Eight top tips on how to be a good CIO
Robina Chatham, a former IT director and a visiting fellow
at Cranfield School of Management, has carried out two pieces of
research that bear on the role of the CIO in business
today.
- She has studied CEOs who have made it to the top via a career
in IT
- She has asked CEOs what the look for in their CIO or IT
director
The advice she derives from her
research findings for CIOs or aspiring CIOs is:
1 - CIOs should become business people
Learn about general management, demonstrate enthusiasm for
business matters and
acquire knowledge of your industry sector. CIOs should talk
business language not technical jargon. Focus on driving revenues
up rather than cutting costs. And, don't forget you cannot network
enough. My CEOs, when in the top IT job, typically spent over 50%
of their time communicating with non-IT people both within and
outside their organisations.
2 - CIOs need a vision
Find out what is going on in the outside world read, talk to
suppliers and peers in other organisations, and know where
technology is taking the world. CIOs should demonstrate original
thinking and be bringers of change and inspiration and make things
interesting. Grab the attention of your CEO. Lift horizons and
excite the board with possibilities rather than portraying
problems.
3 - CIOs must become a "can do" people
Learn the "art of the possible" think "out of the box", look for
alternatives, never sit back, hold that failure is not an option,
and learn to trust your experience and to deal with uncertainty.
Also remember that in today's world, speed is an imperative so CIOs
should learn to adopt the "80-20" rule. And above all, remember
that it is better to ask for forgiveness than to seek
permission.
4 - CIOs must be prepared to take risks
Be prepared to take a risk. Learn to trust your "gut" and your
heart and go out on a limb for what you believe in be prepared to
challenge accepted wisdom or authority. As one CEO succinctly put
it: "If you are too cautious or conservative you will never achieve
anything you won't even get noticed."
5 - CIOs must understand people
Do not underestimate the importance of people skills enough you
need to understand what makes people tick and how to get the best
out of them on an individual basis. Before you can do this you need
to truly understand yourself. Don't recruit in your own likeness
but do learn to value diversity. CIOs will need to weed out
non-team players and ensure they place round pegs in round holes
and square pegs in square holes. Praise rather than criticize, give
credit and take the blame. Build relationships upwards, downwards
and sideways and become "gossip central".
6 - CIOs must learn to trust and delegate
Learn to use and value the team to trust, delegate and let go.
CIOs do not have the time to get involved in the day-to-day stuff.
Your focus should be on the strategic stuff so you can contribute
at the business transformation level. Have the courage to hire
people better than yourself, and to nurture and reward talent. Take
account of other people's feelings, and learn how to influence and
communicate openly and honestly.
7 - CIOs need to get the "right" boss
You need the support of your boss. If you are not getting it,
the advice is to "stop beating your head against a brick wall and
move on to more fertile ground find a new job with a new boss who
will support you."
8 - CIOs should develop a sense of humour
Humour is an essential ingredient in the workplace, it diffuses
tension, bonds people, aids creativity and understanding and oils
the wheels of conversation. It increases the impact of your words
and it makes you "clubbable" remember we associate with, consult
and confide in people we like being with!
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