Mark McDonald

First, Happy New Year and best wishes for a 2010 may it be a successful year for you, your company and family.

Its time for you and your teams to get a little amnesia at the start of the New Year. Particularly this year given that 2009 was the toughest year in at least the last 50.   Here is why.

CIO’s and enterprise executives faced a series of tough decisions in 2009 that cost people their jobs, cost the enterprise investment projects and forced other less than desirable changes.  CIOs on average reported that their 2009 IT budgets were ‘adjusted’ at least two times during the year – meaning that expectations and plans needed to be adjusted multiple times.  All of these adjustments, coupled with the overall economic pressures erode trust and collaboration across the enterprise and within the teams.  That is why it may be time for some amnesia, so everyone can move the organization forward.

The start of a new calendar and fiscal year provides the opportunity to have amnesia as what was done in 2009 is done.  Here are a few ideas to give your self and your team a little amnesia to free

Recognize that you are where you are – now that sounds pretty Zen but in fact it’s true.  It means that its time to forget about how you got to your current state, who is responsible for it, who should be rewarded or disciplined for it.  Everyone is starting from the same place – the here and now, so move forward rather than spend time and energy looking backward.

Define the metrics and measures you want – the start of the year means new goals and objectives.  It also means that you have the opportunity to reset the conversation and define how you will be successful.  Too often we keep the same metrics year to year even when we need to reach a different result.  Not only is keeping the same metrics boring, but it also tells everyone that you have no new ideas.

Try something that your not sure will work or has failed in the past.  IT people can be among the most conservative in your organization, seeking to reduce risk and maintain security at just about any cost.  This makes many in IT fearful of new things, particularly things that they are not sure about.  As Frank Herbert wrote in the Dune Novels “Fear is a mind killer.”  Trying something new stretches the organization and opens the door to new things.  Recognize that it’s a new year and things that might not have worked in the past may work now under different circumstances.

These are just a few ideas and I am sure that there are more.  But remember it’s the start of a new year, and without a little amnesia its pretty likely that 2010 will be a replay of 2009.  So go ahead let go of the past and move into the New Year with a clean or at least cleaner slate and see what you can do.

Happy New Year and all the best wishes for 2010.

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Category: 2010 CFO CIO Leadership Tools     Tags: 2010, Business Leadership, CIO, CIO Leadership, Economic Recovery, IT and Business, Tools

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