The Top Three Things CIOs Must Do in 2010

Fresh out of the recession, business strategies are focusing on end-customer related initiatives that add value and will help the business increase revenue. Likewise, technology strategies and budgets must be focused on the same. According to CIO Magazine’s January 1, 2010 issue in an article written by Kim S. Nash - about two-thirds of CIOs, or 62 percent, have canceled or postponed projects during the past year as a result of unfavorable economic conditions, according to their “2010 State of the CIO: Today's Focus for IT Departments - Business Opportunities” survey. The projects they have focused on are those that can enhance their company's products and spur sales. To see the full article, click here. The business strategy and near-term goals must be placed higher in priority than anything else on the CIO’s agenda to compensate for the pace at which demands will fast and furiously come.

Align IT Closer Than Ever to the Business Strategy

The topic of IT-Business alignment has been beaten to death in the past few years, but it is no less important now. In fact, this year it is still the number one priority for most CIOs. One challenge IT executives face is static business strategy documents that are not updated frequently enough to be relevant. Ideally business strategy documents should be updated quarterly. We have historically thought of strategy by default as long-term and not changing often, but more and more companies are finally seeing the importance of rolling-wave planning approaches that refresh quarterly and keep the onus on the business to produce plan results.

Another very real problem faced by the IT executive is the interpretation of plan goals that don’t convey customer outcomes and instead are left ambiguous and subject to too much creative translation by managers across the organization. To avoid disconnects, one CIO client meets with divisional presidents quarterly to stay on top of their pressing concerns and issues. Others have seats at the strategic planning table and belong to various planning committees that set direction and monitor plan performance to goal achievement.

There is no one silver-bullet approach to recommend for achieving and maintaining business-IT alignment. Information technology executives must identify, define, and develop discrete initiatives that will save money, improve quality, and /or increase efficiency to boost market value and competitive advantage for their companies. As the CIO, your approach must work in conjunction with and in support of the business strategy to ensure alignment occurs and that your technology organization delivers predictable results. The bottom line is: closer involvement with the business is crucial.

When Planning, Look Externally - Focusing on Key Customer Outcomes

So alignment is still vital, but there is a huge backlog of internal projects that need to be completed. Yes, servers will still need to be replaced and networks must be maintained. Security will always be an issue. The list of “must do” IT projects goes on and on, yet forward-thinking CIOs know that to be more than just IT managers, they must find ways to create high-impact value for the organization through technology. Let’s face it, if harnessed correctly, technology becomes a launching pad for organizational growth. So how do you go about building your launch pad?

CIOs already know that IT must be well-aligned with the strategy of the business; consistently looking for ways to enact the goals of the organization. However, the answer is really two-fold. The second critical dimension to consider is focusing directly on the customers of the business. When drafting plans for constructing your technology launch pad, customers and the revenue sources comprise the high impact zone. Initiatives supporting customer outcomes should be evaluated on their ability to drive revenue for the business or increase customer loyalty through value-added services.

To illustrate this point, let’s go back to the CIO Magazine “2010: State of the CIO” article for a second. A great personification of a progressive CIO focusing on customer outcomes is Pattie Reilly, CIO of Darden Restaurants.

Patti Reilly White has been with Darden Restaurants for 20 years, 10 of them as CIO. IT has "always" been customer-focused at Darden, she insists, but the past two years have been particularly intense. Projects in development include a system to text customers when their tables are ready, doing away with the flashing-light buzzers restaurant greeters now hand out to waiting diners. "What our guests want is for us to value their time and personalize the experience for them. We in IT try to find ways to do that," Reilly White says.

So far we’ve covered two of the three broad goals that CIO must address in 2010: Business alignment and focusing on initiatives that will positively impact the business’s bottom line. Now let’s look at the third goal.

Plan Carefully and Execute Flawlessly

CIOs are measured on results, and flawless execution doesn’t occur by accident – it must be planned for. Good planning practice removes variability from execution. In fact, good planning introduces predictability. Still, significant effort is required to convert from the planning board to reality. Successful CIOs put in place proper plan governance and the essential frameworks for program and project management, but the right culture and team structures must also be present to effectively manage, measure and reward.

What core values have you instilled into your organization? Hopefully your management style is one that promotes transparency, fosters communication and builds cooperation. Let’s look at some other keystones of excellence in execution.

Accountability, Performance, and Reward

Reaching your technology strategic objectives requires more than just a plan; it requires people who have sufficient incentive and understanding to execute to that plan. Employees that understand what is being done, why, when, and how they can contribute become empowered team players. Good job descriptions that clearly spell out expectations are essential and help enforce accountability. Likewise, job performance must be measured and achievement rewarded. It is for this reason that accountability, performance, and reward comprise the first keystone.

Acceleration

We cannot afford to set targets that are too aggressive and that might later be missed. For this reason, historical acceleration is an important value to address. Historical acceleration is an indicator of organizational reality and a predictor of the future. It is the rate of change (accomplishment of objectives) for the organization in moving from idea generation through implementation. When we bring historical acceleration into the planning process, we take into account both the “speed” at which the organization accomplishes tasks and the desired direction of the organization.

Energy and Focus

Activity does not equal effectiveness. Activity also is not representative of indispensability. Energy must first be generated through planning that excites and ignites, then it must be focused (channeled). Recently, MIT Sloan released the “Four Energy Zones”. Their in-depth study proved that organizational energy and focus is a critical component to overall success and the achievement of success or sustainability of the organization progress.

Here are “The Four Energy Zones” as described in the study:

1. Aggression zone (responding to threat)

2. Passion zone (responding to an exciting goal)

3. Comfort zone are coasting dangerously on past success

4. Resignation zone have nearly given up

(Bruch, Heike, Ghosal, Sumantra, “Unleashing organizational energy: four types of organizational energy can either stimulate or handicap competitiveness. Companies are learning to identify and focus the kind best suited to their culture and goals.”, MIT Sloan Management Review, Sept. 22, 2003)

As CIOs, we must find ways to keep our teams in the “Passion Zone”, channeling their energy, enthusiasm and focus into providing targeted, value-based organizational outcomes. By focusing the process, we remove organizational “entropy” - the limits (or ability) to do useful work. It is helpful when the plans and their related programs are centered around customer outcomes, injecting a true sense of purpose to put the effort for an initiative across the finish line. With renewed energy and focus a team becomes more effective as a result of “doing the right things, right”.

Communication

The importance of communication cannot be overstated. Too often we see clients fail because of overlooking this critical point. Communication is too often taken for granted. To use a simple illustration, consider your team of direct reports to be wearing blindfolds. Picture a bucket of golf balls with eight ropes extending from the bucket…one for each manager. The golf balls represent customers, whether internal or external for the sake of this example. Now, envision the mission you must have your team complete to be the following:

1. In unison, pick up their individual ropes emanating from the bucket without spilling any balls,

2. Walk in a coordinated fashion to a designated target location 30 paces from the original location and

3. Without spilling and balls, set the bucket down inside of a circle in the target.

This exercise will require concise descriptions from you beforehand on the mission, as they are blindfolded and cannot function without step-by-step instructions. In business, our teams are also dependent on crisp articulation of vision, plan goals and expected individual contributions towards accomplishment of our goals.

Consider communication as multi-disciplinary, meaning that we must look at the IT organization holistically. This allows us as managers to consider how the organization communicates today, the issues and risks that the existing communication strategy poses to the organization, and how the organization needs and should communicate various planning results. For more information on communication strategies within the framework of the planning process, see the recent Method Frameworks article entitled, “The CEO Conundrum”. This leads us to the final keystone.

Clarity and Visualization

Clarity brings a sense of “authenticity” to the IT organization that the IT staff, IT customers and executive management need in order to view the technology group as an organization that delivers real value. Clarity is not simply being “open” with full disclosure, it is allowing people to know what affects them and when. Clarity is not simply a desirable trait, but is an inevitable requirement for the technology organizational to be truly successful.

The reason is relatively simple: less information means less “certainty”. Dr. Shannon Fulmerfelt, Editor and Chief of the E-Journal for Organizational Learning and Leadership has done extensive research in the area of organizational authenticity - her writing on the subject is thought provoking. So, what is organizational authenticity? According to Dr. Fulmerfelt, “It is about the collective effect of trying to improve and care for the organization so that it has a tacitly accepted direction” and “a demonstrated set of aligning behaviors”.

Clarity and visualization of outcomes allows those involved with project initiatives to have insight through efficient and effective means. It enables understanding, early detection of issues, and the ability to determine patterns. There are many techniques that can be used to support clarity and visualization. A key fundamental step to accomplishing clarity is to clearly define the vision and mission of the technology organization.

Visualization can be achieved through various techniques, but one approach is the use of tactical task boards. Taken from Toyota, task boards provide a simple way to make the overall layout of initiatives clear, allowing staff to see where in the process we are, and know where they will be impacted. Additionally, these task boards are “fun” - they bring color and life into the office environment. Additionally, task boards positively influence the behavior and attitude of team members, managers and stakeholders by helping ensure transparency and by building trust.

In Conclusion

As CIOs in today’s business environment, we have a difficult road ahead of us – but not an impossible one. This article addressed many of the issues facing us in the upcoming year and offered three goals that we can work towards enacting in our own organizations. By focusing on these three, simply stated goals, we can channel our energies into productive initiatives that will produce business outcomes leading to revenue growth and competitive advantages for our businesses. Good luck with your initiatives and may 2010 be a fantastic year for you and your organization!

* * *

Join the Strategic Planning Xchange group.

Does this leave you curious about Method Frameworks and the effectiveness of your own planning process? Plan4 is our proprietary business planning process that involves an integrated set of actions designed to help companies gain sustainable advantage. Download our brochure to learn more about Method Frameworks and our services or download our Plan4 Planning Process Overview. Contact Method Frameworks at 877-317-5264 (877-31PLAN4) or follow this link to request a meeting with a planning consultant. Check our blog often to get many more planning tips and visit www.methodframeworks.com for information about our powerful Plan4 process and loads of information on the differences between Plan4 and traditional planning approaches.

Recommended Article for You close

Trending Articles

Build Your List with Joint Venture Giveaway Events

May 2012 Top 100 Social Media Experts to Follow on Twitter

What to measure to be phenomenally successful in business

10 mistakes of media relations

Making Money Blogging Can Be Tons Of Fun