Working on lean gave Fitzpatrick the opportunity to learn a lot more about the business - how it functions, how the processes work and how they can be simplified without bringing in technology. It was a real eye opener for him because it involved changing the culture of the organization.

"One of the reasons why lean fails is because it's implemented as a program," he noted. "Lean is not a program, it's a culture. You have to embrace it, you have to believe in it, and you have to live it. If it's something that you bring in just to fix a problem, it's not going to work."

Fitzpatrick did bring in lean successfully to WGI's Behlen Industries, the country's largest manufacturer of steel building systems. Since its introduction, there have been significant improvements in processes and paybacks, and morale has also improved. There's more trust and better communication between management and the people on the plant floor - to the point where the company's president now walks the plant on a daily basis.

The whole experience made a strong and positive impact on Fitzpatrick. "My involvement with lean made it clear to me that one of the most important things we can do as IT leaders is improve communications between IS and the rest of the organization," he said. "If you don't, things won't run as effectively and as efficiently as they possibly can."

Building the BRIDGE Towards that end, Fitzpatrick has formalized an Information Services communications strategy which he has dubbed BRIDGE, which takes its name from the six key elements listed below:

BUSINESS: Developing a diverse set of methods to obtain feedback and ideas from the business that will be of great value to both the WGI companies and IS.

REPORTS: Producing monthly and annual updates on the progress being made on IS projects.

INFORM: Ensuring that WGI companies are informed and current as to new undertakings, changes and developments within IS.

DOCUMENTATION: Producing readily available reference material to all employees, including an 'always available' manual.

GUIDANCE: Publishing an IS action plan and providing staff - especially new employees - with a guide to the direction of the IS department.

 EDUCATION: Training and educating users so that they will have the ability to use technology tools to their full potential What follows is a closer look at each of the six elements.

Business The communication strategy places the utmost importance on communication with the business. Recognizing that interacting with WGI's various companies is vital to the success of the IS department, Fitzpatrick has implemented several bi-directional communications initiatives that act as a doorway to feedback, ideas and input from users.

An important part of the business focus is a rigorous schedule of visits to each of the organization's 22 offices, arranged in accordance with the preferences of the individual companies.

"We try to visit our offices as often as possible, but some of them are fairly remote, so you can't just go there on a whim," he said. "We've put up a large map (see above) with all of our locations across Canada and the US, and we mark our scheduled visits on it. If we aren't able to visit an office, its colour changes, which reinforces our need to get there. It's a visual aid that helps us ensure that we're keeping up with our commitments for face-to-face communications across the organization."