What type of CIO do you want to be?

The CIO trinity

The first is the traditional CIO, known as the trusted operator, whose focus is to supply the cost-effective and reliable infrastructure the business needs.

Then there are the change instigators, who take the lead on business transformation and change initiatives.

And finally there are the business co-creators, who spend their time driving business strategy and use technology to make sometimes dramatic business changes (see panel below: What type of CIO are you?).

Why CIOs need to morph from one role to another

It would be a mistake to think of any one of these roles as more important than another. All three CIO personas require the same core skills – they need to have operational skills and be expert technologists and catalysts for the business. Which CIO you are is a matter of which skills you emphasise and how you spend your time (see panel below: What type of CIO does your organisation need?).

Deloitte’s UK CIO programme leader, Mark Lillie, said CIOs should be able to move between the three different models at different times in their careers. 

“It’s a mistake to think, ‘right, today I am this, and I now need to go off on this other role’. It is more around recognising that there is a change in emphasis in what your role is and, importantly, where you spend your time,” he said.

How to adapt to the needs of your organisation

How you choose what type of CIO to be should really come down to the needs of the organisation you are working for, the type of industry you are working in, and even the internal politics of an organisation.

“You need to understand your industry, your specific company, and what profile is going to make you successful. Start to be aware of that, and how you want to adjust and move to a different type of role,” said Lillie.

For example, if a CIO is joining a new company where there is a challenging relationship between the business and the IT organisation, it makes sense to start as a trusted operator.

First, build up trust with other parts of the organisation by showing them that the IT department can deliver business projects, reliably, to time and budget. Work hard to establish your credibility, and then start planning your next move.

“Quite consciously you need to think about how you are going to transition from a trusted operator to a change instigator or business co-creator role,” said Lillie. “That needs to be a deliberate choice because it will require different capabilities to be successful, and potentially different teams.”

Different businesses need different CIOs

Typically, CIOs follow the trusted operator model in areas such as manufacturing, government and utilities, where the resilience of core systems is a priority. In technology, telecoms and education, CIOs are generally business co-creators. Change instigators are in demand when organisations go through major transformation programmes or face turbulent business conditions.

“You need to understand your industry, your specific company, and what profile is going to make you successful”

Mark Lillie, Deloitte

“It’s about understanding the context that you need to be successful, making sure you are answering the right questions and delivering the performance required,” said Lillie.

Take time out to plan your career

Deloitte’s global head of technology consulting, Kevin Walsh, said CIOs need to take time out for personal career development – to improve their leadership and communication skills and their ability to influence other executives, and to develop their own teams – if they want to get on.

“Every good leader should be mapping out where they want to take their capabilities and their career over the next few years”

Kevin Walsh, Deloitte

It is worth comparing the way you work against the three CIO personas, then mapping that against the needs of your business and any future businesses you want to work in, he said. “Every good leader should be mapping out where they want to take their capabilities and their career over the next few years.”

Taking the next step in your career

The natural aspiration of many CIOs is to move from a trusted operator to a business co-creator, according to Deloitte’s research.

“There is a clear path around the desire to be more of a co-creator. That is definitely the aspiration where CIOs feel long-term success is,” said Lillie. 

One smart move for CIOs who may not yet have developed sufficient influence with the business is to bring a business professional with an established reputation into the IT team. In a retail business, this could be a trusted store manager, for example.

“You can transform the brand of the IT organisation through that appointment. You can build trust by doing that,” said Lillie.

For CIOs who want to move into a business co-creator role, the answer may be to hire staff who can free them from the day-to-day task of running IT systems, for example by appointing a chief technology officer (CTO).

Has Deloitte got it right?

Not everyone will agree with Deloitte’s analysis of the three CIO personas. There are plenty of books and management courses that emphasise the need for ambitious CIOs to become chief innovation officers or business influencers, and to leave behind the role of infrastructure manager.

It is also true to say that some CIOs have their specialities and are very happy to stick with them. Some, for example, see themselves as transformational, outsourcing CIOs, while others see their focus as building great teams.

Lillie argued that reality is more subtle, however, and that the three CIO model reflects that. “This model is a more intricate but, to a certain extent, alternative way of looking at the world, because it is not saying either/or,” he said. “It is an emphasis around style and where you spend your time, as opposed to a fundamental shift.”

New opportunities for CIOs

For CIOs who can hone their leadership skills, it’s an exciting time. Business leaders are focused on technology in a way they never were in the past, and this is opening up new opportunities for technology leaders.

“More than ever,” said Walsh, “CEOs will be asking, ‘what should I be doing and where should I be going with the technology that is now suddenly available?’, and I think that is demanding different skills [from CIOs].”

In some companies, CIOs are beginning to make the transition to chief executive in a way that was unheard of in the past.

Today’s technology boom is far more significant than the boom of the 1990s when companies were investing heavily in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Now technology is not simply changing business processes, but creating new types of businesses at an accelerating rate.

“The largest hotel group did not exist four years ago, the largest taxi firm in the world did not exist five years ago,” said Lillie. “If you don’t invest in the things most likely to disrupt your business, the things that will give you nightmares, someone else will.”