How CIOs Can Escape the Governance Trap

To become better leaders, CIOs should stop spending countless resources on reporting to justify IT projects. Instead they must assume IT has strategic importance and take charge of determining its role in aligning their company competitively.

The CIO who can lead thinks and acts like a businessperson. She is in control of her department's performance, so no one from another department thinks he knows better how to improve IT operations or cut costs. At the bottom of the downward spiral caused by increased governance is the business units' perception that IT is a financial drain, staffed with technologists who do not understand business, finance or strategy.

Here are three first steps for getting out of the governance trap.

1. Understand finance. Governance does not take the place of a CIO who can talk to other senior officers in a language they understand: finance. Embrace it. Communication with other senior managers will be stronger, improving a CIO's standing with her peers. Budget discussions with the CFO should be about the best use of IT spending as a strategic company resource. How the money is managed within the IT department should be the responsibility of the CIO.

Using business language skills to talk about application development and project management will yield the autonomy the CIO needs to be a peer with her business unit counterparts.

2. Require other senior officers to understand technology. If CIOs speak the language of finance well, then the language of technology should come naturally to business unit leaders: not "techno-speak" that is filled with esoteric jargon, but meaningful discussions about IT and strategy.

Business unit and IT executives should collaboratively report on IT projects. This behaviour forces business units to understand the business case and gives them a better appreciation for what it takes to get an IT project done. It also makes them - not just IT - accountable for results.

3. Take action. Fight the urge to produce yet another report justifying IT performance when a business unit identifies a problem. Instead, communicate with the business unit about the problem. Find its cause and put a plan in place to resolve those issues within a specific amount of time. Often CIOs, because of their analytical background, fall back on analysis when their energy could be better spent getting the problem solved.

CIOs don't get fired for not having enough governance. They get fired for not getting the job done. Constant communication at multiple levels within the business unit will reveal the IT group's performance without overmeasurement.

Effective leadership fosters accountability, discipline and consistency. Many CIOs are skilled at managing complexity and driving corporate initiatives throughout their organizations. Even so, many lack vision, shy away from risk and become deferential when they interact with business unit peers.

Dynamic leaders do not allow themselves to be relegated to being merely good scorekeepers. Keen vision for the role of technology within an organization, willingness to take risks and confidence to communicate effectively will ultimately result in technological value that is self-evident. Lead, don't just govern. Stand up and deliver - because well done is always better than well said.

Monte Ford is senior vice president and CIO of American Airlines