Ridiculously Easy Word Shifts for Leaders

As an industry, IT hasn’t changed nearly enough: this according to a long-time business technology guru I recently interviewed. After more than 15 years of writing and helping IT leaders to think differently, his conclusion is that IT leaders have not materially grown beyond the role of serving internal customers and managing IT services. The movement to business and technology convergence is saddled with fear, and as he puts it – “a self-preservation agenda.” My friend, who will remain nameless, got tired of banging his head against a brick wall. He says the biggest obstacles to change remain the same today; CIOs are reluctant to take the leap forward to a new way of thinking because they don’t want to rock the boat. They get paid well and few have the courage or motivation to put their compensation at risk with new leadership approaches, despite the mounting evidence that executive perceptions of IT are at an all-time low.

Act Like a Leader In Order to Think Like a Leader

To some extent, this confirms my own experience with IT leaders. Generalizations can be taken to extremes but the research today points to a widening chasm between executives and their perceptions of IT. I have wrestled with why we continue to hit the same speed bumps over and again. I recently read Herminia Ibarra’s new book titled Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader and it switched on a lightbulb for me. The premise of the book is that the only way to become a leader is to simply start acting like one: only then will our internal perceptions of ourselves change. In effect, you have to act like a leader first before you view yourself as one. Simply stated, we have to act differently in order to think of ourselves differently. This challenges the popular leadership norm that states we should look inward first before planning outward change. Ibarra says many of us “still rely on habitual thought patterns and actions that are fenced in by the past”.

Coincidently, I have been putting considerable thought into the notion that the language we use as IT leaders constrains our performance. A quick survey of the prevailing leadership journals, blogs, and magazines serves up numerous phrases that indicate we have accepted a subservient lot in life. Almost all of these publications have titles like “Partner with the Business”, “Strive for Shared Services Excellence”, or “How to Become a Great Service Provider”. As an industry, change will not happen until we re-write our own script. We can start now by using language that puts us on par with every other business unit.

The Time is Now

We need to act now and ditch the language of the past. Too many still use old school language that anchors IT to an antiquated paradigm. Reflect on how routinely and consistently IT leaders still refer to themselves as being “outside of the business”. Here are some of the common language offenders:

The Funny Thing Is…

No other group in companies is as obsessed with validating their value as IT is. We don’t hear the sales team refer to “sales and the business”. Marketing doesn’t talk about “aligning to the business”. Finance doesn’t call themselves a “service provider”. And no other team outside of IT would even think of starting up a shared services group. When you read statements like these out loud, they sound ridiculous - and they should because they are! Something as subtle as the language we are using has made IT’s function inside companies subservient and less impactful.

The old school lexicon is so entrenched that it has created a mountain we need to climb before we can get to the other side. Take a cue from Herminia Ibarra, and take action tomorrow. Pull your teams into a room and begin teaching them why change is coming and what you are doing about it. Consider the following topics for your first session:

1. Walk them through the old school language and show how it anchors IT in the past
2. Give your teams a new business vocabulary that positions IT as the business peer it is
3. Hold yourself and your team accountable to challenge old norms:
   • IT doesn’t have internal customers
   • IT isn’t a service provider
   • IT and the business as separate entities is a thing of the past – IT is the business
   • IT doesn’t need alignment because it is part of the business
4. Re-examine job descriptions, eliminate the old school references to service provider, etc. – use department names instead if you have to
5. Talk about shares goals and accountability, not shared services

We are all tired of the same old–same old when it comes to IT leadership. The good news is that we can move forward and it doesn’t have to be hard. Start tomorrow by acting differently. Seek insight and help from mentors that have already made the transition. Teach your teams there is a new way of acting and that the old schools ways will not be tolerated. Set your sights on leadership. IT leaders with the courage and motivation to wrestle out of the linguistic straight-jacket of convention will realize huge upsides to their careers, performance, and compensation.

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Joe Topinka is a recognized game-changing career CIO, published author and executive coach. His IT Business Partner Program™ drives exponential business results consistently across industries by bridging the chasm between business stakeholders and IT organizations. He is founder of CIO Mentor, LLC and Vice Chair of the Business Relationship Management Institute (BRMI) Executive Council. Visit ciomentor.com for more information

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