Just like members of the travelling party in the classic
1939 film, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, CIOs need some ‘courage, heart, and
brains’ on the epic journey to achieving true innovation, says David Gee
Organisations across all industries are undergoing
technology-led transformations. More than ever, CIOs need to reflect and
ask themselves one question: What is my value to the business?
Most
us of will answer this question by saying that we are driving strategic
projects which deliver valuable products and services that help our
organisations run more effectively.
This is
certainly ‘valued’ but it’s only part of what is expected of you. It
gives you table stakes, but it’s an innovative CIO who is really
respected by the business.
An innovative CIO can
deliver on both the technology and operational aspects of a
transformation project. At the same, they have the business knowledge
and technology savvy to understand what innovations will make a
difference in their organisations.
A great CIO will be able to have the right balance of ‘discovery and delivery’ skills, what Dr Hal Gregersen, executive director of the MIT Leadership Center, describes as the innovator’s DNA. A few years ago, while a professor at Insead,
Dr Gregersen was running an innovation program for several CIOs in
Europe. In this program, he used a large dataset of the behaviour of
senior management in large corporations.
A 360 degree survey of your manager, peers and staff was the foundation
to provide insights and your rating versus the database of senior
executives from enterprises around the world.
This
was not that different to other surveys that most managers are involved
in, except for the focus was on specific behaviours relating to
innovation.
Dr Gregersen later published his
book entitled the ‘The Innovator’s DNA’, which I recommend you read for
further insights on the subject.
The Wizard of Oz
In the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz,
Dorothy and her companions travelled down the yellow brick road to The
Emerald City, seeking three items from the wizard. The cowardly lion
wanted courage, the tin man a heart, and the scarecrow a brain.
Believe it or not, we CIOs need an injection of ‘courage, heart and
brains’ to take the journey to the next level. Simply, we need to
demonstrate new behaviours to succeed in business.
Dr Gregerson’s study talks about the following four attributes required to be an innovator.
1. Questioning.
Learn to constantly ask disruptive questions. Being curious and not
settling will allow you to constantly challenge the status quo.
2. Observing.
The best innovators are just also great observers. They look broadly at
customers, other companies outside of their own industry and whatever
takes their broad interest.
What interests an
innovative CIO can be and should be diverse and not necessarily
mainstream. New patterns can be often found by looking at unrelated
areas.
3. Networking. Work your internal and external networks. It is
interesting to think about the concept of six degrees of separation,
which has been calculated to be actually less at a number of five.
Innovators
do this to gain new perspectives and learn new things. In contrast, a
‘delivery-focused CIO’ would do this only for career management reasons
or to access a specific resource for a key task.
4. Experimenting.
Innovators are willing to try new things (to live in new countries,
work in many diverse industries). They also like to take things apart
and deconstruct concepts. They just understand that pilots are really to
learn and test ideas, hence they are not afraid to fail.
Finally
to tie this all together, the innovator needs to apply associational
thinking to connect different and disparate ideas. These collections of
ideas may not have immediate value but when combined with another
different notion, can provide a breakthrough idea.
Simple right? Just four behaviours plus some
willingness to take some risks and synthesise the thinking process will
place you on the right road.
So what’s stopping you from making progress on this front? Your boss? The staff who work for you? Your peers?
Likely
they all play a part, but the largest barrier is you. Being an
innovative CIO requires an environment that is supportive but you will
ultimately provide the major obstacle to making a change.
Good luck with your journey to The Emerald City.
David
Gee is the former CIO of CUA where he recently completed a core banking
transformation. He has more than 18 years' experience as a CIO, and was
also previously director at KPMG Consulting. Connect with David on LinkedIn.
