Strategic Human Capital Insights

A start-up to growth story – the very definition of continual change

‘What got you here, will likely not get you to where you are going!’  In the world of of start ups, these words should resonate with every founder /owner / executive team. In our recent Case Study: It's Time for GrowUp to Grow Up, we discussed the changes that a tech start up, or any start up, goes through in the early stages. Change permeates every facet of a start-up organization, as it:

• develops product
• takes product to market
• hires new people beyond the original group
• adapts to the demands of bankers and financing
  

Literally, every day can represent a change that needs to be anticipated, understood and responded to. But somehow, the start up community often thinks they are exempt from the demands of change because they believe themselves to be the disrupters or agents of change, and therefore, different from other organizations. In addition, they believe that change issues are reserved for those organization that are older, bigger or more status-quo driven. They couldn’t be farther from the truth. Why? The very nature of a startup is steeped in change.

If you could focus on the one overarching skill that would make a profound impact in the world of technology, what would it be? Leadership, of course!

Why is this one skill so important?
Without effective leadership, all the other focus areas are built on a rocky foundation of shifting sand. What good is excellent problem solving without outstanding leadership to listen, change and / or implement? The traction point for all the other skills hinges on Leadership.

Is there really a leadership issue with Technology Leadership?
According to recent research, here’s how the C-Suite rates the newly-defined VUCA leadership skills for Technology.

 
We're all used to the issues related to assets in the Information Technology arena: equipment that is heading towards obsolescence by the time we get it in the rack, the exponentially growing thirst for storage by the users, and the new version of software that is released just as we finish the project to upgrade from our previous version.  This is just reality. These are things we are used to justifying to the C-suite - they are a cost of doing business. I'd like you to expand your vision a bit and look at some of the most critical assets in your Information Technology organization: your human assets and, as a whole, the human capital that is critical to your daily operation.

Think of People as an Asset with Investment Value

I know some of you are saying "you can't look at people like they are equipment". That's not what I'm suggesting. I believe you need to treat and evaluate your team as the most valuable item in your organization. There is a substantial investment in each individual - you may not have made the investment, but overall, a substantial investment has been made in your team through education, training and experience.

 
We all know, on an intellectual level, that the value of IT is critical to an organization’s success. That’s obvious and supported by extensive research. However, how IT, in reality lives, performs and produces in an organization often contradicts its critical need and limits its importance in the organization. It’s time to sync IT into the fabric of the organization because the organization needs you. However, IT, you have a lot of work to do in your own functional area before this synchronization can happen. Below are 5 IT operating myths that must be debunked by IT:

I recently hosted a forum with Fred Mapp of Mapping IT for CIO’s and Senior IT professionals entitled "Future Proofing the Business of IT" dealing with:

• Future organizational needs
• Future technology needs
• Future competitive advantage
• Company growth acceleration
• Maximum corporate profitability

Taking a page from the recent Fortune Global Forum, one of the 4 challenges facing business today:

The Greatest Challenge Isn’t Tech, but People - Creating the right culture is the central challenge for surviving technology-driven change. Process has dominated our business thinking and operations for the past 15 – 20 years.  At this point in business, we have taken process about as far as it can go.  People, a company’s human capital, have finally been acknowledged as a key, critical business driver for the future.

You may have the right processes in place, and you may have your IT needs covered right now, but do you have all the right people in the right roles to position your IT organization for:

• Future organizational needs?
• Future technology needs?
• Future competitive advantage?
• Company growth acceleration?
• Maximum corporate profitability?

Background

IT organizations have grown so quickly over the past 3 decades, and in the grand organizational lifecycle, technology is a relatively new corporate discipline and is still evolving. In addition, IT organizations have grown very quickly, with increasing demands being placed on finite people and financial resources. IT is often considered a cost center rather than a strategic business growth center. The cost center perspective has put cost constraints and people pressures on IT at a time when demands are growing, as all organizations are becoming tech companies (Fortune Global Forum). We see that with all these conflicting demands and constraints, IT organizations are running just to stay in place, surviving rather than thriving, living under organizational yokes that are diametrically opposed to strategic business growth objectives.

As we evaluate the human capital required for leading and managing a robust, future-focused IT operation today, the skills/knowledge (skills) required today are fundamentally different from those required in the past. 

Current research tells us that organizations perform much better when their IT department has a seat at the strategic table and the business skills to innovate, transform, and speak the business language. These concepts are easy to talk about but much harder to implement and measure.  

The ability to innovate, transform, and speak the language of the business requires multiple, interdependent business skills. Just being technically competent is no longer adequate. A successful IT leader must be able to perform at sustainable peak levels with all the necessary business skills, and here’s the challenge. When we speak with the C-Suite, below are the skills they expect from their senior IT leadership:

Nowhere in any organization is there more potential disruption than in IT. This organizational stress can be overwhelming. In the search to create order in this chaotic environment, there are three key considerations you must keep at the forefront as you navigate these stormy waters:

1. Disruption is BAU 
2. We Are Now All Technology Companies 
3. Rethink Everything You Know About Human Capital

1. Disruption and Disruptive Technologies - The New Normal: 

   Our world, at every level, WILL BE disrupted. The McKinsey Global Institute defines disruptive technologies as new emerging technologies that unexpectedly displace an established one and shake up the industry. Some disruptors will be easy to spot, and others will come from the most unexpected places. IT organizations are at the heart of this disruption. IT organizations must consciously and continually focus on the outside horizon to anticipate disruption and deal with it as quickly as possible.

Last week I attended the AZ IT Symposium in Phoenix. Last year I was a presenter for one of the breakout sessions. This year, I sat on a panel. As both a participant and a presenter, I would like to comment on this recent event compared to last year. There was a subtle but significant shift that took place regarding the topics of the event and ensuing conversations. 

A Year Ago
Last year, there were several slots focused on people and leadership in IT.  My topic was, The Impact of Workforce 2020 on IT.  Last year, the session was filled to capacity and the Q&A session was engaging, but more people were passively listening, which was expected since this was newly released information. 

This Year
This year, either by design or chance or the fact that there is finally a greater appetite in IT for the business issues of IT, the concepts of leadership, innovation / transformation and human capital were not only topics on their own, but drifted into many of the tech type sessions, as well.  Finally, it appears that leadership, transformation and human capital concepts are converging with the business topics of IT!  How refreshing, at least!  

Recent surveys of business and IT executives find that IT performance increases across the board when CIO’s are involved in shaping business strategy.  The survey results show that IT leaders are increasingly taking action to market IT and develop objectives, strategies and metrics, to build and solidify relationships with their non-IT stakeholders. But are these efforts working?

On a scale of 1 – 5 with 1 being low and 5 being high, how would you rate the following statements?

• My company provides cost-effective services.
• My company delivers projects on time and on budget.
• My IT organization is innovative.
• My C Suite, business management and their staffs have a poor perception of IT.