Getting credit where credit is due (page 1 of 2)

A CIO colleague of mine complains that recognition at work is polarized: he is either invisible or being yelled at—sometimes both at the same time. When things go well nobody seems to know he even exists. But when things go wrong the hammer falls hard and IT heads start to roll.

What makes IT so different from its corporate siblings like marketing, sales, and operations?

The answer is simple. Most business managers view IT as another utility service. People have come to rely on their computers to work just like electricity. Similar to turning on a light switch, employees expect to get their email every time they log in. But unlike other utilities, IT costs are not stable. Business managers eager to cut corners simply do not see the value in continuously paying large amounts of money for faster servers, added bandwidth, and software licenses or upgrades—let alone those pesky engineers who demand them.

Another reason is that business managers do not understand the effort required to keep the IT engine humming. They simply do not see the heroic behind-the-scenes efforts that keep servers up, networks protected, and applications running. Ironically, the smoother the IT operation runs, the less inclined the company is to dedicate additional resources to your team.

If business managers, however, fail to appreciate the superhuman exertions of the IT manager, part of the blame must fall on the communication between the two. Like Clark Kent, IT managers tend to be inwardly focused and find it difficult—wasteful even—to hang around and explain themselves to people outside their department.

Most IT managers are problem solvers whose training does not stress communication and people skills. Besides alienating their business colleagues, they also reinforce the stereotype—let's be frank—of the IT department as a bunch of bespectacled geeks milling about in the basement.

Time is also another important factor. In a typical business environment, employees demand their problems fixed right away, and as a result IT managers spend their time fighting fires. In their zeal to be recognized, IT personnel generally jump through hoops to ensure every request is handled immediately, spending most of their time in re-active mode dealing with emergencies.

As a consequence, IT resources are exhausted and are left with very little time or energy to spend on strategic issues that may increase the value of the business—and reduce the number of fires.

What can you do as an IT manager to change the way your department is run so that you can get the resources you need? What can you do to make other business unit managers recognize your accomplishments? Follow these simple rules and you'll get there.

Prioritize

Find a balance between the number of fires you fight and the time and resources you spend on strategic initiatives. The key is to recognize that there will always be more fires than you have resources to extinguish them. As a rule of thumb, dedicate not more than one-fifth of your resources to strategic initiatives and make sure that nothing other than a total meltdown distracts them from delivering.

Deal only with critical fires. Assess whether a fire is Critical (work stops if it is not fixed now), Important (use a procedural workaround that would prevent work stopping in the short term), or Nice-To-Have (work becomes easier if it is fixed now). Your goal is to ensure that no grave issues linger.