A question which has come up within the BRM community on the Business Relationship Management Institute is, is it possible to fast track BRM maturity? Can we skip some rungs on the maturity ladder? Or even just set up the function in its most mature state rather than setting up low and maturing up?
Lets look at the first scenario, a low maturity level BRM function that wants to fast track and jump rings of the maturity ladder. The most comprehensive maturity ladder framework is on the BRMI web site and gives 5 levels of maturity, they are:
1) Ad-hoc
2) Order Taker
3) Service Provider
4) Trusted Advisor
5) Strategic Partner
Each level has steps to get to the next level so can you really jump from an ad-hoc or order taker straight up to a strategic partner? Well I think you could but you will be making the change hard for everyone. The splitting of the levels allows for a transition plan to be put in place, benefits to be realised and value to be delivered before moving to the next stage. If you try and roll all of these changes into one big change you increase the level of risk, you intensify the level of resistance you are likely to encounter and any failures will be harder to spot and rectify before they become larger issues.
The other scenario is different though, if the function doesn’t exist at all it would be wise to set it up as close to a strategic partnership as possible. I say as close as possible as a certain amount of the strategic partnership needs to be earned over time, through collaborative working and business value delivery. You can certainly aim high though and set up as much at a strategic level as possible, it will save a painful re-positioning exercise later!
So although I would advise against skipping the rungs on the maturity ladder I would suggest setting up as high as you can and maturing as quickly as possible without increasing the risk and making sure you demonstrate the business value delivery along the way. After all the sooner you act as a strategic partner the sooner you can deliver the maximum business value possible for your organisation.
