With the onset of new technologies such as hybrid IT, cloud and open source software, I think a cornerstone of IT leadership is to work with your people to ensure that they understand that their skills are relevant and transferable — and to let them have a voice. It’s very important to be engaged with your people, because if you’re not connected to them then a void opens up leading to turnover and employees may end up doing a lot of different things that are not aligned to your department or company goals.
When I moved into this role as CIO, I talked with my group about the need to co-create the future together. I think that was a little bit foreign at the time because people’s responses ran along the lines of, “Well aren’t you just going to set the vision and then, we kind of act?” But we worked very closely with the group to say, “You have your ideas, and you have an equal voice.” As a result people have spoken up, shared their thoughts and are part of the future we created together.
We also formed a Guiding Coalition based on John Kotter’s work at Harvard Business School. This is the second year of our Guiding Coalition program and we have found it to be extremely powerful to help get people connected to each other at the grass roots level. With these connections in place, managing change and getting people on-board has become much easier especially when we roll out new technologies across the enterprise.
Building a career on constant change
Giving your people a voice also helps them build and expand their own careers and skills. For example, previously, we had situations where people get stuck behind their desks reading email, doing their work solo, and now they’ve built up new skill sets. Just by virtue of leading these guiding coalition teams and being part of the network that helps people reach outside their comfort zone, people now have the ability to stand up and actually present an idea or a technology direction to either my staff or other VPs in the company.
It takes the right kind of executive engagement for the Guiding Coalition to succeed, because if you don’t have that sponsorship, it will fall apart. But that sponsorship has to really be at the right level. You don’t want to tell people what to do. As a leader, you want to be there for them, but you ultimately want them to create their own network, their own ideas.
I’ve been really pleased with the outcome. And I think, from a leadership standpoint, connecting with people is one of the most important things that you can do. If you’re not connected with your team, I don’t think you can be successful as a leader as I firmly believe you are only as successful as your team. So it’s important to get their ideas, see what they’re thinking, and then harness their power to really utilize and show that they truly do have a voice and they truly can co-create the future.
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Cynthia Stoddard is the Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer (CIO) at NetApp. In her role as CIO, she is responsible for providing a long-term technology vision that supports and is aligned with the company’s strategies and goals, business plans, operating requirements, and overall efficiencies. She provides leadership to the Global IT organization to enable delivery of worldwide business solutions and infrastructure that support the company’s growth. Additionally, she acts as the primary advocate of NetApp to external markets to promote further awareness of the NetApp on NetApp initiative.
