| | October 20159CIOReviewity of legacy infrastructures and the imagined high costs of a cloud migra-tion. Second, most enterprises are sim-ply mobile-enabling their apps, and we don't yet have true "mobile moments" in our enterprises like we have in our daily lives. An enterprise app's mobile experience must be just as good as, or even better than, a desktop counterpart.Innovations in both of these areas can radically alter an IT landscape, and waves this big don't come along often. Don't ignore their potential.Be Plugged InNext, as a CIO you need to make sure that all of the decision makers in the company are on the same page when it comes to introducing new ideas, which starts by cultivating trust and credibili-ty. If you don't have credibility, your big ideas won't get the traction they deserve. Even if the CEO is on your side, the rest of the leadership team might have a dif-ferent agenda, so it pays to invest early on in earning your colleagues' respect by exceeding expectations.Technology is changing dramati-cally, so you also need to be plugged into current trends. But just reading magazines won't do. You've got to be aware, paying attention to everything going on in your industry. Conduct research among your customers, go out and meet other practitioners, and stay in touch with your sales and market-ing departments in case current and potential customers offer feedback on the solutions you provide. Say No to More Operational TasksOverseeing operations is an important part of being CIO, but if you're always buried in ops, then someone else, with less power to execute, will likely end up taking the lead on any potential innova-tion. That's why it is important to ap-propriately delegate many operational responsibilities, and it's not always easy. I'm sometimes guilty of this myself.Moreover, since most CIOs are great at operations, they are often asked to take on more back-office functions. As they say, no good deed goes unpun-ished. I have done my share of running factories, shared services, real estate, restructuring, payroll, etc. But this only further typecast me as a solid operator, and did not give me the opportunities I needed to pursue more innovative or front-office functions. However, as an IT manager, you can't ever completely separate yourself My mental picture of a good change agent is someone who has a few arrows in her back, but still has a smile on her facefrom operations. If you do, your credibil-ity as a CIO almost immediately disappears. Let's say you come to me and ask me about a problem with the network, and I tell you that I don't engage in such daily minutiae any-more. You'll listen to me out of courtesy, but you'll still want to talk to the guy who actu-ally manages the network. I'd lose credibility as a leader, especially if I don't seem to know what's going on at any given time.So as CIO you have to strike the right bal-ance, getting your hands dirty while still free-ing up some of your time to do more impor-tant things, like talking to actual customers, finding out what problems they may be hav-ing, what they want to achieve next, and how their business model might be improved with your products and services. To be an effective Change Management CIO, you have to learn to wear two hats: those of an idealistic vision-ary and a pragmatic manager, which, day to day, requires a delicate balancing act.Make it Work--It's Never EasyCompany culture has to be encourage risk taking and innovation. I have seen great change agents struggle in some companies and sometimes even settle and compromise to fit into the culture of the company. And in some companies even an average worker is encouraged to drive change and make a difference and they do! Some times in your career, you are fortunate to work for progressive company that encourages risk taking and innovation. There are times that you may be not that fortunate. In such cases, my general advice is simple: Try harder to make it work. As a business leader, you have an obligation to create a culture and environment that ena-bles innovation and empowers risk-takers. Build coalitions, network, encourage, and persuade. But if even that doesn't eventu-ally work, move on. You'll know you did your best.Remember that change management is inherently challenging, no matter where you go. The risks are always high, and you'll be criticized and discouraged. My mental picture of a good change agent is someone who has a few arrows in her back, but still has a smile on her face. Bask Iyer
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