WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.259 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we're cutting 00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:05.839 through the noise to tackle a really disruptive 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:08.279 phenomenon in organizations. It's something that 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:10.919 costs millions, stalls innovation. We see it 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.740 a lot in education, in admin sectors. We're talking 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:15.939 about the chaos that gets unleashed by something 00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:20.070 called comfort zone technology or... CZT for 00:00:20.070 --> 00:00:22.910 short. Right. And our mission today is to dig 00:00:22.910 --> 00:00:25.309 into the sources you've shared, which really 00:00:25.309 --> 00:00:28.710 lay out how new leaders, you know, a new department 00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:31.070 head, a new principal, can just inadvertently 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:33.630 grind an organization to a halt. And they do 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:36.030 it by insisting that everyone, the entire staff, 00:00:36.429 --> 00:00:38.670 switch to the specific software they use at their 00:00:38.670 --> 00:00:41.170 last job. Usually a very respected, you know, 00:00:41.229 --> 00:00:43.710 a very high performing former employer, which 00:00:43.710 --> 00:00:46.030 gives it that extra weight. So let's define this 00:00:46.030 --> 00:00:49.259 thing, the CZT. It's not just like a preference 00:00:49.259 --> 00:00:51.259 for Excel over Google Sheets, right? Yeah, no, 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:53.560 it's much deeper. It's the specific application, 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:55.759 the protocol, sometimes the entire enterprise 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:57.920 system that a new leader learned their craft 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:00.420 on. So it feels comfortable. It feels reliable 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:02.299 to them because they've already mastered it. 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:05.840 But critically, it's not available where they 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.620 are now. And the immediate danger, which the 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:11.260 sources highlight right away, is the speed. This 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:14.319 isn't some measured six -month evaluation. Right. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:17.280 Leaders often start trying to move their own 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.500 work over to this new CZT almost immediately, 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:23.859 sometimes before they've even had a real conversation 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.780 with IT about, you know, feasibility or cost. 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:29.099 Like a sprint back to what's familiar. Absolutely. 00:01:29.290 --> 00:01:31.530 The sources say it can happen in a couple of 00:01:31.530 --> 00:01:33.849 ways. Sometimes it's covert. The leader kind 00:01:33.849 --> 00:01:36.629 of subtly delays critical projects. They'll tell 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:38.129 their new team, oh, we'll just wait until we 00:01:38.129 --> 00:01:40.450 get the system I used at my old school. Or it's 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:42.689 overt. Overtly demanding, yeah. An immediate 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:45.430 order for a new software placed before anyone's 00:01:45.430 --> 00:01:49.069 been consulted just because they need that comfort 00:01:49.069 --> 00:01:51.370 blanket to feel competent again in a new role. 00:01:51.670 --> 00:01:54.519 OK, let's unpack that feeling. that idea of competence, 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:56.700 because that really gets to the psychology of 00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:58.900 it all. If you're a high caliber leader, why 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:01.219 wouldn't you just adapt? You'd think so, wouldn't 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:03.540 you? I mean, the existing system probably does 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:06.840 the exact same thing. Why insist on the old program 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:09.560 right out of the gate? It plugs directly into 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:13.560 how we as people adopt and really trust technology. 00:02:14.099 --> 00:02:16.500 The sources draw a very clear line to something 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:19.280 called the technology acceptance model. Explain 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:21.759 how that applies here. At its core, the model 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:25.099 says we use tech based on two things. How useful 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:27.740 we think it is and how easy we think it is to 00:02:27.740 --> 00:02:30.960 use. Okay. So for a new leader walking into a 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:33.120 strange office, the existing software they've 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:35.460 never seen before, it scores low on both. They 00:02:35.460 --> 00:02:37.360 have to relearn everything. It's hard. It slows 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.099 them down. But the CZT they used at their old 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:43.090 high performing job. That's an automatic 10 out 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:45.969 of 10 on both usefulness and ease of use. They 00:02:45.969 --> 00:02:48.409 know, for a fact, they can perform at a high 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:50.210 level with that tool in their hands. So it's 00:02:50.210 --> 00:02:52.889 less about the software being objectively better 00:02:52.889 --> 00:02:55.289 for the new organization. And everything to do 00:02:55.289 --> 00:02:57.870 with the leader's own successful history with 00:02:57.870 --> 00:03:00.530 it. It's basically a personal coping mechanism 00:03:00.530 --> 00:03:03.530 that's being disguised as an organizational improvement. 00:03:03.729 --> 00:03:05.610 And this is where the social dynamic gets tricky. 00:03:05.949 --> 00:03:07.949 Oh, it's fascinating. The leader is anxious. 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:10.550 They're seeking comfort. But their new team. 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:13.099 They're probably perfectly fine, maybe even experts 00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:15.500 with the current system. Now they're being told 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:18.319 to switch, learn something new, interrupt their 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:21.400 whole workflow. All to soothe the new boss's 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:24.280 anxiety. And it must be incredibly hard to push 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:26.120 back on that internally. Who's going to argue 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:28.180 with the person who just hired them? The new 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:31.939 boss frames the CZT as something that will improve 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:34.800 everyone's work lives. So you end up with a situation 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.460 where the anxious leader gets exactly what they 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:39.379 want. They're comfort zone. And there's almost 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:41.740 no internal resistance. It just leaves the IT 00:03:41.740 --> 00:03:44.659 department to deal with the fallout. Which brings 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:46.580 us to the practical side of this, because the 00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:49.280 actual technology they're asking for can be wildly 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.319 different depending on the size of the organizations. 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:53.979 we have to talk about software grades. Yes, let's 00:03:53.979 --> 00:03:56.599 do it. Because when a leader moves from, say, 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.039 a huge university to a small college, or vice 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:02.580 versa, that difference in technology grade is 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:05.139 the hidden cost driver. It's everything. The 00:04:05.139 --> 00:04:06.879 sources break it down into three grades. Right. 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:09.039 Three grades, and if you don't get the difference, 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:12.460 you just can't see the real cost of CZT. First, 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:14.900 you have what they call consumer grade software. 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:17.160 OK, so what's that? Think of something you install 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:19.500 on one computer, like professional video editing 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:22.300 software, maybe some specialized academic analysis 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:25.259 tool. It's individual. It works with local files. 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:28.870 Got it. siloed personal use. What's next? Next 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:32.350 up is small business grade. This scales up to 00:04:32.350 --> 00:04:35.850 maybe a few hundred users. It's probably connected 00:04:35.850 --> 00:04:39.149 to some kind of network storage for sharing files, 00:04:39.329 --> 00:04:41.089 so multiple people are in it, but it's still 00:04:41.089 --> 00:04:43.730 a relatively contained system. And then there's 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:46.110 the big one. the one that causes all the upheaval. 00:04:46.310 --> 00:04:48.870 That's the enterprise grade. This is the absolute 00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:51.689 backbone of a major organization. It's designed 00:04:51.689 --> 00:04:54.370 for thousands of users, tons of simultaneous 00:04:54.370 --> 00:04:56.889 connections, and it has to talk to all the other 00:04:56.889 --> 00:04:59.949 complex systems, payroll, student records, you 00:04:59.949 --> 00:05:02.050 name it. And the cost difference between these 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:04.730 is where the rubber really meets the road, especially 00:05:04.730 --> 00:05:07.310 when a new leader brings an enterprise expectation 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:10.990 to a small business budget. Monumental. The sources 00:05:10.990 --> 00:05:14.399 warn that the cost jump is just... It's huge. 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:16.519 It's like the difference between buying one commercial 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:19.300 truck for a specific job and then deciding you're 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:22.300 going to build an entire corporate fleet logistics 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:25.060 center from scratch. With maintenance bays and 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:26.740 dispatchers and everything. Exactly. You're not 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:29.279 just buying a license. You're buying the whole 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:31.920 infrastructure, the entire support ecosystem 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.779 to run it. I can just picture a new dean from 00:05:34.779 --> 00:05:37.860 a massive state university asking a small liberal 00:05:37.860 --> 00:05:40.899 arts college to buy an enterprise level student 00:05:40.899 --> 00:05:43.540 information system thinking it's just a simple 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:46.350 upgrade. And that's the danger. The sources point 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.850 out that dropping that kind of system into a 00:05:48.850 --> 00:05:51.850 small school might eat up a massive chunk of 00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:54.649 their entire annual IT budget. You suddenly need 00:05:54.649 --> 00:05:57.029 dedicated servers. You need maintenance contracts 00:05:57.029 --> 00:05:59.089 that cost hundreds of thousands a year. You might 00:05:59.089 --> 00:06:01.329 even need staff certified just to manage that 00:06:01.329 --> 00:06:03.370 one system. Which is a perfect segue into the 00:06:03.370 --> 00:06:06.810 hidden costs and the deployment roadblocks. Because 00:06:06.810 --> 00:06:08.829 that price tag is just the beginning of the pain. 00:06:09.089 --> 00:06:11.649 It's just the starting gun. This isn't a quick 00:06:11.649 --> 00:06:13.990 cloud download, especially with enterprise systems. 00:06:14.470 --> 00:06:16.629 You have to think about the IT department, which 00:06:16.629 --> 00:06:20.269 is almost certainly already overworked. Installing 00:06:20.269 --> 00:06:22.930 one of these huge systems is an enormous project. 00:06:23.310 --> 00:06:25.629 The sources say this isn't a weekend job. It 00:06:25.629 --> 00:06:28.509 can take months, sometimes even years, of planning, 00:06:28.790 --> 00:06:31.930 implementation, and testing. Years. So if a new 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:34.430 leader gets their CZT pushed to the front of 00:06:34.430 --> 00:06:37.819 the line, What gets dropped? What's the opportunity 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:39.899 cost? Everything else. All the other projects 00:06:39.899 --> 00:06:41.720 that have been waiting for months, you know, 00:06:41.939 --> 00:06:44.220 critical security upgrades, necessary hardware 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:46.600 replacements, integrating systems you already 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:48.939 have. All of that gets put on hold. And that 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:50.579 creates friction across the whole organization. 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:53.300 Huge frustration. And then it all grinds to a 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:55.420 halt in the compatibility and testing phase. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:57.860 This is where the timeline just explodes. Because 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:00.000 you can't just assume the new system will play 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.089 nice with the old ones. Never. The CZT has to 00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:05.189 work with your existing network, your current 00:07:05.189 --> 00:07:08.569 operating systems, your computing capacity, and 00:07:08.569 --> 00:07:10.990 this is the big one, the database platforms you 00:07:10.990 --> 00:07:15.069 already use. So if the new system uses some proprietary 00:07:15.069 --> 00:07:18.149 database, but all your other data is in SQL. 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:21.209 You've got a massive, massive integration project 00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:23.110 on your hands just to get them to talk to each 00:07:23.110 --> 00:07:25.829 other. And you have to test every single one 00:07:25.829 --> 00:07:28.370 of those interactions over and over again. That's 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.129 the loop. That's the loop that extends the deployment 00:07:31.129 --> 00:07:34.189 time. You test it, you debug it, you test it 00:07:34.189 --> 00:07:36.250 again under load to make sure it doesn't crash 00:07:36.250 --> 00:07:38.470 something else that's mission critical. And if 00:07:38.470 --> 00:07:41.170 you finally get it working, you hit the training 00:07:41.170 --> 00:07:44.470 wall. Ah, the training wall, where the technical 00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:47.509 debt becomes human debt. Precisely. Now you have... 00:07:47.529 --> 00:07:50.089 hundreds, maybe thousands of users who need training 00:07:50.089 --> 00:07:53.129 on this new thing. But the sources point to this 00:07:53.129 --> 00:07:55.829 recurring problem, the leader who championed 00:07:55.829 --> 00:07:58.139 the whole thing. They know how to use it. but 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:00.560 not how to teach it. They don't have the expertise 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.560 or just the sheer bandwidth to manage a training 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.560 program for an entire organization. So that huge 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:08.779 burden making, the manual, scheduling the sessions, 00:08:08.899 --> 00:08:11.439 the ongoing support, it all falls right back 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:15.319 on the already taxed IT and HR departments. So 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.480 we've got the anxious leader, the strained IT 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.980 team, the busted budget. If you're running an 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:24.040 organization and this disruptive CZT request 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.089 lands on your desk, what are the smart practical 00:08:27.089 --> 00:08:29.670 responses. This is where the sources get really 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:33.549 useful. Section four lays out these fantastic 00:08:33.549 --> 00:08:35.789 negotiation strategies that tech leaders have 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:38.350 developed. They're designed to make the person 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:41.690 asking confront the full reality of what they 00:08:41.690 --> 00:08:43.710 want. OK, what's the first one? The first one 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:46.269 is simple, but really effective. Tell them to 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:48.309 find the money. That sounds a little aggressive. 00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:50.659 Yeah. But I get the logic. You're forcing them 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:53.139 to look past the sticker price. Exactly. You're 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:55.600 asking, are you willing to pay for the annual 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:58.720 maintenance, the new servers, the dedicated staff 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:00.960 out of your own department's budget? It makes 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.220 them get financially literate about enterprise 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:05.539 tech pretty fast. It does. And when they see 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:08.039 the true internal cost, not just the vendor's 00:09:08.039 --> 00:09:10.029 price, they often have second thoughts. Suddenly, 00:09:10.230 --> 00:09:12.330 the existing system doesn't look so bad. I like 00:09:12.330 --> 00:09:14.590 the second strategy. It's very diplomatic. Show 00:09:14.590 --> 00:09:17.529 them the current IT project timeline and let 00:09:17.529 --> 00:09:20.049 them negotiate with their peers for a slot. This 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:22.610 is just brilliant management. It stops IT from 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:26.299 being the Department of No. It shifts the burden 00:09:26.299 --> 00:09:29.559 of allocating resources. In this case, time from 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:32.480 IT to the department heads themselves. So the 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:35.299 CZT champion has to go to the head of finance 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:37.919 and say, hey, I need to delay your security audit 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:40.340 for six months so I can get my pet project installed. 00:09:40.539 --> 00:09:43.019 It forces that internal accountability. It makes 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.879 resource allocation a negotiation among peers, 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.480 not something IT imposes on them. And the third 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.299 response is key for morale, I think. Absolutely. 00:09:51.419 --> 00:09:53.740 Jump on the team and advocate for the requests 00:09:53.740 --> 00:09:57.019 that actually do make sense. If the CZT genuinely 00:09:57.019 --> 00:09:59.200 offers something critical that the current software 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.039 can't do, then IT leadership has to get behind 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.460 it. It shows their partners in innovation, not 00:10:04.460 --> 00:10:07.600 just gatekeepers. Exactly. But beyond those tactics, 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:10.360 the sources really stress the role of C -level 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:13.259 leadership, the CEO, the superintendent. They're 00:10:13.259 --> 00:10:15.360 the ones who have to minimize the long -term 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:17.740 damage from all this. What's their job? of this? 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:20.519 Three things. First, they have to have at least 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.240 a baseline understanding of their organization's 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:25.899 IT and data systems. They don't need to be able 00:10:25.899 --> 00:10:28.620 to code, but they need to know what their infrastructure 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:31.019 can and can't do. So they're not making decisions 00:10:31.019 --> 00:10:34.039 in a vacuum. Right. Second, they have to make 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:36.759 sure IT is collaborating, not just saying no 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:39.639 to everything. The culture has to be one of partnership. 00:10:39.929 --> 00:10:41.889 In the last one. They have to be the ultimate 00:10:41.889 --> 00:10:44.970 decider. These conflicts between IT and department 00:10:44.970 --> 00:10:47.950 leaders can get really contentious. The CEO has 00:10:47.950 --> 00:10:50.149 to be the one to step in, understand all the 00:10:50.149 --> 00:10:52.570 ramifications, the costs, the redirected resources, 00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:55.669 everything, and make the final call and then 00:10:55.669 --> 00:10:58.330 live with it. That really sums up the whole challenge. 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:01.429 We started with this idea of comfort zone technology 00:11:01.429 --> 00:11:04.529 as a natural human preference for the familiar. 00:11:04.789 --> 00:11:06.850 A need for competence when you're in a new role. 00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:09.730 Exactly. But we've seen how when that personal 00:11:09.730 --> 00:11:12.009 preference gets scaled up to an enterprise level 00:11:12.009 --> 00:11:15.009 request, it just metastasizes into this huge 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:19.049 IT budget and organizational roadblock that can 00:11:19.049 --> 00:11:22.299 derail everything for years. The disruption is 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:25.320 profound. The sources give this really striking 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.559 real -world example from education the constant 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:31.059 push to adopt new learning management systems, 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.440 or LMSs. The LMS is the digital core of a school, 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:36.179 right, where all the assignments and grades live. 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:38.679 It's the whole digital campus. And the sources 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.360 say new academic leaders are constantly advocating 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.279 to switch the entire school's LMS to whatever 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:46.840 version they used before. That sounds like a 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:49.659 monumental task. It is. The author of One Piece 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:51.500 mentioned that these projects are such a heavy 00:11:51.500 --> 00:11:53.899 lift, he realized a multi -year implementation 00:11:53.899 --> 00:11:57.019 would be just getting started right when he was 00:11:57.019 --> 00:11:58.899 planning to retire. He actually said he would 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:00.820 have just resigned rather than take that on at 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:03.659 the end of his career. Wow. That tells you everything 00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:05.799 you need to know about the true cost of comfort. 00:12:06.779 --> 00:12:09.019 So since these huge decisions really rest on 00:12:09.019 --> 00:12:11.679 the C -level leadership's understanding and their 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.320 willingness to weigh comfort against cost, we'll 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.019 leave you with this to think about. How deep 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:19.659 is your organization's current understanding 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:22.279 of its enterprise system capabilities? And what 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:25.559 is the true comprehensive cost of your own technological 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:28.299 comfort? Something worth a deep dive in your 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:31.220 own office. Thanks for diving deep with us. We'll 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:31.779 see you next time.