Sidebar: Keep 'Em Motivated

Having endured the hard yakka involved in finding, landing and training key IT players, CIOs quickly learn that keeping them motivated, energized and current is critical to both retention and progression. It is far more effective to keep the great people you have than it is to go outside to recruit.

According to executive search firm consultant specializing in the IT industry Vikki Pachera, "As an executive recruiter, the number one reason that senior IT leaders entertain conversations with me is that they feel the company they work for isn't committed to IT."

Peeling that statement back, she says there is often too little praise, too few opportunities taken to tie the company strategy and success to the accomplishments of the IT team, and one too many educational opportunities skipped over to tend to the fires at home.

Yet Pachera says these are all surprisingly simple matters to rectify, starting with strong communications both individually and with the overall team. Working with their PR or HR partner can help executives develop messages that will resonate and bring value to IT staff. And she urges CIOs to take the time to put in place annual career development conversations that are independent from performance conversations.

"I encourage CIOs to assess talent annually to ensure they are current on what assets they have, how that benchmarks across their industry and that they can think and plan for future needs," Pachera says. "Talent management should be done objectively with an eye on both the bottom line and meeting the company goals. CIOs should look outside when considering a revamp of their in-house talent.

"If your team isn't benchmarked favourably against your competitors', it's time to upgrade the talent pool in a selective fashion. Maybe the company has shifted direction and there is simply no time to bring the IT staff up on a new technology - time to consider individual hires, an acquisition aimed largely at gaining talent or a block hire. If you benchmark unfavourably on the human capital budget, it's time to rethink where you are doing work globally and how much you are paying for it," she says.

- S BUSHELL