You can’t drive what you don’t truly understand – and in the BRM role, that truth defines your ability to be strategic. One of the most overlooked yet powerful capabilities a BRM can develop is deep immersion in the business area(s) they support. Far too often, BRMs operate with only a surface-level understanding of their business partners – enough to talk the talk, but not enough to walk beside them as a true strategic partner.
In the High-Performing BRM class, we talk about immersion not as an abstract idea, but as an essential element to BRM success. It’s the difference between being an influential, impactful, strategic partner…and just a liaison. And that difference is everything.
In many cases – especially when a BRM has been with an organization for a lengthy period of time – BRMs develop a false sense of security about what their business partners do and the challenges they face. And while they may know the main focus of the partner’s business, often it’s what happens beyond those areas that’s critical to long-term success.
Let’s take a fictional sales organization as an example. Ask most BRMs what the sales organization does, and you’ll likely hear that they sell products or services to customers, coordinate with the supply chain to deliver orders, and work with customer service to manage follow-up.
That’s not wrong, but it’s barely scratching the surface.
When you immerse yourself in the actual business of a sales team, you start to uncover a far more complex and nuanced ecosystem. You start asking questions like:
These are the insights that help BRMs genuinely understand a business partner, how it operates, and what it needs to be successful. Without this level of understanding, BRMs risk making generic recommendations or being perceived as tactical order-takers. With it, BRMs gain credibility, influence, and the license to lead.
Immersion isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s the foundation that’s essential to becoming a strategic BRM. And it’s not just about facts or process maps. It’s about truly immersing yourself in what your business partner does, gaining perspective as well as information.
Immersion requires intentional discovery. Top BRMs – the high performers – make it a point to know their business partners as well as the business partners know themselves, maybe not with the same depth, but certainly with comparable breadth. When BRMs know their business partners in this way, they are seen as part of the business area, part of their team, and as truly contributing to conversations. When they don’t, they are the IT representative in the room.
When you immerse yourself in what your business partner does, you establish awareness and credibility that adds immense value to conversations, actions, and innovation opportunities. Immersion allows you to build the kind of fluency that lets you:
In short, immersion gives BRMs power – the power to influence direction, shape priorities, and drive outcomes.
Too many BRMs get stuck in a reactive cycle. They attend meetings, take notes, and respond to requests. They think they know their business partners because they know their org chart and a few KPIs. But high performers break that pattern.
In the High-Performing BRM program, we stress that context is everything. Context changes how you interpret a problem, how you recommend a solution, and how you gain buy-in. You only get that context by going deeper – asking better questions, observing operations, and learning how decisions are really made (not just how they’re supposed to be made).
One BRM we worked with in a global retail company thought the marketing team needed a new campaign planning tool. After spending time embedded with them during a product launch cycle, he realized the real problem wasn’t the tool – it was misaligned timelines and unclear decision rights. His immersion led to process redesign, not a tech investment, and saved both time and money.
Here are a few ways BRMs can deepen their immersion in the business:
It is essential to develop a plan around your immersion. Many BRMs think they will just do it as part of everyday interactions. While that may get some reference (now that you are more consciously aware of why you need to do it), it needs more than just regular interaction. Make sure you create your Immersion Plan. Schedule time in your calendar to work on it. Make it a deliberate focus. Don’t rely on routine interactions to provide the depth you need – immerse with purpose.
The more immersed you are, the more trust you build – and trust is what allows you to challenge thinking, influence strategy, and be seen as a true partner.
The best BRMs aren’t just good communicators. They’re business experts in their own right, with a level of immersion that gives them insight and the ability to turn that insight into impact.
As we teach in the High-Performing BRM class, you can’t be strategic from the sidelines. You have to be in the game, with a clear view of how it’s being played.
That’s the power of immersion – and it’s what separates a good BRM from a great one.
About the Author
Jeff Warren is the President of Barkley Consulting Group, a leading IT/BRM consulting firm that helps organizations develop top BRM and IT talent and create impactful BRM programs. Jeff has over 35 years of leadership and innovation experience as an IT executive, with a focus on business and technology. His “High-Performing BRM” class has empowered countless BRMs and IT leaders to excel in their roles and drive meaningful change within their organizations.
