Most CIOs fail to drive change in their businesses,
Tania Howarth, CIO of Coca-Cola Europe, told the IT Directors’
Forum on board the cruise ship Oriana last week.
Howarth, who has spent 21 years in IT working for both Coca-Cola
and PepsiCo, warned that IT directors could not expect to be on the
boards of their companies unless they oversaw projects that
transformed business profits.
Creating opportunity for growth is getting more difficult, she
said. Most IT directors have been through an ERP or CRM
implementation, technology-led change programme, or
outsourcing.
“This means we need to dig really deeply for leverage to help
the business grow,” said Howarth.
Seven steps to becoming a strategic change
leader
Tania Howarth, CIO of Coca-Cola Europe outlined seven steps to
becoming a strategic change leader at the IT Directors Forum:
Find the right opportunities
Become a business strategist – ask what macro skills and
capabilities the organisation needs to be successful. Few
functional heads are as well placed as IT directors to have an
overview of the organisation.
Operate effectively in the
organisation
Create hybrid teams. Pay attention to
stakeholder management. Integrate IT into the plans of other
functions.
Connect the dots
You need to know the business instinctively and functionally.
Create a network of experts in the organisation.
Deliver change
Articulate an overall destination. Have a simple shared vision and
explain what will be different. Create a value chain of delivery –
nothing that lasts longer than six months, so if funding dries up
you can stop in a controlled way.
Learn to improve
CEOs want an end point, but there isn’t one. Shift gears from
transformational change to continuous improvement.
Take the team with you
IT people often measure IT in technical components, such as
availability/downtime, but it has to be business focused.
Measure the results
Measure until it hurts and measure where it hurts: business key
performance indicators.