RSSUsing the Users
Forrester hosted a webinar last week called “Harnessing Key IT Trends – Three Tech Movements CIOs Should Know.” I didn’t attend (aside: what do you call “going to” a webinar, anyway?); my feeling is that CIOs already about lean, cloud computing, and consumerization, or if they don’t they probably aren’t going to be CIOs very much longer, and anyway there are certainly more than just three. But I saw the follow-up blog post on the presentation today and one of the questions asked by an attendee caught my eye.
Where do we learn about these cool solutions FIRST so that we can bring them to fit our users’ needs FASTER than they can find them on their own?
Beyond a simple “What rock have you been under?” response, though, the question betrays a fundamental misapprehension of the new terrain in which the IT department operates. This is the old and busted model that focuses on IT holding power over the users and its own infrastructure by having more knowledge than they do and handing it down from on high, like golden gods at the temple door.
There is no need to be first, or smartest, in this new world. Rather than looking on user interest and ability as a threat that the IT department has to master, the CIO needs to look on those qualities as assets. I think Forrester analyst Sharyn Leaver’s answer is insightful both as to the nature of the issue and the appropriate response:
For consumerization of IT, you will never be able to cover the entire landscape of possible solutions. So while you can maintain a hot list, you will miss some important site or application. This is because your organization is incredibly diverse and people in the field, in the branches, in the regions, in the trenches will see things that you will miss. If you want to learn from these “alpha geeks,” you™ll have to create a culture that makes them feel comfortable sharing what they learn. The good, the bad, the ugly. Many people feel they are better off hiding the interesting new things they come across from corporate managers.
Once you accept that it’s not possible to outpace your users in discovering new technology applications, anymore than your staff could reproduce the information in Wikipedia in a week, then you have to ask yourself why you would even try. Your company already has a demonstrated capability, in those users, for gathering and analyzing that information. The smart CIO wouldn’t try to duplicate or over-ride that capability; he or she would instead seek to leverage it.
Out of a long history of suppressing staff forays into new technologies, this is easier said than done. And not all of that suppression was mis-guided; staff frequently apply new applications and gadgets individually without considering the broader implications or costs. That problem has not entirely disappeared, but the iron-fisted controls that have allowed CIOs to “win” those debates are fast eroding. The tool that remains at the CIO’s disposal is inclusion… bringing those users into the fold, showing them the big picture, and sharing ownership of both the successes and failures involved with implementations. As long as users feel they are going to get a default “no” when they bring new technologies in the door, they’ll do it under the radar. As most CIOs know, this is no defense; when user initiatives succeed, the CEO will ask, “Why didn’t IT come to us with this?” and when they fail the CEO will ask, “Why didn’t IT stop this expensive problem before it happened?” Your only defense is for the users to trust you and use you as a resource and enabler to bring their ideas to fruition. You can’t be a gatekeeper in their eyes; you must become a trusted advisor. The difference is almost entirely one of perception; both roles can still say “no” but the advisor will be thanked for the wisdom where the gatekeeper is resented for the exhibition of authority.
Spread your net wide; leave your door open; don’t look down your nose automatically at the ideas people bring through it. Show some respect to your users and they will return the favor.
