When he joined the FCC, the US Federal Communications Commission, David Bray had to tackle his biggest challenge yet: updating the infrastructure of a federal agency made up of 18 offices with 207 different IT systems (around 1 system for every 9 people, 40% of which were over 10 years old).
Bray has a unique vision for a CIO when it comes to change: he believes that it involves understanding how you can bring joy and profit for the organisation.
Here are his recommendations for CIOs who have to conduct change in a culture resistant to change.
5 ways to create change in a hostile cultural environment
1- Put culture first
Quoting Peter Drucker,« Culture eats strategy for breakfast » You can have the best IT strategy in the world, but if you don’t take into account the different cultures of the different organisational units, it won’t matter. Bray says 80% of his focus is about people and 20% is about technology. « It’s about the people each day and the technology is there to make our lives more helpful, easier and productive.. »
As CIO, Bray’s job is about both technology and collaboration and encouraging people to use technology to collaborate and achieve the goals of the organisation.« Any CIO needs to think in terms of technology, people and culture change.»
2-Create a culture of "intrepreneurs"
To strike the balance between having a decentralised and centralised approach, Bray has placed what he calls “intrepreneurs” (entrepreneurs on the inside) within each office. Empowered to be problem solvers in modernising the infrastructure, these intrepreneurs will be crucial in helping to balance a desire for change with a need for consistency.
3-"Bottoms up" to empowering people
Bray does not feel that every decision needs to come up to the CIO. By letting people come up with solutions in that space, Bray is trying to empower the people. « In our changing world if you try to be top-down you will be out of date; you are not going to be relevant to what is happening on edge. By taking a bottom-up approach, the CIO takes on the role of a facilitator and cultivator of his team. »
Bray advises to not take yourself too seriously and openly admits to his team that he does not have all the answers. He counts on all of his people to point out what he is missing, explain why and bring forth the data.
4- Identify supporters and resistors
In the private sector we have what we call “corporate antibodies”, the forces of resistance that emerge when there is an innovative disruptor. Bray drew inspiration from Abraham Lincoln who created a cabinet of people that were both for him and against him so he could learn from all of the different points of view. Bray says if you really want to create change, you need to understand the context in which you are operating and manage friction by identifying who your potential advocates and supporters are and also who your potential resistors are and figure out a way to bring them together.
5 – Opt for agile adoption in phases
When it comes to large IT projects, Bray is cautious when any project aims for a resolution date of year or longer because technology is changing faster than that. He recommends rolling out projects in phases and breaking projects into shorter, modular components. He also stresses the need for technologist to be at the table with the business people. Bray says it is important to understand the context in which you are operating and to have a plan that can be adaptive. « CIOs need to have a vision, but be open to changing course directions along the way. »
Bray’s final advice is to think externally and to not lose sight of the fact that it takes a network of people to create culture change.
Source: huffingtonpost
