Strategies for Navigating Central Mandates

Central mandates often arise in large organizations—top-down requests to implement horizontal changes across various departments. These directives can range from compliance with new government policies to adopting different technologies or improving overall efficiency. While these mandates aim to streamline operations or ensure compliance, they can sometimes be perceived as disconnected from the unique challenges faced by individual teams.

When faced with a central mandate, I’ve found that a three-step strategy is particularly effective:

Step 1: Work Within the Process

Ignoring a central mandate won’t make it go away. Instead, engage with the existing processes to navigate the request effectively. Here are a few ways to do this:

• Request Clarification: Engage the central team to clarify their expectations and address concerns specific to your domain. For example, ask for specific metrics or criteria that define the success of the mandate.

• Negotiate: If the scope seems overwhelming, negotiate for a different target. Many processes allow for negotiation, escalation, or requests for extended timelines, which help align priorities with your team’s needs.

Step 2: Identify Practical Solutions

Determine a scope, timeline, and implementation path that aligns with your domain while minimizing risks. Since central requests stem from company-wide needs, find ways to incorporate those that benefit your area.

• Align Projects with Goals: Identify projects that address the central request while aligning with your team’s specific business goals. For instance, communicate with your team to gather insights on existing pain points and tackle inefficiencies that directly frustrate users instead of focusing solely on internal processes.

Step 3: Leverage the Mandate for Resources

Use the central request as an opportunity to secure more resources or support. This can help prioritize your previously deprioritized cross-organizational initiatives.

• Prioritize Internal Dependencies: Advocate for higher priority on projects within your dependencies. Perhaps these were deprioritized previously; now, you have the leverage to advance your requests. When advocating for higher priority, frame your projects as critical to both meeting the central mandate and enhancing overall business performance.

Example in Action

Let’s say the central mandate requires a 10% improvement in efficiency across the board. However, you believe your area’s efficiency is already high, and pushing for this target could lead to diminishing returns, user-facing issues, and potential business risks. Here’s how to apply the three steps:

1. Work with the Central Team: Negotiate a lower percentage for efficiency improvement. Gather data on your area’s current performance metrics to support your case, explaining that a uniform 10% may not be realistic for every area. Suggest adjusting targets by the team while maintaining the company-level target.

2. Choose Aligned Projects: Identify projects that can address the central request while also fulfilling your team’s business goals. Focus on inefficiencies that frustrate users first, prioritizing these over internal-facing efficiency projects.

3. Leverage Dependencies: Use the central request to increase the priority of your internal projects. Advocate for support from dependencies that may have previously deprioritized your initiatives, reinforcing the mutual benefits of collaboration.

Conclusion

Navigating central mandates can be challenging, but this three-step framework should help you approach them productively. By working within established processes, identifying practical solutions, and leveraging the situation to benefit your team, you can turn these mandates into opportunities for improvement and collaboration.

I hope you find this framework useful the next time you encounter a central mandate! And please share, what strategies have you found effective in responding to central mandates in your own organization?