Research recently carried out by CSC’s Leading Edge Forum (LEF) has identified different categories and types of Chief Information Officer (CIO) and attests that an organisation’s IT prowess will be determined largely by its team ‘type’. This goes against industry assumptions that say CIOs are largely a homogenous group with the same behavioural traits.
The research highlights four distinct types, all of which have their own particular strengths and weaknesses.
The types are: The ‘Paratrooper’: a strong independent character who will ruffle feathers; The ‘Consultant’: good customer facing and operational experience backed up by strong relationship building skills; The ‘Professional’: a known quantity who provides continuity with the past but whose experience is fairly narrow and is less willing to adapt; The ‘Executive’: a company insider with close Board associations and loyalties but with relatively limited IT experience
“The research shows that CIO type has a real impact on the way CIOs perform and ultimately therefore the way in which IT is adopted within their organisation,” says Andy Toms, the marketing director of CSC Financial Services at EMEA. “With this insight, organisations should be able to get the best of their IT leadership team by paying more attention to identifying the right team for the job and aligning this more closely with organisation culture.”
A report written around this research, Building Effective IT Executive Teams, explains why all CIOs are not the same and details how to build the right team in order to maximise the true potential of your organisation’s IT leadership.