As CIO, are you and IT in a strong, offensive position? Or are you often defending or playing catch up?

At Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo just a couple weeks ago, Gartner Analyst Tina Nunno shared some valuable insight to help CIOs recognize the key differences between defensive and offensive leadership positions. I sat in, among hundreds of IT leaders, to gather some intel and summarize for our readers…

Shifting from Defense to Offense

Would you describe your current role as reactive, often resisting attack or appeasing others? IT Leaders that find themselves retreating more often than creating forward motion are, in fact, playing defense. Offensive leadership demonstrates proactive call playing, assertion, and often results in “scoring points” for IT, its leadership, or the enterprise. Nunno outlines some core principles of offensive leadership, including:

  • IT is a part of the business, not separate.
  • IT is not a service provider.
  • CIOs must lead with the leaders.

But as Nunno highlights, shifting to offense does not mean being offensive. An appropriate leadership offense is careful not to be aggressive, reckless, insensitive, or selfish and will allow CIOs to better partner and prevent these behaviors in colleagues as well.

Step 1: Articulate Your Values

If you’re asking yourself “How do I begin the shift to offense?”, Nunno notes that leadership positioning begins with deciding what you are willing to fight for. Consider this simple checklist as a guide to getting started:

  • Write down your values, rules, and boundaries.
  • Articulate values and rules to leadership peers and stakeholders.
  • Decide who must adhere to those values and where you draw the line.

Step 2: Decide Your Brand and Reputation

As a next step, decide your brand and reputation instead of letting others decide for you. First, you must understand how others perceive you (reputation) and then focus on shifting that perception if it’s not the personal brand you desire. Nunno recommends a quick and easy exercise to determine perception and reality.

Question 1: How would your CEO describe you today in three words? Not sure? Go ahead, ask!

Would he/she use adjectives like responsible, cooperative, or friendly?

Question 2: What three words would you prefer the CEO use in 3 months?

Wouldn’t it be nice to hear innovative, effective, and strategic instead?

How do you impact others’ perception and influence your brand to shift to these desired descriptors?

Use offensive communication.

Example 1: When discussing revenue growth initiatives, focus conversation around “income” to gain perception of being strategic.

Example 2: When discussing productivity initiatives, use words such as “cost savings” to be viewed as efficient.

Example 3: When discussing regulatory and compliance initiatives, reference “risks mitigated” for others to view you as responsible.

Example 4: When discussing R&D or emerging technologies, “game changers” is an ear-catching term that could shift your brand perception to innovative.

Step 3: Communicate Successes First

…and issues second (and only when said issues matter). It’s all too common for IT leadership to begin conversations and presentations with what went wrong — deadlines and SLAs not met, for example. Oftentimes, IT Leaders find themselves asking permission to share what went right, keeping a constant negative theme around IT.

Instead, flip the sequence! Imagine the change in conversation if every discussion started with “Here’s what we did well…” Or the change in perception if every presentation started with “We’ve delivered X business value in these areas…”

Yes, some things went wrong. So what? Stop apologizing. Be intentional and consider the proportion of communication. Actively promote successes to shift to offense.

Step 4: Get on the Offense with Customers/Consumers/Colleagues

Another important internal shift must take place with IT’s “customers” (the consumers of IT’s services). To get on the offense, IT Leaders should reset expectations that customers are external enterprise customers. Repositioning to not use “customer” to describe anyone internal will help avoid conversations around “making customers happy” and customers “always being right.” As Nunno points out in her presentation, happy is not a business objective and internal focus will keep IT Leaders on defense. An external focus puts IT Leadership on offense and empowers the team to drive higher value back to the organization.

In addition, it’s important to determine responsibilities and commitments for internal requests. Establishing time, materials, and milestones for ALL parties- CIO and IT, Vendor and Consultants, and Requesting Function/Business Unit- is an exercise that outlines everyone’s time is valuable (one isn’t more valuable than any other).

Set terms and conditions on access to resources. Once resources are fully estimated and dedicated, then work can begin. One potential way to go about this:

  • IT Resources: Number of hours and availability, appropriate IT skill sets identified, budget for hardware and software acquisition allocated, funding for long-term maintenance budgeted and allocated
  • Vendor and Contractor Resources: Number of hours and availability, appropriate contractor skills identified, budget for implementation, long-term contractor support and budget
  • Function/Business Unit Resources: Number of hours and availability, appropriate skills in relevant business processes, contingent staff, long-term staffing plan and budget

Step 5: Treat Budget as an Offensive Asset

Typically, budget is viewed as a weakness – a pain often absorbed by IT. This defensive approach is often voiced as “We can’t do anymore” or “We’re short on budget.” Enterprise budget constraints should be shared, and IT Leaders must drive realistic behaviors by showing stakeholders the funding and resource lines. Giving stakeholders allocations, requiring business value math, and shifting the conversation to “We don’t do unfunded initiatives” can help shift from the defensive.

To take it a step further on the offense, CIOs should challenge leadership and the board for MORE budget. Accepting what you’ve been given naturally puts the IT Leader in a defensive position- with a mindset of “I’ll do the best I can with what I’ve got.” Feeling up to the challenge of asking for more? Start with a positive and accommodating response to budget- “I will create a plan that fits the current budget…” and then challenge by offering options- “…but in case you’re interested, here’s a detailed list of things we could do if we had more money and resources.”

Increasing your budget? Now, THAT is playing offense.

Inflection Point – How many initiatives did IT propose or initiate last year? And how many were approved and budgeted?

Step 6: Practice Verbal Techniques to Stay in a Strong Position

…and in a positive way.

  • Use re-framing to pivot from defense to offense. Re-frame weaponized values like “You’re not being a team player” and own and redirect those- “Let’s look at what that means and how it applies here.” Value the owner and the framer.
  • Fend off verbal attacks by empathizing, agreeing, redirecting, and aligning. Catch and pivot (offense) versus apologizing and appeasing (defense).
  • Coach and lead the enterprise through new digital risks and expectations. Expectations like wanting Agile methodology and waterfall certainty, wanting innovation without losing money, and wanting digital revenue with no regulatory issues can happen. Take on the coaching role, and use language like “Here is how we will get through this together…”
  • Lead with negotiations, not expectations, with your boss. Outline accomplishments, set boundaries, explain how you like to work, and agree to how you’ll work collectively.

In Summary

Moving from defense to offense requires a collection of many things listed above, including actively promoting successes, driving realistic behaviors, proactively initiating, and oftentimes catching and pivoting. Position yourself as a strategic leader in your organization and be intentional about getting and staying there.