..and other related documents that state what Alex and the team are expected to do, and how they are expected to do it in relation to the rest of the organisation. 

As example, Alex now understands how the team fits within the bigger organisation both from a management perspective by understanding how the governance works, but also from an operational perspective by understanding the processes that the team operates within. This gives Alex information which other team are dependant on Alex’s team, as well as which teams Alex’s team depends on.  

With this information, Alex starts building collaborative and operational relationships with key teams. Alex also now understands the frames that Alex and the team needs to operate within so that Alex can provide and strengthen the teams ability to contribute to meeting the stakeholders needs.

Now that Alex understands how to operate, Alex and the team must get clarity if the they are operating effectively or not.

Since Alex has an understanding of the stakeholders, the owners direction and the leadership, Alex can now review existing information, metrics and data availability and quality (both for Alex’s team but also for other relevant teams).

When reviewing the information, Alex identifies some outdated information, some gaps where the team needs more insight as well as opportunities where Alex’s team can provide better data for other teams working in the same process.

Alex is now starting to build a backlog of improvement activities.

Now that Alex has an understanding how the organisation works together and how Alex’s team fits into all this, it is time for Alex to learn how to practically operate.

In a modern business, this usually done by actively leading and executing activities through technology such as machines or IT applications. Alex now learns how the different IT applications works and how to fulfil his responsibilities as a manager. Alex learns how to use technology such as:

• The budget and prognosis application
• The HR management application
• The intranet
• The ticketing system
• The invoicing application
• The copying machine
• The smart phone

.. and all the other applications and technologies that Alex needs to operate in the role as manager.

Now that Alex knows how the organisation and the department is intended to work, Alex observes how the daily operation is executed. Are the daily activities being performed as intended? Are there regular deviations? Are colleagues aware how things are intended to work? Or is operations working effectivly but the above layers does not reflect it?

After observing daily operations, Alex now has everything needed to start executing in practice. And so Alex starts to lead the team and perform his operational duties as manager.

During the introduction, Alex identified several opportunities for improvement. To get started with these, Alex starts working according to the Asset Lifecycle Process and together with the team, accelerates their continual improvement.