EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
IAN PITT , CIO AT PROGRESS
There has never been a more important time for the CIO to develop their team members for their personal growth and deliver innovative solutions to the company . We ’ re in the middle of major shifts in workplace practices with pressures caused by the Great Resignation and tighter budgets . Companies and teams are demanding more – more flexibility , more efficiency , more security .
Team members want more interesting things to work on and companies want more delivered for their spend . Are these mutually opposed ? Absolutely not . We can provide both and develop innovative solutions at the same time – we must . Team members can prosper in an environment that challenges them ( all other factors like salary and benefits being equal ). Team members tend to stay in a company that challenges them and grants them the freedom to try new approaches .
Innovation is not free , however . Building a truly innovative practice in an organisation requires a skillset that is not innate in everyone and unless it ’ s encouraged to grow through a flexible approach to projects together with sufficient time or air cover provided and staffing tweaks , it ’ s doomed to fail .
If innovation hasn ’ t been part of the company behaviour for a while , rebooting the mindset can be daunting . The team cannot be changed out without destroying momentum and morale . The existing team may not even have the desire to move from the status quo to challenging it and there isn ’ t a textbook for this kind of behaviour .
So , how can a CIO bring this together ? We can hire innovation coaches – ‘ thought leaders ’ or ‘ change agents ’ – but unless other adjustments are made to the company , these rarely provide lasting impacts other than unsettling existing talent . The successful CIO needs to focus on collaboration , inspiration and trust – the pillars of an innovation culture . The team must be both challenged to come together to solve a problem in a manner that frees the company from the ‘ we ’ ve always done it this way ’ mindset and have the support to do so .
There ’ s zero value in a leader saying , ‘ Do it differently , do it in this way ’ and micromanaging a project across the line . Taking a mentoring stance
Taking a mentoring stance and supporting a team to develop their own quest for different approaches is one that builds the innovation mindset for repeated success .
and supporting a team to develop their own quest for different approaches is one that builds the innovation mindset for repeated success . An innovation driving must also up their own collaboration game . Afterall , a successful IT organisation is rarely one that does stuff in isolation to the business . Non-innovative organisations typically have silos and a culture of communication problems . The CIO must assist the team by breaking down these silos within the company and showing that the ‘ old way ’ is no longer good enough . Only when a company comes together can innovation really shine .
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