"Some people want more money and a faster car, but what
I love is a challenge. I need to be challenged and I can't really
sit still, but that's probably one of the reasons that I've got to
the top," says Lynn Broadbent, group technology director at
document management provider EDM.
Broadbent started working at EDM as part of a new management
team about 15 months ago. The aim was to transform the organisation
by expanding out of its traditional focus on selling scanning
capabilities to providing
document and workflow management systems and services.
In this context, Broadbent is responsible "effectively for
anything in relation to technology in the company", including both
in-house IT and customer-related products and services. As a
result, "a fair chunk of the job is about supporting sales people
when they're talking to potential new customers", which entails
joint visits to customer sites and acting in a consultancy role to
come up with solutions to individual customer's business
problems.
"My biggest buzz is seeing how technology can be used to
transform business and ensure that it's being used in the most
appropriate way," she explains. "For real transformation, you have
to truly understand and manage the business requirements and
benefits, and I find that very rewarding."
So how did she come by such a big role? Broadbent says it was
through a combination of hard work, networking and grabbing hold of
opportunities as they were offered to her. But her entry into the
world of IT was rather more of a chance affair.
"I was doing A levels at sixth-form college and had intended to
do geography, but after a few months I found that it wasn't for me.
The only other option was IT, so I said that I'd give it a go,
although I didn't really know what it was about."
Broadbent was lucky enough to have an "outstanding" teacher, who
had moved into the profession after working in industry, and she
went on to do a degree in maths and computer science at Lancaster
University. While her initial aim on graduating was to teach, she
decided that, like her former tutor, she needed real-world
experience first.
So she applied for and obtained a trainee position at Barclays
Bank in 1984 and was assigned to the
IBM mainframe infrastructure team, which entailed "lots of
assembler programming
and fixing of problems".
By 1987 she had become a team leader, but had also reached a
crossroads in her career. "I took stock of my life and asked myself
'would I be happy doing this job for the next 20 years and if not,
what was I going to do about it?' I've had two or three moments in
my life like that where I've said 'what's next?' and at this time,
it effectively led me to take on an attachment in HR."
When one of the senior HR managers mentioned there was an
opportunity for an IT staff member to take up a nine-month
placement to research what factors make people good at their jobs,
she applied - and got the job. The move resulted in her co-chairing
Barclays Opportunity 2000 Action Group, which explored barriers to
women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the workplace.
But after that taste of pastures new, Broadbent found it
difficult to settle back into her old role. So when she was
approached by a female colleague looking for someone to help her
manage the development team in Barclays' document printing
department, she jumped at the chance. The two had worked together
previously and kept in touch.
But within a few years, it was all change again when Broadbent
became part of the management buy-out team that created
Edotech. The key challenge for her here was that, although the
new company took the original development team with it, it had
until that point relied on Barclays' back-end IT systems.
"I had under 12 months to create a complete IT infrastructure
for a team of 200 staff," she says. "It was extremely hard work for
me and the core members of the team, but very few IT people get a
true opportunity to do that as they usually have legacy systems to
deal with, so it was a great experience."
As if this wasn't enough, when this particular mission was
complete, she did a part-time MBA at Cranfield School of
Management, sponsored by her employers as a reward for the effort
she'd put in to get the company where it was.
"I recognised that there were some skills and capabilities that
could do with being more shaped," she explains. "It's not just
about knowing the right things, but also being able to talk in the
right terms, so it opened my eyes and gave me a boost in terms of
additional business knowledge."
When Edotech was sold four years later in 2004, she had plenty
of time to relax after agreeing a deal "to stay out of the industry
for two years". In the meantime she undertook consultancy work, but
also become involved in fundraising to sponsor the education of 120
children in an orphanage in Kenya before joining EDM towards the
end of 2006 along with Sam Ferguson, the former chief executive of
Edotech.
So with all of this experience under her belt, what advice would
Broadbent offer to aspirant CIOs? "Take time to think about where
your life is heading. Life's too short but, for most people, work
is a significant part of it, so you need to do things consciously
rather than subconsciously and make choices that are right for
you."
She also recommends taking on activities that are beyond the
confines of the current role. "Being considered an expert can be
flattering, but it can also be self-limiting," she explains. "You
have to almost position yourself out of a job by sitting back and
thinking what you really want and how you might be able to get
there."
Finally, she advocates being proactive and
networking as much as possible. "I suspect my career was a bit
of a slow starter as I worked on the basis that if you deliver
what's needed, you'll be recognised. But I suddenly realised that
you can do a good job and no-one necessarily notices, so that's
where networking comes in. Identifying and aligning yourself with
key players is very important."
How to become a top CIO >>
Women in IT podcast >>