1.1 GIS Manager or coordinator

As you read this, I encourage you to comment. I would love to hear your take on this factor - Paul

About this factor

• It is in category 1. Organizational Structure & Leadership (look in through the top of your agency)
• It is part of the Workforce Initiative and is a critical driver for Strategic Workforce Capability.
• This factor is in both the base model and Slimgim-T (Transportation)
• This factor is difficult to improve. 

How to assess:

Is there one permanent senior leadership position ultimately responsibile for your Enterprise Geospatial program and who represents the interest of all business units including those of Information Technology

Low maturity:

• there is no permanent dedicated role therefore no single point of accountability
• there are coordinators or leads in different silos, focused on their own needs (ex transportation, engineering, land management, planning, IT)
• there is a coordinator within a single department, tasked to serve the corporation, but doesn't, can't or won't.

High maturity:

• there is a position in the org chart at a level sufficient to guide the geospatial program across all divisions and operating with agility while empowering business units to do more with data.
• the geospatial manager oversees the centralization, integration, management, distribution and use of spatial data as a corporate asset regardless of software that is used to create it (CAD, GIS, etc.). 
• the role exists and goes beyond GIS. Titles may include Chief Data Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, Geospatial Manager or Chief Geographic Officer. Note: Slimgim 5.0 will remove the term GIS from this factor

Difficulty (how likely will you move the needle on this factor):

• No role:  ask, how likely  is it that the position will be created permanently in your organization this year?​
• Multiple silos: ask, how likely will your agency reduce the number of superfluous managers and merge silos under one Enterprise entity this year?
• "Corporate GIS": ask, how likely will you be able to completely modernize your legacy GIS/Mapping division starting with a  strategically placed and enterprise focused role.

The "Adaptable hierarchy to align with change" factor is a good litmus test on how easy it will be to tackle challenges related to this factor.

Scores around factor 1.1 are difficult to improve, particularly in organizations where leadership & HR have low levels of #gettingitness, where fiefdoms & turf wars exist, change is slow and traditional bureaucratic mindsets and HIPPOs [1] exist. 

​In these environments, it will be extremely challenging to convince leadership of the true value of geospatial (our definition of it, not their potentially outdated assumptions of what it is) and the importance of creating the right position, at the right level and with the authority and responsibilities required to transform the organization with location data. The C-Level may say they're bought into "GIS" but this rarely translates into any forward momentum on GIS modernization or enterprise developments. Any change is often nothing more than a new coat of paint over the status quo.

We see many instances where the organization has made efforts to centralize & modernize their GIS divisions to create a core Geospatial Section with a modern focus on the IS of GIS. Traditionally, departments were setup to focus on the G but lacking the skills to transform with IS [2]. Some have distributed power users (not to be confused with decentralized) who have data responsibility. In many cases, maturity is held back (2-Departmental or 3-Corporate) by one single competing division intent on maintaining the status quo. More on this later when we talk about factors related to buy-in, commitment & enterprise strategic alignment

Impact (how significant is this factor from a holistic enterprise view ):

This factor has a huge impact​ on the success of the program.  Without a dedicated position having clear enterprise roles & responsibilities, your geospatial program will continue to struggle and fall behind.

Strategy (Workforce Initiative)

More information about the Workforce Initiative coming in future blog postings.

Have a peak at your peers

Here are some of your peers that have an Enterprise level of maturity (4) for this factor.

Izabela Miller - Salt Lake County, Utah

• Title: Business Technology Solutions Manager 
• Division: Salt Lake County Information Services
• Team composition: (TBD)
• Scope:  (TBD)

​Resources to learn more & tune your mindset

[1] BEWARE: THIS HIPPO KILLS YOUR COMPANY!​
https://corporate-rebels.com/hippo-effect/

[2] Attention GIS Managers: New Strategies for New Times
​blogs.esri.com/esri/esri-insider/2014/09/22/attention-gis-managers-the-odds-are-stacked-against-you/