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How to become a successful CIO
The successful Chief Information Officer(CIO) fulfills multiple hats and provides an array of value to business stakeholders that rely on him/her to align with the business strategy.
Top key things to be proficient in to become a successful CIO:
1. Technical knowledge. Understanding the tools, processes, applications, technologies that the enterprise requires to operationally obtain its goals is critical. To make technical decisions and also lead technical people in their decision making you need to have a clear view of the technology landscape that lies ahead.
2. Business acumen. One of the CIOs core focus’ is to align the long term I.T. strategy with business strategy and growth. That means you need to understand key business drivers, value propositions and core competencies of the business. You need to understand how you can use I.T. solutions to develop a competitive advantage for your company to execute on their strategy. You need to talk, walk and breathe at the same time. Communicating I.T. strategies and its benefits to business stakeholders is imperative to establish trust, buy-in and likeability in your profession.
3. People leadership. Having technical skills and understanding the business will only get you so far. You need people to carry out the vision and strategy. Leading people is a soft skill that few people can execute perfectly. It’s an ongoing mandate to develop relationships with people and have them want to follow you in realizing a vision.
4. Professional Network. Although not necessary, a good CIO as with any senior executive should have a professional network of CIOs/ senior I.T. executives that he/she can leverage. Things that can be learned from each other are best practices, challenges and pitfalls, and a common strategy to succeed for your organization. It’s also noteworthy to add that as much information, thought leadership, guidance you receive, you should give back.
5. Passion for learning - In the ever evolving world of technology, things change at a rapid pace. As an executive you need to keep to update with current trends (not only in technology). You will notice that new ideas and concepts usually come from other disciplines and can also be applied to your organization.
6. Focus – There are many strategies/implementations/vendors that can be chosen to implement a certain architecture, strategy or system change. Maintaining a core focus of the long-term architecture roadmap is critical to reducing cost and successfully communicating technology benefits to key stakeholders. Standardization of technologies is one example of aligning the company and obtaining focus.
7. Delivery – The last thing and one of the most important things is that you have to deliver. You have to deliver on scope, timelines, budgets, quality and business benefits. A constant track record of delivery will enable you to get business stakeholders be confident that the I.T. shop is providing a tangible benefit to their business.
Conclusion
In an age where I.T. departments are asked to deliver more with less, the top skills outlined above are necessary for senior I.T. executives and CIOs to possess to successfully lead their I.T. strategies to align with business objectives.
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