Leadership at Every Level – Proven Steps to Improved
Business/IT Relationship Management
Project Scope, September 2015
Headquartered in London, the LEF is a thought leadership community dedicated to helping large
organizations become more successful by identifying and adopting Next Practices at the growing intersection
between business and information technology.
Project overview
Our inability to effectively leverage the Business/IT relationship is not a new problem; indeed, organizations
have been talking about it for the past 40 years. The creation of the BRM role was designed to address
this issue. However, in most cases it has not proved to be an all-purpose remedy. Why does the search
for a dynamic partnership between business and IT continue to elude so many firms? Without more
progress in this area, many IT departments will not fulfil their potential, and provide the digital leadership
their firm needs. Having conducted dozens of BRM company training programmes, the LEF is in a strong
position to identify what works and what doesn’t in meeting this still critical business challenge.
Research approach
Through interviews with organizations that have established the BRM role and/or used the LEF BRM
training programme, this research will aim to find out:
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What methods/processes/activities have helped, and equally what hasn't helped.
Which specific training initiatives have been successful – what tools and techniques did these firms use,
what didn't they find useful and why not?
Are there certain personality types that are predisposed to be successful BRMs, and if so, can firms
develop these skills and attributes in the others?
How will the BRM role change going forward in a world that is increasingly digital and outside-in?
Project deliverables
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A research report that provides proven steps to improve the Business/IT relationship issue in the form of:
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Success stories and lessons learned.
What has helped and why
Key mistakes and root causes.
The cultural context that supports successful implementation of the BRM role.
The skills, qualities and attributes that make a successful BRM.
A roadmap for the future BRM function and/or role
A tool kit to transfer these learnings to your organization.
The research report and executive summary will be published in April 2016.
Project team
Robina Chatham, Research Associate, Leading Edge Forum, is the lead researcher for this project. Robina
is a former CIO and has been a core member of the LEF BRM instructor team for over 10 years. Her prime
focus is on helping senior managers to improve their personal impact and influence. Previous reports include
Getting to be CEO via a Career in IT.
Kirt Mead, Senior Consultant, Leading Edge Forum, will support Robina on this project. Kirt conducts
research projects on a range of issues at the Business/IT interface and has long been the LEF’s lead BRM
instructor, conducting training workshops all around the world.
Participating in this research
We would be delighted to hear from organizations that are interested in contributing ideas and experiences to
our research on Business Relationship Management. To participate, please contact Robina by email at
robina.chatham@leadingedgeforum.com or Kate Taylor at kate.taylor@leadingedgeforum.com.