5 survival tactics for CIOs
- Details
- Written by John Pickett
There’s a lot going on in the CIO’s world. Change is not a new phenomenon for CIOs, but it does seem that there are some fundamental shifts happening that are changing the relationship between information technology and its users, between information technology and the IT department, and changing the role and influence of IT within the business.
Driving these changes are both technology developments and business realities, including cloud computing and the accessibility of IT capabilities outside of the IT department; mobile computing and social media -- both contributing to the erosion of the dividing line between enterprise and public or personal information resources; and, the increasing pressure to lower costs while streamlining business processes and improving responsiveness.
So in the face of such changes in the game, how do CIOs remain relevant and ahead of the wave? That's a question I’ve discussed with a number of CIOs, and it's been a topic enthusiastically debated at several of our CIO Roundtable events. And in the course of those discussions a number of themes have emerged that represent a sort of list of CIO survival tactics.
Build a winning team
Identify the key members of your IT team and make sure they know that they’re valued. Take the trouble to understand their aspirations and be clear about where they stand and how they can achieve their career goals within your organisation. Follow-through, mentor and appropriately reward the keepers in your team.
At the same time you need to be honest with yourself and your employees if any of them fall short in aspects of their skills or performance. If their shortcomings can be addressed through training, provide it. Otherwise work with the employee and your HR department to develop a humane and manageable exit strategy for the employee. But cleaning house is essential both to make room for winners and to maintain the morale of your existing stars.
Most CIOs agreed that attitude and cultural fit are as important as skills when it comes to building a winning team. Make sure you consider both when assessing your current team or new hires.
Stabilise the environment
Most CIOs see a future as leaders of innovation and contributors to business strategy. Before that can happen, core services have to run like clockwork and projects must be delivered in line with expectations. Simplify your architecture and get the right people in the right roles to ensure the ship runs smoothly. There’s no chance that you will have a strategic conversation with business peers if their email service is dodgy or their business applications unreliable. Any ideas you might bring to the table will fall on deaf ears if you and your organisation lack the credibility that comes with getting the basics right.
Build relationships with your internal customers
Marketing is not a natural talent for many CIOs, but it’s an important one to cultivate. Talk to your business peers regularly one-on-one. Get to know the issues they’re dealing with and their objectives. If you can first demonstrate your understanding of their part of the business you’ll have a better chance of gaining their support for yours, and be better positioned to provide them with what matters to them. And the more visible you are as a CIO, the easier it will be to sell your ideas.
See to it that your managers spend time with their clients as well; it’s good for your business now, and it will help them in preparation for moving up the career ladder.
My colleague, Dave Carey, is developing a whitepaper on the whole subject of marketing IT internally. Look for it on the IT Media Group web site. And if you would care to share successful approaches you’ve employed yourself, Dave is interested and is inviting input .
Understand the business
The pace of change has reached a point where IT-business alignment means too little, too late. CIOs need to be proactive and get in front of events so they can prepare the IT service architecture to deal with them. And you need to understand the culture of the business in order to determine how IT can really add value. That means understanding the business and the competitive forces that influence it. It means having a much closer relationship and understanding of the company’s customers and competitors. And it means doing what is necessary to become part of the business strategy discussion in order to influence it.
Deliver results faster
Gone are the days when projects could run into months or years of development. Users are impatient. Today, their expectations are influenced by their experience in the consumer space where finding and installing an app on a smart phone or tablet is almost instantaneous -- unlike the same exercise in the enterprise. But more than that, the pace of business change and change in available technology capabilities means a more nimble competitor could be eating your lunch.
A CIO at a recent roundtable explained her policy of delivering something of value every 60 days or less. That’s the mandate she gives her managers. It means that something is improved or added, or new capability delivered in short cycles; a 60-day ROI rather than an 18-month ROI.
The importance of IT in making businesses successful has never been greater and that’s elevated the potential role of the CIO to new heights. But you need to first get your survival plan in place in order to take advantage of the opportunity.
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