An fiery Italian-American CIO I supported taught me about Principle Based Approached to Projects, Supplier relationships and Procurement purpose. it has always stuck with me. During a major ERP consolidation project the leadership team drafted principles in which all team members would agree and approach the project. We spent hours drafting and redrafting what would become cornerstone to who we were and how we did business. It all started with, "We will..." statements.

For IT this meant securing principle statements which laid a foundation creating a successful future to build on what brought the company to its current success.

The ERP Project Principles:

• We will execute with clear ownership, strong governance, and dedicated teams
• We will stabilize the foundation first, with data and process in place before technology solutions  
• We will not customize the software: “adapt process to technology, not technology to process”
• We will not circumvent the agreed-upon roadmap
• Execution is guided by desired outcomes (end in mind) and not misled by “emergencies”
• We will wear an enterprise hat and be realistic about what can be accomplished
• We will choose affordable, sustainable, and profitable long-term operations over short-term wins

Just as important was a final governance statement, " Decisions that may violate one of these principles require a compelling business case and Executive Leadership approval.  Enterprise leaders will own and uphold these principles through leadership changes, crises, and changing business priorities."

Each of the leadership team and staff made a commitment to these principles. This accelerated decisions, actions and outcomes. This Principle Based approach was repeated across multiple projects and supplier relationships in one form or another.

So, what are your team's principles? Start each line with "We will..."