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• Negating threats?
• Does it fit with information audits?
Selecting options
Selecting options is about risk:
• Organisation: the new strategy may affect management and operational staff.
• Political – challenges to government policy encroaching on an organisation’s area of
interest or mandate.
• Financial implication – is it affordable?
• Technical – need new ICTs? Can they be supported? Are they suitable?
8. The ICM Strategy Development Process
8.1 Issue 9 - The ICM Strategy Development (“ABC”) Process – Mr. Peter Walton
The discussion highlighted the following:
• A = Alliance - ICM development process involves alliance which brings up the issue
of trust and mutuality. It must be absolutely clear what alliance is, its purpose,
commitment and obligations. The alliance must be formalised or there can be other
written instruments, for an example a code of conduct, to guide an informal alliance.
• It was deliberated that informal agreements can be problematic. Another concern
regarding alliances is the matter of ownership (of the data, information, products,
etc), which can impact relationships. In some instances ownership maybe shared but
it must be an equitable relationship. This must be clearly stipulated in the formal
agreement. When forming an alliance it is clear that some organisations carry a
greater burden of responsibility.
• B = Bargain - Management and financial issues must be very clear in any formal
agreement. People are making their time available for joint action therefore it must
clearly indicated who does what. Bargains have the advantage of combining the
resources of organisations and variations of skills and capacity could be a benefit to
the programme. Organisations bring funding to the alliance or they may access donor
funding as a group.
• C = Compromise – any agreements involve compromise of one form or another.
The parties involved have to agree on a set of standards in order to achieve common
goals. The extent of money and management contribution must be clear. In the
agreement one partner may have a greater financial and management burden, and
as a result one partner may lose flexibility and the freedom to act independently.
• The issue of selling and marketing of strategy was highlighted. People that are
enthusiastic about the strategy can be used as champions to sell the strategy. It is
important to clearly communicate the strategy to all affected parties to reduce the
fear of uncertainty induced by change and ensure participation - “the strategy is
political statement”. A strategy document can succeed as political statement but fail
as a plan (e.g. in Iran) or it can succeed as planning document but fail as political
statement (e.g. India).
15 | P age