You don’t get credibility on day one of joining an organization. You have to earn it. For CIOs, this is especially challenging if they’re brought in as turnaround leaders tasked with improving the perception of IT.
So where do you start?
Building credibility with your business partners is the first step. And while there are probably several approaches you can take, I believe you get there by starting with good old-fashioned listening.
One thing I found valuable and successful in my current role was coming in and talking to my internal team, my direct reports, individual contributors, and managers, and getting their feedback on what’s working and what isn’t. But I didn’t stop there. I then reached out to my business partners to gather their feedback.
The enlightenment that came from all that feedback was that there was agreement from both parties on what was working well and where the problems were. That was helpful. That meant there weren’t these delusional IT folks thinking they were great in one area and the business thinking the opposite.
It’s important to note that when you’re listening, try to understand the problems or challenges without trying to fix them right away. This gives you an understanding of where you stand in that IT value chain.
Next, get visual
After your listening sessions, take any information or data you collected and make it consumable for the person you’ve gathered it from. This shows you didn’t just hear them, but that you understood what they were saying. I’ve actually done this by showing the data graphically or laying it out in a PowerPoint showing strengths and weaknesses.
That helps the other person – whether it’s your business partner or IT organization – see both the good and the bad. That’s especially important when you’re talking to your IT organization about the things you need to do to move up the value chain. By leading with your strengths, you’re motivating your team. But at the same time, you’re not overlooking the things that aren’t going well.
Once you’ve proven that you’re listening, you need to prove that you’re working on some fundamental areas by providing some basic objectives to measure how you’re doing. You want to measure your performance, whether it’s related to projects, budgets, etc. By measuring what you’re doing, you’re going to build credibility within the organization.
It doesn't happen overnight
So how long does building credibility as the new CIO on the block take?
I’d say you need to gain credibility within 12 to 18 months of joining an organization. And credibility means controlling your operations and delivering on your commitments.
Then, after all that hard work, if you’re hitting your budget and project commitments, you can start moving up the value chain to business enabler. If you’ve done well listening and making your marks, then you can start to dance in that business enabler space within 24 months of starting your new role. It could take another year before business partners start to fully see you as an enabler. Even then, you may not live in that space full-time. And that’s OK.
Learn how feedback from your teams can be a gift by Cynthia Stoddard, CIO of NetApp.
Paul Brady is Vice President of Information Technology at Arbella Insurance. His responsibilities span infrastructure, application development and IT core services.
