**LEAD** | Leadership & Career Growth
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Veteran CIOs can remember a time when they had to fight for the board’s attention, eager for a seat at the strategic table. Today, all eyes are on IT as technology has taken center stage in every aspect of corporate performance.
Martha Heller, CEO, Heller Search Associates
More CIOs are reporting to the board than ever before, says Martha Heller, CEO of technology executive search firm Heller Search Associates. This is driven by three factors: increased information security concerns, the disruptive impact of digital technology, and the need for data and analytics as core elements of the business. “Boards want to hear CIOs discuss how they are managing investments and operations in all three areas,” Heller says.
“Boards are increasingly getting more tech-savvy to help guide their companies to make the right decisions,” says Matthew Guarini, senior research director at Forrester. “As such, this can lead to greater demands on tech leadership to ensure that they provide the right insights and expertise.”
So how can CIOs make the most of this powerful board-level attention and avoid the most common errors when presenting to their board members? Following are tips for wowing the board.
Do your pre-meeting homework. Getting consensus and buy-in from peers and stakeholders is critical when presenting to the board, whether it’s a simple update on an investment or a proposal for a new initiative. “This will also help to ensure that the data you are using and presenting brings in distinct vantage points from around the organization that truly demonstrate the need and results in a comprehensive solution,” says Brian Bronson, president of Americas and APAC at Capgemini Engineering.
Brian Bronson, president of Americas and APAC, Capgemini Engineering
Know your board. Jay Upchurch, CIO and executive vice president at SAS, advises spending time “getting to know the board members, their backgrounds and their alignment with peers.” One approach Forrester’s Guarini suggests is meeting with key board members prior to full board meetings to walk through your thinking and build support. “On the back of board meetings, a similar approach is warranted,” Guarini says. “As you take the feedback, engage with your board contacts to ensure you understand the feedback and to test next steps.”
Inform before you enlighten. The nuts and bolts of IT are still important. IT leaders should briefly “provide a board-level update on the table stakes portion of their role,” says Bronson. “I suggest leaders always start with showing the board a KPI-driven status on the core IT aspects of the business, and then transition to the transformational and business-partnering topics.”
Matthew Guarini, senior research director, Forrester
Stay out of the weeds. CIOs are still far too technical when talking to their boards. “It is easy to go into your comfort zone and focus too much on tech details and tactics,” says Guarini. Upchurch advises letting the board guide the conversation. “CIOs need to keep comments at a high level and allow the board audience to ask questions and dive deeper as needed,” he says.
Communicate in the language of the business. A good replacement for tech-speak is ROI. “[CIOs] need to make improvements to how they wrap security investments in ROI discussions, for example,” says Heller of Heller Search. “The lingua franca of the board is finance.” Tony Greenberg, founder and CEO of enterprise technology advisory RampRate, advises centering your success metrics “on revenue creation, margin improvements, social impact and building brand equity.”
Tony Greenberg, founder and CEO, RampRate
Be transparent—and transformational. Technology is central for fueling corporate growth and mitigating risk, two topics near and dear to the board’s heart. “Take a strategic planning and business case approach,” advises Bronson. “Show that you are here to not only protect and operationalize the business, but to transform it as well.”
Align talking points with business drivers. Organize all comments around the key drivers of your business as laid out by your board and CEO. “If they hear goals and strategies that they have already endorsed, they will be much more open to your investments, requests and roadmaps,” Heller says.
Listen more than you talk. “Streamline your content to educate while offering your thoughts, directions and updates,” says Upchurch of SAS. “Leave a lot of time for discussion—it’s the most valuable part of presenting to the board. Boards are made up of amazing leaders, and it’s a chance to listen and learn from them.”
Don’t be afraid to push back. A little knowledge (and hype) can be a dangerous thing. If board members are a little too enamored of a technology for technology’s sake, it’s the CIO’s duty to set them straight. “So, when a board member approaches a technology executive and says, ‘We need blockchain,’ IT leaders should not be afraid to push back,” says Kevin McCaffrey, CEO and founder of digital transformation platform provider Tr3Dent.
Kevin McCaffrey, CEO, Tr3Dent
Practice your presentation. Try rehearsing beforehand with other executive committee members who will be at the meeting and listen to theirs as well. “Look at their presentations to ensure that you are not misaligned in any way,” Heller advises. If presenting big ideas concisely is not your forte, consider hiring an executive coach to improve. “CIOs are increasingly driving major business transformations,” says Heller, “so the board’s interest in their plans will only increase.”
There is no better time to be an IT leader. “The winners will be those that build upon the creative approaches they bring to customers and employees while continuing to innovate new experiences into the future,” says Guarini of Forrester. “The key to recognizing this vision will be a strong link between the board and the CIO.”
Stephanie Overby is a regular contributor to CIO.com.
James Fisher, Chief Product Officer, Qlik
Q: Is traditional business intelligence (BI) driving the results that executives expect?
A: Companies have invested millions of dollars into BI-related technologies, which aren’t delivering the results business leaders get excited about. For many organizations, a compartmentalized approach has led to challenges. Analyst research has found that less than half of organizations have the data they need to make data-driven decisions; fewer than one-third of executives believe they can drive transformational outcomes based on data they have; and more than one-third say individuals within their organization don’t have the right level of data literacy. These are roadblocks to further value.
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Q: How can companies shift toward Active Intelligence?
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To learn more, visit Qlik.com/ExecutiveInsights