Leading by Example
If a CIO can convince his IT staffers to internalize his beliefs and priorities-in essence, sharing the CIO's DNA-the CIO can lead his IT organization with little or no effort, doing without doing as depicted by Lao-Tzu. In such an IT organization, everyone believes in the same vision and acts accordingly.
How can a CIO create such an internally aligned IT organization? Through his or her own actions! Lead by example. But note that leading by example is not acting; acting backfires. Successful leaders are simply being themselves, and in so doing become magnets. Leading by example is an especially useful change management tool for a CIO leading change in an IT organization.
In leading by example, a CIO may focus on different aspects of his organization. Mr. Lin believes, however, that there are five especially important fundamentals that a CIO needs to be cognizant of, regardless of the current focus. If internalized by IT staffers, these fundamentals can dramatically transform a technology-centric IT organization into a business-focused one, almost without effort:
- Passion
- Humility
- Openness
- Clarity
- Agility
Each of these fundamentals reinforces the effect of others.
There is no substitute for a CIO's passion for the industry and the business that he or she is in. In general, executives are hired not only for their professional qualifications but also for their experience in a particular industry, which enriches the collective wisdom of the senior management team. But CIO's are often hired for their professional qualifications alone, regardless of their experience in the industry. This is not a desirable practice.
If a CIO is interested only in IT, one should question his or her potential value to the business. Without developing a passion for the industry and the business that he or she is in, it will be difficult for the CIO to develop the insights, acumen, and big picture mindset needed to help the business to achieve its goals. If a CIO's only value is running IT like a utility, there is little reason to keep that IT organization in house. Many IT outsourcing vendors can probably do better in this regard, at the least through economies of scale.
IT is about creating a competitive advantage for the business. That starts with a CIO who has passion well beyond IT.
In the past there was a huge technology gap between the haves and the have-nots-that is, between MIS professionals and business users. MIS professionals were seen as all-knowing people who wielded the power of mysterious machines in the basement. Then the revolution of the personal computer came. For the first time, business managers could perform rudimentary forecasts without the help of MIS.
Some might argue that it was all downhill for IT from there. On the contrary, Mr. Lin thinks that event actually set the stage for IT professionals to leave the basement for good. IT is not about control, as in the old mainframe days. IT is about empowering IT customers to unleash their potential to succeed in whatever they set out to do. The more technically inclined IT customers are; the easier it is to empower them. The less time IT spends on technology, the greater the effort IT can devote to the business, and the more business value IT can generate.
CIO's, therefore, should not feel challenged by technically inclined customers; we should try to learn from them. Seeking first to understand is the key in creating alignment. They should learn from all of our constituents: IT staffers, executive peers, internal IT customers, their business's customers and partners, vendors, industry peers, analysts, everyone. They should strive to understand their goals, visions, concerns, fears, likes, dislikes, and even their own technical solutions, everything that they can possibly learn. They learn from people's successes, and other times they learn from their mistakes … and that is extremely valuable too.
CIO's should stop talking, and start listening with humility. Only by understanding our constituents can they possibly become a trusted partner, and help IT become more closely aligned to the business.
No doubt, CIO's are all very successful and smart people. Over the years, they build up certain beliefs and certain rituals. Things have got to be done in a certain way or they will fail; after all, they've tried all the alternatives. They have their battle scars to prove their point. But Mr. Lin's challenge to CIO's is this: if they keep doing what they were doing yesterday, how can they possibly create a competitive advantage for their business when their competitors are moving forward? Is it perhaps time to leave their baggage behind?
For example, Mr. Lin starts every day as a new day, like starting with a blank sheet of paper. Clearing his mind of any prejudice that he may have helps him to make the right decisions. Mr. Lin believes his job is not to come up with solutions. His job is to make the right decision at the right time. The only way to ensure that he can do his job well consistently is to have an open mind in making decisions. Having an open mind allows him to embrace outside-the-box thinking, to take calculated risks, which are often critical to the success of all of his constituents.
If a CIO encourages a sense of openness throughout his or her IT organization, IT staffers will be more inclined to be creative, think outside the box, take risks, and at the end of the day, perform often needed "miracles."
Clarity is the ability to see the fundamentals, to be able to turn complex, muddy issues into simple, clear concepts and solutions. Clarity is a necessary skill for leaders; successful leaders use clarity in order to direct.
An IT organization, armed with its knowledge and tools, can add great value to a business by providing relevant and timely information so that business leaders can have clarity. IT was previously known as Management Information Systems; providing both clarity and the information that others need to have clarity is, in fact, at IT's root.
CIO's should stay true to their roots. Not only they should provide clarity in every interaction with their constituents, they should inspire all their constituents, especially IT staffers, to do the same.
IT is sometimes perceived by their customers as providing the opposite of clarity. In fact, IT always seems to make everything more complex than necessary. In conveying a sense that it is doing IT for the sake of IT, IT becomes a runaway freight train. This problem is especially prevalent among technology-centric IT organizations. It is a very dangerous problem to have. Whether the CIO is at fault or not, he or she may quickly loose his or her credibility.
As both IT and the business its supports become more complex, CIO's should seize the opportunity to be true leaders. Instead of getting tangled in complexities, CIO's should:
- Practice simplicity, the best antidote.
- Ask simple, insightful questions to seek practical solutions.
- Consider everything in terms of its most basic fundamentals.
Very soon, the CIO can become a leader of clarity revered for his or her uncommon wisdom.
Agility: the ability to move quickly and effectively.
Agility can be thought of as the result of applying passion, humility, openness, and clarity. Passion gives them insight into the business that they support. Humility encourages them to listen to and understand all of their constituents. Openness enables them to embrace new ideas and to make the right decisions. Clarity allows them to be wise and able to direct proper actions. These four fundamentals, if combined and used, should almost always produce a competitive advantage in the form of increased speed for the business, such as quicker time to market, increased inventory turns, and so on.
This should not come as a surprise; one of the functions of IT is to make a business more agile. But Mr. Lin wants to make one clarification. While some say that technology can make a business more agile, he thinks this is misleading. Technology by itself can never make a business more agile, but the right IT people applying the right technology at the right time can.
Agility can also be considered separately, and can support the other four fundamentals. Think agile! Be proactive! Get something done! Treating agility as a separate fundamental is especially important to IT. While IT is helping the business to become more agile, IT needs to become more agile itself. Many of CIO's have had the experience of having the business perceive IT as an obstacle to agility.
To achieve better agility within IT, the CIO needs to put passion, humility, openness, and clarity into action, and encourage IT staffers to think and act agile.
In today's hyper competitive but cost conscious environment, agility is not only a much sought-after virtue, but can mean the difference between success and failure for the business that we support.
In the series of articles we've taken you through Mr. Lin's new approach. Mr. Lin's belief in the essence of the Tao Wisdom and its effectiveness has led him to use it with an IT organization primarily with leadership, management and in the alignment of the business. In this Part II article "Leading by Example-Five Fundamentals for Better IT/Business Alignment," the elements essential to understanding and realizing changes. In the upcoming weeks, we will follow by posting Part III, Uniting the Forces-Five Strategies to Align the Business and Part IV, Sustaining Success-Two Practices.
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