Yes, I agree that CIO is quite a position in any organization today. Also, it's true that Business-IT alignment is the buzz in town. Today, you talk of technology and there is a general excitement among all the key stakeholders. But there is a darker side to this story. It gets buried deep below the thick crusts of the sheen.
Without sugar-coating my words, I shall come to the point. Ten days ago, I invited a senior (at least age-wise) member of the fraternity (name withheld), to my office over a cup of tea. I must say that the office of a startup (which is us) has neither got a decent meeting room nor a facility to make tea in-house. The conference room has a few chairs and no table and the tea is ordered from outside. But yes, we can get "tea".
So, this gentleman, who was eager to meet me, came over. I could sense his problem well before he could say anything. He is between jobs - "in transit", to be a little sophisticated. I asked him point-blank: Why was he so eager to leave without an alternative. His reply was disheartening - amounting to a shock. "The management doesn't want a bright executive to head IT. All they want are a few obedient managers who can take command from the top guns and maintain the status quo," he said.
The gentleman looked dejected and agitated. He wanted to share details threadbare. I was all ears for him. He revealed the sorry state of affairs inside the company. Actually, the company (a mid-sized group with diversified business interests) never had the position of an IT Head prior to this gentleman joining the organization. So, the other top officials became quite jittery when he joined the organization. "They could not openly oppose the management's decision to get an IT Head but were certainly not in favor of one. I had some ideas to do away with the legacy and bring about some radical changes in the way business was being done, with the help of technology," he told me.
This could have caused plenty of upheaval and required a great deal of course correction. The oldies were not ready to loosen their grip. "I have been in the company for just over four months and all this while, I have suffered the worst ever humiliation of my life. Everything that goes wrong is blamed on IT. Despite visible and remarkable improvements in processes, IT is singled out as the culprit. More than that, the change was the demon," he said.
Despite the visible changes in business performance, the management was listening only to those opposing the changes and didn't allow this gentleman to do much work. Finally, he told the management that he wasn't able to work in a hostile environment, in which an IT Head is only an "order taker" and had no freedom to implement his universally accepted ideas.
And funny but true, the management didn't try to stop him even once.
The gentleman was so dejected that he made up his mind to quit enterprise IT.
"There is no respect," he said.
This story is real. I haven't tried to inflate or deflate facts.
We can interpret it in two ways.
One, this is quite a lopsided story and therefore needs more details to support. True! The story can't be complete without a 360-degree view and therefore we need the views of other executives too.
Two, this is what happens in a majority of cases and what we see, is just too superficial to believe.
"Why, indeed, CIOs get so little respect?" Pardon me for putting this so bluntly but I am not the only one who feels like this. Bob Evans, Senior VP and Director of InformationWeek's newly launched Global CIO program has also put it in a similar way. In an article written in 2009, he has made these strong statements and has also asked several other questions. (Read more at: http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/careers/214303717)
It doesn't end here. Marc J. Schiller, an IT strategist, author, speaker, and mentor to IT leaders (who has spent more than two decades consulting some of the world's leading companies across continents) has also raised similar questions.
Instead of sounding inquisitive, Schiller is definitive. In his recent blog on a respectable CIO Website in the US, he said, "IT doesn't get enough respect." (Read more at http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Expert-Voices/Why-IT-Gets-No-Respect-158281/)
Bob is blunt and so am I. In most cases, the CEO is unwilling to drive (or accept) substantive changes. As in the case described above. As a result, CIOs are forced to perpetuate processes and systems that don't go well with the changing business dynamics. The combination of both results in an overall disliking for the CIO. Here the CIO is victimized for no fault.
But CIOs also commit certain blunders. For decades IT has been a control freak. CIOs tend to lose their cool if they don't get total control over devices, apps or any tech-process. This may lead (or is leading) to frustration among tech-savvy users who can gain the executive support to go their own way. There have been instances wherein the empowered business units have bypassed the IT department and the CIO takes the blame for being insensitive to change. A CIO's job is not to provide a top-down solution. So, instead of gaining control, the CIOs should strive for better means to creating a powerful influence.
It is difficult for CIOs to realize that the days of exercising absolute control are over. They have to co-opt and co-create. It is the only way to regain some control.
Being a control freak is perhaps a CIO's biggest mistake today. And not realizing the adversities of it is an even bigger slip.
The gentleman who visited my office finally took to my suggestions and has decided to hunt for a decent position in enterprise IT and is looking at making some of changes...
What do you say?
I do agree with Rahul. There are similar cases which have happened in the industry. I am really sympathetic with the guys who are going through this pain. How he will handle the pressures is just unimaginable. That is really shocking and sad.
I respect your (correct) observation. “…the CEO is unwilling to drive (or accept) substantive changes…”, but also challenge it as being too simplistic. It does not deal with the complete dynamics of change management and power play that is inherent in such situations.
How may CIOs would like to stand up and be counted as ‘responsible’ when an IT project is delivered successfully, on-time, in-budget but is deemed a failure after a couple of months because perceived ROI could not be delivered due to failure of people to imbibe change within the ROI period? CIOs have yet to learn the complete dimensions of managing change. A CEO is focused not only on the Change, but is equally exercised on the probability of its successful conclusion - successful project roll out + zero business disruption + a solid acceptance by the company and its markets. And that means endless negotiations with the markets, the various departments, vendor ecosystem, unions and, most importantly, the Board. Mismanage a single one of them, and poof goes the Change! Failure can be even more disruptive (pun intended) than the Change! A good CEO always has well worked out reasons for his decision on the pace of the change. And CIO is not the only one on the CxO team feeling shortchanged. Perhaps, an experienced CIO needs to make an honest compilation of case studies highlighting this someday.
But, is the CIO consulted (respect factor?) beyond ‘technicals” by the CEO while planning the change? Or, do we ever see IT-Project Steering Committees digging deeper into the CIO when he raises ‘non-technical’ strategic issues? A case of the CIO wandering too far into the CEO’s territory, perhaps.
Is this a threat, or an opportunity in disguise?
Dinesh, I some how tend to disbelieve the fact that CEOs are right all the time. I am not biased at all but at the same time I do feel that the deserving CIOs also don’t get appropriate attention and a patient hearing. That turns into a great amount of apathy towards something called “leadership”. The CIO remains “technical” and feels that as least something is under his/her control. Imagine a time when a CIO stands up to solve the problem of falling revenues and reducing margins! That will earn respect for him but that can only come with greater amount of responsibilities and even greater trust in the office of a CIO (in general). I am sure there are aberrations and exceptions even today.
Expectations from CIOs are changing…
CIOs need to come out of traditional IT Managers thought, otherwise business leaders will take their roles and responsibility. CIOs need to be part of business. Finding business opportunities through IT is key Mantra for CIOs success else get ready…
Sorry for being blunt like Rahul but this is the fact of life TODAY…
I agree with you Rahul that a CIO should adopt the strategy of co-opt/co-create and I am glad that convinced enough your friend. But reality is that CIO isn’t a big chair yet, at least in Indian non-IT segment especially small and mid-sized organizations where IT is treated as cost center and CIO is treated as system admin (I believe you are referring to some Indian industry here). Funny, but that’s the reality. We still have CXO meetings conducted without CIO. There are many cases where CIO gets to know some business news even after his subordinate, or vendors etc. You may not agree with me, but this is true in my observation with many of my pals. These things can push any young blood into frustration but unfortunately that’s still the business practice and one has to live with it for some time till the time he creates enough confidence with in his the CXO team.
In my opinion a lot matters on the three points below:
Be clear on what you’ve been recruited for - what is your CEO’s expectation? He/she should be in line with the CEO’s expectation. I am sure the boss has something in mind while opening a position and by any chance if hasn’t then the 1st priority is to understand the business dynamics, IT needs of the business and so on, discuss it with boss and buy his opinion and freeze on projects and requirements. He/she needs to be crystal clear on the requirements be it be tools, man power, systems etc. A CIO cannot (and should not) get on to every individual task of any project. Priorities to be made between what’s must to have and what’s good to have, failing to set wise priorities may cause failure in the very initial stages itself.
What kind of CXO team he/she working with, how IT savvy are they and the business vertical he/she is in? As long as you have IT savvy colleagues, your life is easier but then if you have a CXO team from an old school then wise thing is to take-up the most critical task and work with only one C group member at any given time and like Dinesh Mohan said in his comment above take-up complete responsibility of the implementation of the project.
How the organization is structured, does IT made to report to CEO directly or some other like COO/CFO/CMO etc.? I read in an article written by Daya Prakash at DynamicCIO.com that 44% of IT organizations report to CFO and 33% reports to CEO directly. This is true even in my observation and the remaining report to some cross functional heads.
If he/she happened to report to some other cross functional head who may not understand ABC of the IT, that would frustrate even more. If he, your immediate boss don’t know your language, its value and not in a position to recognize your/ your department’s efforts. My advice is dump that dumb guy because he is unfit to be your boss, bypass him and report to Big man.
To be respected in any organization, CIOs need to focus on providing biz solutions instead of ONLY tech solutions.