How Leaders Leverage Bright Spots in their Organisations
Senior IT decision makers need to always keep an eye out for areas where there is dependency and alignment with other functions
It would not be
unrealistic to say that the best functions of any individual come about truly
when there is an alignment with the surrounding frameworks and environment.
What does it mean? It obviously means that senior IT decision makers, in this
case, need to always keep an eye out for areas where there is dependency and
alignment with other functions.
This means it is the
primary requisite for a leader to look at the bright spots in the organisation
which can boost his role or performance and prove his leadership skills.
Leveraging the Bright
Spot
While spotting is
important, how leaders leverage and encourage that key area of focus and enable
the business and other functions to see the advantage of the alignment becomes
critical. This will help IT to move away from the mundane job of just being a support
system meant only to keep the lights on.
“The primary requisite
for a leader is to look at the bright spots in the organisation which can boost
his role or performance and prove his leadership skills”
There are certain areas
which provide senior IT managers with that opportunity that will enable them to
hugely impact the business and prove leadership skills.
To make this happen, IT
managers should fundamentally believe that new business ideas come from the IT
department, as they begin to understand business needs. Start asking more
questions of each business function, make an effort to understand that and tie
it to the back end system; this would then trigger thoughts around innovation:
what best can we do to meet this business goal? Obviously, any innovative
thought coming from IT is definitely appreciated and recognised.
Find an opportunity to
meet other leaders
I would strongly
recommend that senior IT leaders create an opportunity for all leaders to meet
each other on a periodic basis to understand each other’s functions and
challenges and not work in silos.
It is crucial to share
goals and achievements of these leaders, celebrate successes, highlight the
bright spots of the nature of work and tie that to the outcome of the
business—which, in a way, will fetch the necessary recognition. IT as a
department, according to me, is clued into every function and there is no way
that it needs to work in a silo environment. IT can be the catalyst, similar to
an HR function maintaining the hygiene of the organisation.
Be a good listener
One other way in which
senior IT teams can look at it is to move teams across functions on rotation so
as to understand and empathise with the work culture and demands. A senior IT
manager needs to be a good listener before imposing frameworks or rules; this
will help in becoming a better leader.
I can recall an instance
at a large bank inNorth America, where the DGM-IT displayed amazing leadership
skills in enabling the entire business groups to migrate to Windows 7. It was
not so much to do with technology play or convincing the teams. He pre-empted
the objections that would come up during the implementation stage of Windows 7;
his challenge was to prove his skills to pass the test.
The first step he took
was to meet up with each team and listen to what their critical portions were
and how it affected them if there was a change. The approach he took was to
say, let me help you do this on a different platform and show you the
advantages of using the new platform and how it eases your job. It was not just
superficial talk; he created a live model of how the migration to the new
module could enhance their performance. He also showcased the risk that could
be caused to the business if the change was not made, while also showing how it
could be transformed without much disruption. It paid off and he could
successfully manage the change.
Reality based leadership
This is an interesting
phenomenon catching up across enterprises in all the countries. This concept
helps leaders to step away from any irrational or hypothetical
environment, and to break into the facts to derive conclusions.
This is necessary
because of the changing market dynamics, as technology enables one to escalate
to CXO levels. IT leaders need to aspire to reach that level and become
advocates of change.
- See more at:
http://www.itnext.in/itnext/articles/39047/leaders-identify-leverage-bright-spot-organisations#sthash.OfaUajZU.dpuf
