The 7 Keys to IT Success in 2017
As we enter 2017, IT stands at a unique juncture in the road.
For decades, IT was a back-office support function. Now, as digital technology transforms every business function, process, and role, IT is beginning to take center-stage within the business. More and more we see IT professionals with a deep desire and commitment to:
- Work hand-in-hand and truly be part of the business.
- Take a proactive role in strategy formation.
- Earn a seat at the table.
- Contribute directly to the business’ success.
As technology becomes a primary driver of value for nearly every business function, this trend will only continue. IT leaders will increasingly find themselves in a uniquely qualified position to contribute to and shape the success of their organizations.
And yet while there is such opportunity for IT, most IT leaders report feeling frustrated, left out and without the influence and voice to drive the value of IT for their companies.
Why? Because the role and responsibility of IT is changing, and with it the keys to success in IT. As IT makes the journey from the backroom to the boardroom, it is no longer the technical or functional competency that most contributes to IT’s success. Instead, An IT leader’s success will increasingly depend on their ability to work as a true partner with the business.
Recognizing this shift, a new set of keys to success emerge for ambitious IT leaders in 2017.
Key #1: The Stakeholder Relationship is the New Key Driver of IT Success
In the past, the ability to create and maintain strong stakeholder relationships differentiated first-rate IT teams from the rest of the pack. But as IT moves to center-stage in their organizations, every IT team will depend increasingly on their stakeholder relationships to succeed.
Here’s the problem: Stakeholder relationship management and engagement is the weakest, least developed, and least understood competency of many technically-oriented IT professionals and teams.
To improve your stakeholder relationships, you first have to take them out of the fluffy qualitative realm, and move them into the realm of hard, data-driven standards and benchmarks that IT feels comfortable within.
Key #2: Stakeholder Relationships Can Be Quantified
Quantifying stakeholder relationships isn’t easy. My firm spent a period of 8 years creating our tool to measure our client’s stakeholder relationships. But this work was worth it. When an IT team objectively measures their stakeholder relationships year-over-year, they become acutely aware how their actions impact their stakeholder relationships. No more guesswork.
By working with clients to measure, and improve, their stakeholder relationships for many years, we’ve come to see there are a few core actions every IT organization needs to take to produce successful stakeholder relationships.
These insights form the remaining keys to success.
Key #3: There are Nine “Hard” Building Blocks of Stakeholder Success
If you want your stakeholders to feel a deep foundation of confidence in your IT organization, you need to establish nine essential building blocks.
You need the following:
- Stakeholder Benchmark
- IT Vision and Strategy
- Strategic Information Systems Plan (SISP)
- IT Organization Model
- IT Operating Model
- Annual Operating Plan
- Performance Scorecard
- Internal and External Communications Program
- IT Leadership Development Program
These building blocks likely look familiar to you. Chances are you already have some, or maybe even all, of them in place. But as a general rule, we’ve found that the standard approach most IT teams follow when they create building blocks like an IT Strategy often falls short of what stakeholders are really looking for from their IT teams.
Part of this disconnect comes from the very structure of how IT teams often form these building blocks. For example, stakeholders often feel better about an IT Organization Model that assigns IT leaders to specific stakeholder functions (e.g.: a VP of R&D) rather than internal IT platforms (e.g.: a VP of SAP).
But a large part of this disconnect also comes from the way IT teams and professionals directly interact with their stakeholders as they form, and operationalize, these building blocks.
Key #4: There are Also “Soft” A,B,Cs of Stakeholder Success
As IT forms and operationalizes the above building blocks, they move through countless interaction points with their stakeholders. To succeed in these interactions, IT teams and professionals must follow a set of A, B, Cs.
What are these A,B,Cs?
Attitudes
Behaviors
Communications
Some of these A, B, Cs are global. They are general rules to follow whenever an IT team or professional engages one of their stakeholders. For example: The language IT uses, such as referring to business peers as “stakeholders” and not “customers” goes a long way towards shifting these interactions to a successful mindset.
Other A, B, Cs only apply within certain contexts. For example: When an IT professional is building support for her project approval, she’ll need to Be Skeptical (an Attitude), perform Nemawashi (a behavior), and utilize the Madison Avenue Sales Method (a style of Communication).
In each case, the A, B, Cs help IT teams professionals succeed whenever they interact with their stakeholders. And many IT teams and professionals tell us these are the really hard things to learn and follow.
#5: Stakeholder Relationships Must Succeed at Three Organizational Levels
The A, B, Cs are so important because the IT group—whether through an IT team or through an individual IT professional—interacts with their stakeholders at so many interaction points. And as digital transformation continues, these interaction points will only multiply in volume, depth, and importance. Stakeholder relationship success truly is a team sport.
To transform your organization, this new focus on stakeholder relationships must be brought to life in all three levels of your organization.
Level I: The CIO must deliver the visionary leadership that shifts the IT organization’s focus to their stakeholder relationships.
Level II: The IT management team must deliver processes that focus on creating structured, valuable interaction points between IT and their stakeholders.
Level III: The individual IT teams and staff members must create successful engagement with their stakeholders by following the A, B, Cs for each interaction point.
This is a simplification, of course. For example, there are A, B, Cs that help every level of interaction with stakeholders, and members of the management team will be deeply involved with the formation of the IT team’s vision.
But overall, this mapping provides a practical framework to get everyone in the IT organization to shift their focus to improving their stakeholder relationships.
And stakeholder relationship success is all about practically applying this shift—and not simply talking in loose, conceptual terms about the need to better engage your stakeholder.
Key #6: There is a Practical Road Map to Stakeholder Success
It isn’t enough to have a conceptual understanding that stakeholder relationships are the new key driver of IT success. IT teams and professionals need a practical way to understand, and put to work, the ideas and methods that drive improved stakeholder relationships.
There are many books out there that provide a practical roadmap to building and growing successful professional relationships. We wrote one such book, The 11 Secrets of Highly Influential IT Leaders, to offer an IT-specific road map to follow that pulls all of these concepts together and allows IT professionals and mangers to get started on improving their stakeholder relationships without requiring a custom consulting engagement.
Our book lays out a three part journey:
Part 1 – Influence Begins with Credibility
Walks you through the key activities and behaviors you need to set in place a foundation of credibility—the basis for influence.
Part 2 – The Essentials of Influential Communications
Reveals how to quickly improve your standing and influence with your stakeholders by addressing the biggest challenge faced by most of IT—communications.
Part 3 – Game Time
Teaches the specific tactics you need to succeed in critical situations and contexts in IT where you, the IT leader, have the opportunity to shine.
Following this system takes work. But it’s worth it—on both an organizational level, but also on the level of your own individual career.
Key #7: It’s About Your Individual Success
One purpose underlies improving your stakeholder relationships: doing so helps you, the individual IT professional, manager, or CIO, do better. When you focus on improving your stakeholder relationships you will command more respect, leverage more influence, and increase the value you provide for your stakeholders, your colleagues, and your company.
Yes, focus on improving IT performance and you will make IT better for its own sake, and for the sake of the organization for which IT is a part. But by increasing the value of what you provide, you will also enjoy a more fulfilling and rewarding career.
It’s my wish you follow this road to increased IT success—and your own increased individual professional success—in 2017.
And if you’d like some assistance on your way there, drop us a line.
To your success,
Marc
