Technology Leadership - Insights

Ketan Palicha, Chief Information Officer, AGC Automotive Americas.

The purpose of this article is to share practical insights with peers and organizations in their journey to create high performing and lean IT organizations.

Personal Perspective

“Experience is The Best Teacher”: Sharing insights from over three (3) decades of experience in technology leadership positions in different industry verticals. The goal is to share my experiences to supplement your experiential learning to avoid common pitfalls and not recreating the wheel. I am going to share facts based on my experience without sugar-coating to make them more attractive or palatable.

Practical Insights

1. Vision

Great technology leaders see beyond day-to-day demands and set their sights on improving processes, workflows, and optimizing the business by recommending adoption of appropriate technology advancements. They have a solid grasp of organization’s business goals, business environment and where improvements need to be made. They are up to speed on technology advancements, solutions and trends that can be successfully adopted within the organization (not Hype Cycle) to define a clear and compelling IT Vision. A common mistake leader’s make is being lured away from their objectives by trendy technologies, without being able to measure what those technologies’ real business value might be or how they will support the mission. IT Vision is communicated clearly via Enterprise Architecture components – Organization Architecture, Business Architecture, Application Architecture, Information Architecture and Technology Architecture. A rolling 2-3 years IT Vision communicated via Enterprise Architecture at an appropriate level (concise) is mandatory to provide essential clarity.

2. Promoting, Attracting and Retaining Talent

The best workers do the best and the most work. Most companies do a poor job of finding and keeping them. It’s remarkable how much more productivity an organization gets from top talent in complex occupations like information technology. High performers are an astounding 125% to 800% more productive (Source: McKinsey Global Survey: War for Talent”). A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players. It is critical to have right leadership for each of the key pillars of Enterprise Architecture implementation (Business Process, Application, Information and Technology). These must be hands-on leaders with solid expertise in each of these domains, quick learners with ability to grow and have the necessary soft skills. These A+ players need to be competitively compensated along with empowerment and opportunities for growth & advancement. IT organization structure and compensation packages must be setup appropriately. Unfortunately, for most organizations, it is far easier to get additional head-counts approved than it is to change established compensation levels. However, for complex knowledge work this is counter-productive. #1 reason why organization does not have right leadership in key positions is because bold decisions to promote the right and best people cannot be made by insecure leaders. Insecure leaders see the smartest and highest- achieving people around them as threats. An insecure leader can effectively stunt the growth of an entire organization within its responsibility area. Also, bold decisions necessary to effect organizational changes require altering the status-quo that has been in place for several years within the organization.

"Great technology leaders see beyond day-to-day demands and set their sights on improving processes, workflows, and optimizing the business by recommending adoption of appropriate technology advancements"

3. Trust

Trust is a two-way street, and the ability to build trust within a team is vital for any leader. When workers feel like their work is important and their opinions valued, they work harder and a bond of mutual trust is developed between employer and employee. 

As a leader, you need to be able to delegate effectively, and giving your team the trust and support they need to make their own decisions will engender feelings of appreciation and recognition, which has been shown to inspire increased productivity.

Trust is the cornerstone of any successful team. It takes time to build it effectively, but it’s worth investing that time in getting to know your team members so you can help them play to their strengths. Technology employees not only need to be trusted, they also need to feel that they can trust their managers. They are motivated by leaders who serve the best interests of the company, its employees and its customers. IT professionals want to feel that their leaders are concerned  less about being right than about doing the right thing. As a leader, you will be judged by your actions rather than by your words. Enthusiasm is infectious. Leaders who are genuinely positive can’t help but motivate others.

4. Outsourcing

Your Enterprise Architecture will enable identifying key capabilities and skills necessary. One of the most critical decision is to decide which key capabilities and skills will be built internally as well as skills that can be effectively outsourced. This needs to be clearly defined and formally communicated at all levels within the IT organization. This ensures that IT associates have a clear understanding of capabilities and skills they need to develop in alignment with IT outsourcing strategy.

5. Leverage human skills at all levels of the organization

Another mistake is failing to map the skills in the organization and not ensuring that teams have the right skills in place. For example, it can be a mistake to have too many skills in one area and not enough in others, creating unnecessary bottlenecks.

Leaders need to ensure that there is good balance of skills and employees across different areas.

If they are not able to find the right skills internally, they need to establish where they can source these in the marketplace.