IT strategies establish a vision for the future and can be motivational if communicated properly. In my previous strategy blogs, we talked about understanding the hows and the whys of IT strategy. Having the answers to these questions makes communication easier, but a communication plan is still necessary.
CIOs need to identify the audiences they want to reach and develop messaging that targets their specific needs and interests. Audiences can range from IT positions and business units to external parties like boards of directors and strategic partners. Communicating to each requires a basic understanding of their information needs, filters, and biases.
IT Leadership
IT leadership should have participated in IT strategy development; they should already understand the rationale for and implications of its contents. A direct presentation of the strategy to the IT leadership team should be unnecessary. However, group and private conversations about everyone’s role in achieving the strategy are essential.
Group conversations should help identify dependencies and clarify roles. Individual conversations should clarify expectations and define personal growth opportunities and measurement criteria to include in performance objectives.
One way to improve engagement and increase the likelihood of effective communication is to challenge the IT leadership team to present the strategy to IT and business departments for which they are not personally responsible. Doing so has the added benefits of increasing the IT leadership’s visibility in the organization and demonstrating that they understand departmental needs and roles in implementing the strategy.
IT Personnel
IT personnel play a critical role in delivering the new capabilities and required services that the strategy outlines. However, the strategy may be threatening to incumbents vested in existing technologies and IT practices.
This communication should present a compelling vision of what the IT strategy requires and highlight this work in terms of the organization’s competitive success. It should also include an honest acknowledgment and assessment of the cultural and structural changes that the IT strategy proposes. Providing a roadmap for individual growth during the transition can alleviate some anxiety and foster buy-in.
This communication also lays the groundwork for future individual discussions. Articulate these messages in a way that encourages clarifying questions but does not suggest the approved strategy is up for debate.
Business Units
Business units will be interested in the capabilities and value delivery that the newly developed strategy promises. They are less likely to care about platform components or evergreen initiatives. CIOs should not omit these topics, as understanding and awareness are critical to creating realistic expectations. CIOs are most successful when communicating strategies if they discuss alignment and capabilities first. Doing so gives context for discussions of dependencies and risk mitigation initiatives. CIOs should also discuss the governance and process for rolling out decisions when individual LOB units are not the first to receive new capabilities.
Board of Directors
Boards of directors, unless they have technology-oriented people on them, will be most interested in how the IT strategy aligns with the business plan, as well as any risk mitigation aspects. They will listen to the CIO and decide based on how much confidence they believe the CIO has in the plan.
CIOs and CTOs should not discuss technology for technology’s sake. References to competitors and discussions of measurements will convey to this audience the CIO’s level of engagement with and knowledge of the business and familiarity with their modes of strategic thinking. Board presentations need to be short, well organized, and based on the key themes of the plans. CIOs should introduce a high-level metric scorecard to prepare the board for future updates and inform them of the controls that will be in place.
Strategic Partners
Should organizations communicate the strategic plan to vendors? In some circumstances, like when an insurer plans to exit a contract, it might not be in the insurers best interest to share their strategic plans. Otherwise, strategic partners should be challenged to aid insurers in achieving their plans. I have seen organizations engage strategic partners in the planning process, leveraging their knowledge of technology processes and trends to help formulate the strategic direction, timelines, and costs for the components of the strategic plan. This engagement can address overall cost and quality issues and often results in better ideas and improved service from the partners.
Frequency of Communication
The more people who understand and embrace the strategy, the more likely they will implement it effectively. But what is the most effective way to communicate an IT strategy? Adult learning theory suggests repetition maximizes the effectiveness of communication. Broad communication at department meetings is a good initial step, but it is not enough to guarantee adequate understanding.
One technique that has worked for some of our clients is to ask teams within IT organizations to reflect on the IT plan, highlighting what they are responsible for and what they need from others to achieve it. This exercise is an extremely effective means to identify interdependencies and gain buy-in. It can also work to have IT leaders share their interpretations of and roles in achieving the strategy with smaller groups.
Consistency of purpose is also crucial. This is not a “once and done” event; it is also important to track metrics and report progress on each strategic objective.
However, metrics can be confusing or misinterpreted. It is just as important that CIOs define the metrics and the processes for capturing them and that the organization understands them. Metrics that are proxies for desired outcomes require transparent definition as such. The interplay and potential conflict of individual metrics should also be acknowledged.
Tactical initiatives, project issues, and service issues too often consume the time of key IT leaders. Laying the proper groundwork—communicating the rationale behind the IT strategy and its alignment with business plans—reinforces the importance of the strategic initiatives. Taking the time to answer the questions I have posed will be well worth the enhanced understanding and commitment it will create.
