Sanjay Bajaj, Vice President, Application Engineering, Spheris India Pvt. Ltd
As a CIO, I look for someone who can take the company's vision and transform that into clear actionable items. He needs to then communicate those clearly to his team and get them rallying behind it. 
Potential leaders emerge naturally. People seem to start following them. I encourage them by formally recognizing them as team leads, project leads etc. and celebrating their accomplishments as occasion demands.
On-going training is very vital in the IT industry, since what was hot 5 years ago may be irrelevant today. Ongoing training is therefore a requirement - not an option. Fortunately, it doesn't have to mean peeling away from work for several days and going to some class, each time. There is lot of information available on the Internet - including web-based formal classes.
You have to understand the process people go through to leave a company. Junior people move around just for the heck of it. The thrill of a 20% or 30% pay-raise, a new atmosphere, and the feeling of invincibility (there will always be jobs seeking someone like me) keeps them in this mode. People with few years of experience - are the ones who are truly valuable to the company. If they are good, they should have become the "go-to guys" for some products or technologies. They are inherently able to work on more sophisticated, and higher level projects - due to insights and domain knowledge. Such people realize that to get to the same stature within a new organization will require fresh investment of few years of hard work and hence are not that inclined to leave. What the company has to do is make sure they are well compensated, respected, are able to pursue their professional and personal goals.
Results matter more than status updates. Merit matters more than years of experience. IT projects are a team sport!
CIO/CTOs need to have an insight into what technologies, products, and processes the company should follow. They need to have guts to speak their mind and also be good listeners and appreciate others' points of view.
Clearly communicate the goals to the team. Explain why the goal is worth pursuing. Explain how their individual project or product fits into the bigger puzzle. Measure and share organizational gains of previous projects/deployments with the team that did it.
People are inherently resistant to change. That is the biggest challenge with any deployment. You have to make sure you over communicate. You have to provide adequate training opportunities. You have to explain the reasons for the change. With new software, there are bugs that have to be worked out. Be careful to allocate appropriate amount of time to start a positive groundswell amongst initial adopters. Rest will follow.
IT functions have become mainstream in organizations that previously may not have such groups. There is increasing awareness of the merits of right technologies to revenue growth, profitability growth and customer satisfaction. Going forwards IT organizations have to be careful to not squander away their budgets - as their are lots of competing choices being offered in the marketplace and with fast emerging new technologies - its not always easy to choose the right one.
Top 5 management tips:
1. Repeat important goals as often as you can.
2. Hire fewer people - but go for the best.
3. Execution is the strongest leg any organization can stand on.
4. Remember - it can always be done - you just have to find a way.
5. If there is no one criticizing you - you are not doing your job.
-------- As told to Sonal Desai
|