It is time for CIOs to step up and bring more value to protect their seat at the table or risk losing ground.  A very strong statement but one that was supported by the content of the Renaissance Executive Forum event on October 28^th titled Who will be the next game changer? This event was received with outstanding reviews by everyone who attended.  The landscape of this event was continuously filled with highlights that pointed all arrows toward the necessity for Information Technology (IT) organizations to lead game changer activities for corporate differentiation and sustainability.

The event opened with Kathie Topel, Managing Partner IMPACTinsights,  discussing the need for driving everyone in the IT organization toward being aligned and engaged with the mission, vision and strategic direction of corporations today.  Kathie facilitates a monthly Renaissance CIO Executive Forum group with Ed Breclaw, Franchise Owner of Renaissance Executive Forums in the western suburbs of the Chicago area. The CIO Executive Forum group has a mission To bring the IT team from the backroom to the boardroom and provide game changer business value to the organizational vision.

The first keynote speaker was Khalid Kark, Vice President and Research Director Forrester Research, serving CIOs.  He spoke to the attendees about being in the Empowered Era and the implications on IT.  He stated that in the near future we will see Information Technology transform and be referred to as Empowered Business Technology. The topic was covered of how titles in the technology field are moving from Chief Information Officer to align more with Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Vice President of Business Transformation and Chief Innovation Officer.

Next to speak was Thomas Stat, Co-Founder, Executive Director, Edison Universe.  He spoke to the attendees about what it is going to take to innovate into the future. He stated that the expectation of IT as an integrated leader of innovation is going to become more and more demanding over the next 5 years.  The pressure for IT organizations to understand the value they bring to their internal customers along with their external customers is constantly increasing with the continual need for differentiation in the marketplace.

In closing the opening statement could not be more true. It is time for CIOs to step up and bring more value to protect their seat at the table or risk losing ground. The door is wide open for IT leaders to be the Game Changer of the future.

The Renaissance CIO Executive Forum annual event. Sponsored by IMPACTinsights and Renaissance Executive Forums.   
 
This event is for CIOs and CEOs who want to be an active part of the Game Changer landscape of the future. 

Don’t get left behind your competition.  The landscape of executive roles in corporations today are changing faster than ever before.  Be prepared to be on top! 

Date : October 28th

Time : 7:30 a.m. – Noon

Location: Northern Illinois University, 1120 E. Diehl Rd., Naperville, IL

Featured Speakers Include  
Khalid Kark – Vice President and Research Director, Forrester,
Thomas Stat – Co-Founder & Executive Director, Edison Universe,
Ian Woodall - President, The TAO of Everest

For more information and to register;

http://nextgamechanger.eventbrite.com/

Richmond events creates and presents forum summits that are by invitation only.  Celebrating their 15^th year of bringing the highest quality information and learning environment to the executives that participate.

The Forums are specifically designed for the most senior IT decision makers in the country and is a unique experience to get together, debate the big issues and explore collaborative opportunities.  This is done by providing;
• First rate conference sessions developed by peers for peers
• Unrivalled networking opportunities
• Senior level face-to-face meetings with innovative solution providers
• Valuable take-aways to help you and your company move forward

Booz Allen Hamilton hosted the Diplomacy and International Development CIO Executive Roundtable on May 10, 2011.  It was held at the Fairfax Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.   The speakers included Kathie Topel – Vice President, IMPACTinsights, Walton Smith – Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton, Dr. Ron Ritchey – Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton and Khalid Kark – Vice President and Research Director, Forrester Research.    Key takeaway from the event was that the CIO future for 2020 will include as much business as technology.  Forester is calling this new environment Business Technology verses the current title of Information Technology.  Booz Allen Hamilton speakers highlighted  internet security topics and also showcased their portal that has been an extraordinary success for them to bring all employees together and allow the company to continue their position as one of the best in the world.  Kathie’s topic wrapped up the session.  It went through how to actually take the next steps to get closer to the Business Technology CIO role of the future.  An attendee was quoted as saying “Khalid and Kathie – special thanks to each of you for traveling out and sharing your insights. Your talks were the perfect bookends for the event”.    All participants are looking forward to the next event.

Innovation is a topic that IT professionals are exposed to more and more each year.   Article after article that we review each week continue to mention innovation or differentiation and the role that the IT executive must play in leading the organization into the future.   The responsibility of innovation opens up an entirely new need for employee development.  It leaves the IT executive with a number of questions on how to most effectively deal with the topic of innovation.  1) What does innovation mean?  2) What process should I use to track innovation? 3) How do I integrate innovation into the DNA of the culture?  All very challenging but extremely important questions.  Questions that need to be addressed if IT is going to continue to grow into the role of the Game Changer of the future. 

It would be hard to address all 3 of the questions in 1 blog so we have decided to break up our innovation blogging into a 3 parts series.    Each part in the series will address 1 of the questions we identified as challenging.  The first question that we will be addressing is;

What does innovation mean?  This may seem easy.  The Webster dictionary defines innovation as the introduction of something new.  This is a definition we can’t disagree with but the issue comes when we need to determine the depth and breadth that this term can cover.  It is important for companies to understand the type of innovation that they are striving for.  This helps the IT leader to scope and channel their efforts in the correct direction, identify and target the market appropriately and meet or exceed budget expectations.  

Innovation Quadrants

Recently I was introduced to the 4 quadrants of innovation idea.  The 4 quadrants of innovation idea definitely helped me to identify what innovation meant to our team.  A picture of the quadrants is included in with this blog.   Let’s review it in detail;

Quadrant 1: Existing Offering / Existing Users – Trust Established

This is when you take an existing offer with an existing user base that has high trust with you and make an incremental change.  This limits your exposure and usually the cost of introducing it to the market place.  The adoption rate can be quick if the idea is well received.

Quadrant 2:  Existing Offering / New Users – Trust Not Established

This is when you are taking an existing offering and making a change that will require selling your idea to an entirely new market place that do not know you or have trust built with you.  This can be much riskier than Quadrant 1.  Trust is very critical in building the alliance with innovation ideas. 

Quadrant 3:  New Offering / Existing users – Trust Established

This is when you are taking a totally new offering and working to sell it to your current client set that has high trust with you.  .  This can be riskier that Quadrant 1 but I don’t believe it is as risky as Quadrant 2.  Trust is a very large factor in adoption rate.

Quadrant 4: New Offering / New Users – Trust Not Established

This is when you are taking a totally new offering to an entirely new market place that do not know you or have trust built with you.  This is the most risky quadrant of all.  You have to have a budget that allows for a high percentage of failures with this type of innovation.  In order to achieve in the area you need to be able to generate a large volume of ideas and be prepared to discard a number of ideas based on feasibility.  This is the quadrant that I believe we all think has to be present in order to be known as an innovator.  This is not true this is just a different level of innovation.   It is a very mature level of innovation.

The 4 quadrants of innovation allow leadership to explain what their definition of the term innovation is in more depth and breadth.  It allows individuals to easily see where leadership is positioned on key factors that need to be addressed within a full definition of innovation.  Key factors include;  1)Risk level, 2)tolerance for failure, 3)industry trust, 4)client knowledge and 5)cultural adoption.  The Information Technology game changer of the future will not only know this for their internal client but will be able to define their clients positioning on these key areas.  This knowledge and consistency in definition will make the difference in the companies that will make significant strides toward being the next big innovator of the future.  What is your definition?

The vision of a company so frequently gets lost with IT organizations.  The focus becomes pure technology.  This focus is not enough in today’s competitive marketplace.  The award winning IT organizations are going to require continuous efforts to align everyone on the team to the vision and strategy of the entire company.  Making sure that brand awareness and repeatable value are top of mind.  Our IMPACT insights team had the opportunity to bring their message to the TEN Sponsor group at their December meeting with the presentation titled How to Build an Award-winning IT Organization…The Art Behind Getting IT Organizations Where They Should Be: At the Heart of Business Mission, Vision & Strategy. The session included a discussion on how to advance and evolve IT contributions to ensure they are aligned with business goals such as profitability, growth, innovation, brand reach, customer retention and market position.

In this session attendees learned…

• The proven, nine-step POWERSHIP® process for engaging IT teams, executing “the impossible” and delivering powerful business results.
• How to make awareness and accountability core responsibilities for an entire organization, not just the leadership team.
• The critical difference between teamwork in name and teamwork in practice.
• The surprising amount of change IT teams can manage if the adjustments are well explained and left open for plenty of discussion.
• How to turn strong IT performance into award-winning IT performance that will get your technology team noticed, inside the company and out.

VALUE Attendees Received

The Session Attendees feedback reflected extremely positive on the insights and perspectives shared at the meeting.  The group especially found the simplistic approach to strategy with the POWERSHIP methodology to be extremely valuable.   Below is a summary of what they liked best and consider their key take-away from the meeting:

• Enterprise approach to performance
• Simple methodology for balancing areas of impact
• Great simplistic strategy approach
• Excellent overall approach for changing corporate effectiveness and fostering goals across traditional organizational lines
• Team management
• Company culture – What do we want people to think of at each touch point
• Business focus of IT
• Aligning everyone around getting metrics to be on target
• Importance of involving all levels of employees within an organization
• All people need to be challenged; don’t assume people won’t “get it”
• Great presentation. Well run!
• Kathie did a great job!
• Great speaker!

About the TEN organization

Technology Executive Network (TEN) is an executive organization focused directly on the challenges faced by THE Senior Information Technology (IT) Executive of the enterprise.

The Senior IT Executive in any organization faces unique challenges: Building and maintaining business relationships with other senior executives in the enterprise while leading the IT organization in effectively employing information and communications technology to enable profitable business initiatives and operations.

TEN member CIOs leverage the knowledge, experience and connections of their peers in addressing their individual business and organizational challenges. TEN meetings and conferences focus on Leadership and Strategy, as well as key business, technical and operational strategies. As such, TEN delivers immediate value to participating CIOs while also, over time, providing the opportunity for Member CIOs to build their professional business network.

Membership in TEN and participation in TEN monthly meetings and periodic conferences is available exclusively to the Top IT executive in an enterprise or operating division. This ensures that TEN Member CIOs are interacting with and building a business network of true peer professionals. TEN CIO monthly meetings are exclusively for the senior IT executive.

For more information on the TEN organization visit www.eco-ten.com.

Have you ever experienced an IT group that was in their own world talking about 3 letter acronyms, processing cycles, intricate technical topics and terminology you could not understand?  Recently, I spoke with the Co-chairman of a large corporation and I was explaining to him how the POWERSHIP® model is being implemented throughout the IT organization.  I described how we are focused on getting everyone in the IT organization thinking like business leaders.  Making them realize their larger role in the achievement of the Vision of the company not just their role as a technician on their project.  His comment was very telling when he said “So the POWERSHIP® model Breaks the IT Bubble”.  I had never thought about that but his analogy was very simplistic but spot on.  He went on to report that he watches a large number of people working each day in the technology group and he has no understanding of what is being done.  This is an excellent example of why we need to focus on the concept of getting the entire IT organization on board with the vision and strategic direction of the company.  Executives of the company should no longer wonder what is happening in IT.  It should be evident how IT is delivering business value in their work and playing a significant role in achieving the vision.

How does this isolation in IT happen?  We so frequently want to start with a set of objectives that tries to encompass everything at once.  We present a very complex plan to the masses and believe that everyone should just know how to make things happen.  We expect prioritization to go on in departments and assume everything can be balanced even though capacity and demand don’t frequently match up.  Instead of getting alignment and accountability to the strategic plan and vision we get late project deliveries, overrun budgets and misalignment of the business and technology implementations.

Where do we begin?   The key to getting started is Simplicity.  Start by working with a model such as POWERSHIP® that depicts how a business works.  A model that is not directed at the CIO but rather at the front line to the customer.  Address everyone in the IT organization as leaders and make them understand that they have a key responsibility to contribute at all levels.  Skip the complex tools that create beautiful wave diagrams that few people understand, multi level charts that lose their effectiveness and deck after deck of the same objectives reworked over and over again until the meaning is lost.  The model that should be used needs to link the projects being worked on to the strategic objectives and then into the vision.  The model should provide appropriate transparency to foster accountability.  Priority setting should be limited to an achievable set of goals to be hit in 30, 60 and 90 day increments.  Remember “ less is more”.  When goals are met motivation increases and this motivation fuels individuals to want to succeed more.   Knowing how what you are doing day to day meets the objectives of the vision and drives ultimate business value is paramount.  This is the type of success executives are looking for.  It is important that executives see how IT is delivering results to the bottom line.   Everyone working together toward the vision will “Break the IT Bubble” and eliminate the traditional barriers between executives and IT once and for all fostering the delivery of Business Value, Business Value and more Business Value.

Quick Reality Check – Take a few moments to rate your organization on how the model you are using is achieving the business value that is needed for the future of the IT organization;

Is the vision easy to understand? (1 page or less.)

Is the strategic plan linked to the vision?

Is the strategic plan broken down into objectives and actions that link to delivery?

Is the accountability method broken into priorities for annual targets, quarterly targets, monthly targets and weekly targets?

Is there appropriate transparency for achievement of targets?

Are the business users actively involved in delivery?

Is leadership a component of everyone’s job?

Are the majority of the individuals in the IT group participating in true business value activities?

Until the answers to these questions are all yes a need still exists for more work to be done in order to “Break the IT Bubble”. Think simplicity, get started and see results soon.

What is the role of the CIO and the IT organization for the future?  A question that everyone is talking about.  We hear things like differentiation, business value, sustainable innovation, maximized impact and strategy execution.   If the IT leaders are going to be a peer to their executive counterparts and be part of the Game Changers for the company they will need to ensure that their team is engaged in the business and not just the technology.  How does this happen?  Technologists have been measured for years by metrics that surround the knowledge that they hold for the latest programming language, the most code that can be produced, the certification they received for specific products and their ability to maintain and enhance code that needs customization.  This is just not the case for the future.

I am sure a number of people have heard the phrase from the backroom to the boardroom. This phase summarizes what the IT organization for the future has to be prepared for.  They must have awareness and knowledge centered around how they participate in the delivery of the mission, vision, strategy and brand values of the company.  How do we create a technology team culture that is focused on business value?  This becomes the battle for the CIO who is faced with trying to make the transformation from the backroom to the boardroom in a short period of time with less and less team members than ever before.

The CIO Executive Council really summarized this journey up in a one page visual titled Journey to the Future-State CIO.  (Attached Diagram) This picture allows us as Technology leaders to be able to align ourselves with the external community of Technology leaders and decide where we are on our personalized company journey.   The levels determined by the CIO Executive Council are;

• Functional Level with an IT Reputation of Credibility
  • Stakeholder Relationship: Service Provider
  • Staff Expertise: System
  • Leader Focus: Internal
• Transformational Level with an IT Reputation of Influential
  • Stakeholder Relationship: Partner
  • Staff Expertise: Processes
  • Leader Focus: Enterprise
• Business Strategy Level with an IT Reputation of Game Changer
  • Stakeholder Relationship: Peer
  • Staff Expertise: Business
  • Leader Focus: External

We are finding a consistent pattern when senior IT executives review the Journey to the Future-State CIO diagram.  A large majority of IT executives have determined that they have advanced to being a part of the business strategy level. The difficulty is that their team is just leaving the functional level and some of their team is even fighting the departure of this level.   The issue with this is really compounded with the fact that IT groups are functioning with less people than ever before and each person has to be fully engaged and moving toward the business strategy level.  How do I get my team to move quickly to bridge this gap?  This becomes the ultimate challenge facing IT executive leaders.  It is a MUST that a method is implemented to close this gap and bring the entire IT group from the backroom closer to the boardroom.  This is really where we have positioned our model POWERSHIP®.  It is a simplified strategy execution model that gets everyone from the front line to the CIO engaged in the delivery of the mission, vision and the strategy.  This allows business value, sustainable innovation and strategic solutions to be created from all areas, not just the executives.  Whether you utilize the POWERSHIP° model or another model in its category it is MOST important that you get started now and develop your team into the corporate game changers of the future.

My compliments to the team that put this outstanding diagram together Journey to the Future-State CIO. I look forward to all your upcoming work.  Link to the diagram on the CIO website http://council.cio.com/programs/future_state.html

The vision of a company so frequently gets lost with IT organizations.  The focus becomes pure technology.  This focus is not enough in today’s competitive marketplace.  The award winning IT organizations are going to require continuous efforts to align everyone on the team to the vision and strategy of the entire company.  Making sure that brand awareness and repeatable value are top of mind.  Our team had the opportunity to bring their message to the SIM WI Chapter at their September meeting with their presentation titled How to Build an Award-winning IT Organization The Art Behind Getting IT Organizations Where They Should Be: At the Heart of Business Mission, Vision & Strategy. The session included a discussion on how to advance and evolve IT contributions to ensure they are aligned with business goals such as profitability, growth, innovation, brand reach, customer retention and market position.

In this session attendees learned…

• The proven, nine-step POWERSHIP® process for engaging IT teams, executing “the impossible” and delivering powerful business results.
• How to make awareness and accountability core responsibilities for an entire organization, not just the leadership team.
• The critical difference between teamwork in name and teamwork in practice.
• The surprising amount of change IT teams can manage if the adjustments are well explained and left open for plenty of discussion.
• How to turn strong IT performance into award-winning IT performance that will get your technology team noticed, inside the company and out.

About the SIM organization

Mission of SIM
SIM is an association of senior IT executives, prominent academicians, selected consultants, and other IT thought leaders built on the foundation of local chapters, who come together to share and enhance their rich intellectual capital for the benefit of its members and their organizations.
SIM members strongly believe in and champion:

• The alignment of IT and business as a valued partnership;
• The creation and sharing of best practices;
• The effective, efficient and innovative business use of information technology to continuously bring to market valuable products and services;
• IT management and leadership skills development that enables our members growth at each stage of their career;
• The replenishment and education of future IT leaders including a strong role in influencing university curriculums and continuing education;
• Working with the IT industry to shape its direction;
• Policies and legislation that stimulate innovation, economic development, healthy competition and IT job creation;
• Serving our communities and the industry through giving and outreach

For more information on the SIM organization visit www.SIMnet.org .

At IMPACT insights we are always watching what is changing and moving in the industry that is innovative and can be used to maximize impact across an organization.  I had a wonderful opportunity to facilitate an innovation session at the recent Impact the Future iOpener Conference in Chicago on August 27th.  What a true Eye Opener this was for me.  I have told the story over and over again and I really believe it is truly one of those events that will Maximize Impact across any organization and more broadly the IT industry.  The room for the event was filled with senior level IT executives and innovation leaders alike.  Everyone had an opportunity to benefit from the knowledge of others in the room through presentations and also facilitated sessions on innovation.  Ideas were flowing from the time you entered the room until the final presentation was completed.  Some of the key take away items for maximizing your success in the innovation space for the future are:

1)      The culture of an organization has to be one of openness, accountability and collaboration.  This culture needs to be seen everywhere from the vision to the performance review and from the CEO to the front line associates.

2)      The culture has to include the acceptance of failure for valid efforts.  If innovation is to prosper individuals have to believe they can try without fear of issues based on potential failure.

3)      Innovation has to be supported by a process for fostering the continued maturation of an idea.  Ideas that get lost or dropped may be the idea that could have had Maximized Impact on the Future.

4)      Training on how to innovate is just as important as training on how to use a computer.  It is frequently not a skill that individuals believe that they possess.   The fears that people have over needing the perfect new idea will hold them back from some of the most profitable small modifications to an already good idea.

This event really portrayed the fact that innovation success can be provided by each individual in an organization.  Guide innovation, foster innovation and Maximized Impact will be your result.

The iOpener event was put on by i.c. stars a non-profit organization in Chicago for adults with a high school diploma or GED.  Using project-based learning and full immersion teaching, i.c. stars provides an opportunity for change-driven, future leaders to develop skills in business and technology.  It was formed in 1999 to develop 1,000 Community Leaders by 2020.  This is definitely a group to watch for the impact that make in the industry.   www.icstars.org

Every employee has a role to play in the successful implementation of the strategic plan. For IT organizations, aligning to strategic objectives and vision is the most powerful way to increase business reach, impact and contributions. Five years ago, I wrote the book POWERSHIP^®, which introduced a groundbreaking methodology for aligning businesses and the people within them to one, common business strategy. The POWERSHIP^® methodology has now become an operating model for numerous businesses and their complex IT organizations. POWERSHIP^® has helped to build award-winning, excellence–fueled IT organizations that increase business efficiency, innovation, performance and competitiveness.

Introducing businesses to the methodologies and best practices of POWERSHIP^® is the mission of Impact Insights, a new member of the SPR family of IT-focused businesses. Here you can learn about how Impact Insights is transforming IT organizations from reactive, support organizations into dynamic, trusted and visible contributors to profitability and competitive advantage. I invite you to learn more, ask questions and even participate in one of our upcoming workshops or seminars.

Sincerely,

Kathie Topel, Vice President – Impact Insights