What Does Voltron Have To Do With Technology Management In Tough Economic Times?
The three teams that, if combined, will become a mighty robot.
Recently I was asked to write some ideas about how to creatively manage technology costs in a financially hostile environment. I may eventually share that content here, but for today, I wanted to focus on a theme that emerged while I was composing those answers.
For those of you (us) that grew up in the awesome 80s, you hopefully remember the Voltron cartoon series. For this post to work, we’re going to pretend the only real Voltron was Vehicle Voltron. Yeah, I know there was Lion Voltron and whatever that weird multi-arm thing they called Gladiator Voltron was. But the point is that in the Vehicle Voltron series there were three teams: Air, Land, and Sea. Each team could operate as individual vehicles, or as a team, they could form a super specialized vehicle. But when needed, all three teams could reconfigure and form the mighty Voltron robot that would then dispatch all enemies with a mighty sword or extra bad ass spinning blades.
What in world does this have to do with successful technology management in tough economic times? What occurred to me is that when things get difficult, forming a super robot from the IT, Finance, and Human Resource/Talent teams yields some really amazing super powers within an organization.
While this might be a bit narrow, I believe that three key vital fluids in any modern organization are: People, Money, and Technology. A significant disruption in any of them impacts the other two in some form and eventually the rest of the organization will feel it too. Conversely, while it may be possible for one or two of these to be done “well” it won’t be possible for long without the third component. Furthermore, in an adverse situation, trying to pick which of the three to cut back or ignore becomes a real trilemma for an organization.
My take was simple, in a tough economic climate the way to manage costs was to actually double-down in these three areas; especially with their forces directed towards talent. To become hyper focused on them because as a super Voltron robot, they would support the organization.
Here are a few specific talent specific examples I considered.
First, when technical talent is expensive or hard to find locally, an IT/HR/Finance partnership can yield really creative ways to find talent. The teams can unlock opportunities for each other by utilizing technology that allows global collaboration. Although I know it’s obvious at this point, the pandemic really unlocked so much non-local talent inclusion by way of rapidly developing collaboration tools. But none of that matters if your technology and talent teams aren’t working together. Talent can’t flow unless technology unlocks it and technology can’t unlock it unless Finance understands the value in its investment, and none of it matters if HR’s constraints make certain markets or approaches off-limits.
Likewise, the HR/Talent team can help technology teams find talent in unexpected places. New geographic talent pools are emerging and keeping information flowing between teams may give you a view into where to find that talent and act on it quickly. There are always opportunities to attract people that have left other organizations either by choice or force.
Next, in tough times your existing team members are going to get nervous. The constant noise of fear, uncertainty, doubt that surrounds us become even worse at these times. So again the three teams can work together to double down on excellent on-boarding and culture. And maybe a time to consider retention bonuses. So for the current team you create reasons for them to stay and for new people you make sure they feel welcomed and happy they’ve made the right choice to join you. Again talent, technology, and money join forces to make these experiences happen.
I’ll leave it there for now, but hopefully these examples shed a little light on how you can find opportunities by joining teams like this. To be honest, it’s a strategy that should be in place before times get rough. If it isn’t, watch a few episodes of Voltron. You’ll get it.