3 Actions for the New CIO

What should be the first priority as a new CIO? Getting to know the IT
infrastructure and systems? Making yourself familiar with goals and
expectations? All important tasks, but not the place to start. The very first thing
a new CIO needs to do is strategically build rapport with the CEO and other C-
level members to be perceived as a trusted ally of the executive team.

Success requires that you do things that nobody expects from you — and
that you do them well

CIOs still are at a disadvantage on the executive team, because their

colleagues often donʼt know exactly how IT contributes to the overall strategy.
This can lead to an isolated position that makes it harder to move projects
forward.

“CIOs will not accelerate their rapport with the C-level just by meeting their
default expectations for the CIO role,” says Daniel Sanchez Reina, Senior
Director Analyst, Gartner. “Success requires that you do things that nobody
expects from you — and that you do them well.”

To successfully integrate themselves into the leadership team within the first
100 days, CIOs must focus on three actions.

Read more: Become a Strategic Partner to Your CEO

Action No. 1: Speak finance

Traditionally, the C-level member closest to the CEO is the CFO and the two of
them tend to set the financial agenda on their own. Usually, the only thing they
expect financially from the IT department is to reduce costs — a dangerous
pitfall for new CIOs and an amazing opportunity to demonstrate that they donʼt
only understand IT, but also business.
 Open a discussion about how the IT organization can contribute to overall
organization growth

CIOs shouldnʼt limit themselves to the IT perspective but should also think
about how to become a top-line growth contributor in a broad way. Spend time
with the CFO, understand the burning financial topics of the company and
open a discussion about how the IT organization can contribute to overall
organization growth. Make sure that any IT initiative is directly linked to
revenue-generation goals.

Action No. 2: Be a pioneer

According to the 2018 CEO Survey, 78% of CEOs consider their companies
either pioneers or fast followers when it comes to business innovation. And
they will expect a new CIO to take on a leadership role when it comes to
pioneering business transformation.

Demonstrate pioneer spirit with a breakthrough document. This is a strategic,

enterprisewide, high-level operational inventory on what actions and initiatives
can be taken to become a pioneering or fast-follower organization. It is
important for the CIO to draft this document in tandem with each member of
the C-suite based on the overall company strategy — avoid IT-specific
conversations when discussing it with C-level colleagues.

Action No. 3: Shape the workplace culture

Culture is the set of mindsets and practices of an organization. A growing
number of CEOs want to change the organizationʼs culture to become more
competitive in the new world of digital business. However, culture change is
not just about introducing new tools and processes — itʼs about changing
workforce behaviors in a way that is neither overwhelming nor frightening.

Use culture hacks to accelerate the adoption of new behaviors across the
organization
As a new CIO wonʼt know a lot about a company yet, tackling the entire culture
is impossible. However, itʼs important to work with your peers to identify one or
two behaviors that the organization needs to change to successfully fulfill the
actions of the breakthrough document.

Read more: A CIOʼs Roadmap to Culture Change

“The best motto is probably ‘Think big and start small.ʼ Pick a less complex
initiative for behavioral change, and donʼt be too ambitious in the beginning or
you might be seen as reckless. Try to use culture hacks to accelerate the
adoption of new behaviors across the organization,” Sanchez Reina says.

“When you manage to achieve even a small cultural trait in your first 100 days,
even if it is only in the IT organization, your standing with the CEO and the rest
of the executive team will improve drastically.”

Gartner clients can read more in “Three Actions for New CIOs to Build
Solid Rapport With the C-Level During Their First 100 Days” by Daniel
Sanchez Reina. More information on digital leadership can be found in
the Gartner Featured Insight research collection “Scaling Digital
Leadership,” a collection of research that explores the dimensions of
leadership that will help CIOs scale — personally and as an organization
— in order to produce a sustained return on technology investment.