Unleashing the Power of IT: Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together

Praise for Unleashing the Power of IT "As a business and IT leader I know that the success of the organization and value delivered by IT is not achieved by me alone, but through the smart and innovative work of my teams and leaders. My role is to grow future leaders and make current leaders successful; their success is my success. This book provides a structured teaching tool for growing and maturing your teams at all levels. Each chapter provides a learning opportunity and creates a common language for communication of ideas, goals, and achievements. The new book builds on previous lessons by including chapters on social media and talent management with the latter being of critical importance for today′s changing role of IT." —Mark Leach, Vice President, Business Technology Services, Cameco Corporation "Roberts has done an excellent job outlining the critical elements of a collaborative IT environment and pointing out the steps IT professionals can take to become strategic business partners. Unleashing the Power of IT: Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together offers keen insight into ways we can maximize our skills to create value for businesses. The advice in the book is practical and, most important, actionable." —Barbara Koster, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Prudential Financial, Inc. "This book is concise and readable. More importantly, it provides insights and examples to which any IT leader can relate. Anyone who wants to get better, and make their organization better, will find ideas and action plans in this book." —Don Imholz, Senior Vice President & CIO, Centene Corporation "During my years as CIO, I have learned that the role is quite complex and success requires close attention to a very broad range of responsibilities. Roberts′s new book provides a practical, thought–provoking road map for those IT leaders who are striving for organizational excellence. Bringing people, business, and technology together is the theme of the book and serves as a constant reminder of the balance required by the transformational leader. I highly recommend that IT leaders read and then re–read this book." —Don Desiderato, CIO & Senior Managing Director, New York Life Investment Management

FOREWORD ix PREFACE xiii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS xix CHAPTER 1 Creating Your Twenty–First–Century Workforce and Culture 1 Core Skills for Success 2 Assess Your Core Competencies 3 Who Will Benefit Most? 4 Getting the Most out of This Book 5 CHAPTER 2 Transforming Your IT Team 7 How to Make This Transition: Learn to Think Differently 10 Five Critical Success Factors That Enable IT Organizational Excellence 14 Conclusion 21 CHAPTER 3 Driving Change with Intent 23 Defining Terms 24 The Components of Change 25 Achieving Commitment Is Essential for Sustaining Change 25 Change Takes a Community 28 Clarity Precedes Activity 31 Messaging the Change 34 Conclusion 36 CHAPTER 4 Building a Client–Focused IT Culture 39 What Good Service Looks Like 41 Service Skills for a New Mind–Set 43 Strategies for Developing a Service Mentality 50 Conclusion 53 CHAPTER 5 Evolving into the Role of Consultant 55 What Is the Consultant’s Role? 57 Why Do I Need to Become More Consultative? 59 Learning to Change Hats: The Four Roles of IT 60 How Do I Become a Consultant? 61 How Difficult Can This Be? 67 Conclusion 68 CHAPTER 6 Negotiating: Getting What You Want without Damaging the Relationship 71 Position versus Interest Negotiations 72 Three Steps and Three Key Factors 74 Applying the Key Factors to the Second Step: Information Exchange 80 The Final Step: Now Comes the Bargaining 81 Conclusion 82 CHAPTER 7 Sharpening Your Political Savvy 85 Picturing Yourself as a Political Player 86 IT and Politics: Historically Strange Bedfellows 87 A Five–Step Process for Developing Political Awareness 89 Developing Political Skills 92 Conclusion 96 CHAPTER 8 Managing Projects: The Science and the Art 99 The Building Blocks of Project Management 101 Structuring Projects for Success 104 Developing Plans That Work 105 Managing to Successful Completion 107 The Four Tenets of the Project Manager’s Mind–Set 110 Conclusion 114 CHAPTER 9 Changing Your Requirements–Gathering Mind–Set 117 The What, Not the How 119 The Importance of the Interview 121 Communicating through Pictures 124 Writing a Solid Requirements Document 126 Conclusion 127 CHAPTER 10 Managing the Vendor Relationship 129 Both Sides of the Coin 130 Preparing for a New Role 131 Getting a Fresh Start 133 The Seven Phases of Managing Vendor Partnerships 135 Conclusion 145 CHAPTER 11 Marketing IT’s Value 147 Market to the IT Department 149 Build Partnerships 151 Differentiate Yourself 152 Establish Credibility 153 Create Product and Service Awareness 154 Develop a Formal Plan 155 Determine Your Success 156 Conclusion 157 CHAPTER 12 Creating the Social Organization 159 The Social Business Framework 161 Conclusion 170 CHAPTER 13 O&A Clients in Action: Stories from the Trenches 173 St. Luke’s Health System: Transformation through a Newly Consultative IT Function 174 Marriott: Success Enhanced through a Transformed IT–Business Relationship 178 Bowdoin College: Trust in IT Creates a Culture of Change 182 Conclusion 186 CHAPTER 14 Moving IT up the Maturity Curve: IT Talent Management 187 Gaining a Core Competency Mind–Set 188 Moving up the IT Maturity Curve 189 Talent Management 2.0 191 A Look at the Best of the Best 193 Conclusion 195 ACCESS YOUR FREE TRIAL OF IT SKILL BUILDER 197 BIBLIOGRAPHY 199 INDEX 203

Dan Roberts is President and CEO of Ouellette & Associates, an IT-specific consulting and professional development firm known globally for developing the "human side" of the IT equation. Roberts is a keynote speaker and panel moderator at corporate and industry events and has published numerous articles on topics relating to transforming IT cultures. Roberts is co-author of Confessions of a Successful CIO , a book that captures the secret sauce of 10 industry leading, "bet-the-farm" CIOs. Ouellette & Associates Consulting, Inc. has worked with more than 3,000 IT and shared service organizations since its founding in 1984. The firm works closely with CIOs and IT leadership teams to build the culture and assess and develop the "Core" skills that are necessary for success in today's increasingly complex, always changing, need-for -speed business environment. To learn more, visit www.ouellette-online.com.