CIO Dashboard

A CIO’s Own Learning and Development Plan

post by Chris Curran on August 19, 2010
Share on LinkedIn7Tweet about this on TwitterShare on Google+2Share on Facebook0

An article in the latest Fast Company describes “How TED Became the New Harvard - Only Bigger.”  TED and Harvard are certainly not the same kinds of animals, but TED has introduced us to a broad set of ideas and is delivering them in brand new ways.  After watching the videos from afar, I’m planning to attend TED in 2011 and will certainly blog about it.  New models for learning and networking like TED highlight why leaders need to think about their personal and organizational development options as more of a portfolio.

CIOs and senior IT leaders spend so much time thinking about skills, training, recruiting, organization structure, 3rd party resources, etc. for their organizations and staff that they often neglect their own learning and development.  Luckily, the CIO and CTO of one of our health care clients recently asked us to help them sort through all of the opportunities they’ve been presented - conferences, workshops, councils and many others - which has given me an opportunity to focus on this subject more lately.

Led by my colleague Alex Krysiak, our team considered the individual CIO career development goals including things like technology trends, business management, and health care industry issues and mapped each of the conferences and workshops into these goals.  Our clients used this information to build a roadmap for their own personal development for the next few years.

With this work as a catalyst, I wanted to step back a bit more to see if a framework for IT leadership development could be generalized.  See what you think of this - I’d like to evolve it into something that you find useful and comprehensive.

Diamond’s CIO Learning and Development Model

Question Description Dimensions Possible Tactics
What?

What is happening in my industry, other relevant industries and my own business - now and in the future and how does it apply to me?

  • Industry
  • Own Business
  • Technology Industry
  • Technology Innovations
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Join an industry standards group
  • Spend a few months working in or shadowing a business role or two (front office, back office)
  • Join a vendor advisory council
  • Sponsor a university technology innovation lab
  • Develop an in house technology innovation workshop with vendors and business leaders
  • Read The Economist, Wired, Technology Review and several blogs (topic for another post)
How?

How should I go about improving my business?

  • Communication
  • Strategy Development
  • Design - Business and Technology
  • Planning - Annual, Multi-Year
  • Measuring and Improving
  • Speak at an annual conference
  • Co-sponsor some industry or academic research
  • Write an article or series that requires you to do some research, interviews, etc.
  • Attend an executive education program
  • Regularly author an internal or external blog
Who?

Who has effectively applied the “whats” and “hows” and who hasn’t?  From whom can I learn more?  Who do I need to keep an eye on?

  • Do-ers (and non Do-ers)
  • Role Models
  • Teachers
  • Attend a “big ideas” conference like TED, AllThingsD, etc.
  • Start/sponsor/support and attend a speakers series in your area
  • Join a non-profit board
  • Get involved in your university alumni program
  • Guest lecture at a university

cc licensed flickr photo shared by jayhem

Share on LinkedIn7Tweet about this on TwitterShare on Google+2Share on Facebook0

Related posts:

  1. CIO Careers: Learning from System Quarterbacks
  2. Learning by Doing with Labs
  3. 6 Technology Innovation Sources for Outside-In Learning
  4. Do CIOs Develop Leaders Like NCAA Coaches?
  5. CIO Leadership Stories - Learning to Learn

  • It’s an interesting problem that CIO’s and CTO’s face and I’m impressed by the strategy that your client is taking to develop a plan to stay engaged with our profession outside of or in addition to what’s happening within their own organization. There are however too problems that need to be overcome. First, no time given the overwhelming demands of meetings, phone calls and staying current with e-mails. Second, information overload. There is so much information available on the web and through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn how do you filter out the noise and focus on a few individuals who are really worth following.
    I’m actually considering a blog series on this very topic (Who’s Worth Following) at the Center For CIO Leadership’s web site. Since I’ve retired from being a full time CIO, I’ve got the time to research prominent people blogging and posting on social media sites and developing a list of people worth following. If the idea pans out, my list of whom I’m following on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can serve as a filter for others.

    Let me know what you think?

    Bill
    —
    William A Crowell
    Asuret, Inc.
    Mobile #: 503-269-1763 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 503-269-1763 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

  • It’s an interesting problem that CIO’s and CTO’s face and I’m impressed by the strategy that your client is taking to develop a plan to stay engaged with our profession outside of or in addition to what’s happening within their own organization. There are however too problems that need to be overcome. First, no time given the overwhelming demands of meetings, phone calls and staying current with e-mails. Second, information overload. There is so much information available on the web and through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn how do you filter out the noise and focus on a few individuals who are really worth following.
    I’m actually considering a blog series on this very topic (Who’s Worth Following) at the Center For CIO Leadership’s web site. Since I’ve retired from being a full time CIO, I’ve got the time to research prominent people blogging and posting on social media sites and developing a list of people worth following. If the idea pans out, my list of whom I’m following on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can serve as a filter for others.

    Let me know what you think?

    Bill
    —
    William A Crowell
    Asuret, Inc.
    Mobile #: 503-269-1763 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 503-269-1763 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

  • Pingback: Links for August 22 2010 | Eric D. Brown()

  • Thanks for the thoughts and frameworks. Like it. That are the reasons “What, how, who” time allocations in terms of activities are important to CIOs.. Top tier CIOs have strategies to reduce the time on reducing everyday operational what and how and to innovate with the “who” leaders in the industry. Have a look at IDC Enterprise Innovation Awards 2010. Increasingly ideas need to morph into results pretty quickly. Industry window of ROI on IT projects are shrinking from 6 months down to 3 months. You can call that the crazy wheeldrive but CIOs and board level executives no longer have the luxury of time. That is why learning and development plan need to be integrated, continual and aligned with business and faily quickly to be useful.

    Dr Patrick Chan, IDC

  • Pingback: The Journey of a Business Strategist CIO - Louie Ehrlich, Chevron — CIO Dashboard()