The Language of a Leader: the modern CIO

The modern CTO/CIO doesn't often get the luxury of being misunderstood. Their peer group requires well thought out, coherent (perhaps even elegant) language that is long on detail while, at the same time, short on technoese. Those of you who have experienced technical conversations between those speaking fluent technoese and lay business people know of what I speak.

Such conversations go something (albeit not always exactly) like this. The technoese speaking person starts off and the lay businessman/woman listens intently for the first 2 minutes hoping to become wiser and more in tune with technology. Soon, the blank stares appear followed by the glazed over expressions in their eyes, and finally a confused (if not angered) look on their faces. The techie has just lost their audience, but also their opportunity to gain buy-in for their idea or proposal.

Enter the CIO
This is where the modern CIO earns their money. Conceptually a CIO is hired to implement, manage, expand, streamline, and promote the best use of technology for the company. For many years though there was a hidden reason behind the CIOs vital role - to translate for their peers and provide a communications barrier between the technoese speaking minority and the business majority. That role is no longer a secret.

CIO job descriptions routinely include explicit language about their role as a top-level communicator. In fact, some larger corporations hire CIOs less for their technology skills and more for their ability to communicate, influence, sell, and manage others. Such a non-technical CIO/CTO can be dangerous also. The lack of deep seeded technology background has led to some very costly business decisions (I would like to use RBS as an example) - solutions are often sold that are not needed and, in reality, do detriment to the organization. In some cases the CIO/CTO lacked the technical background to understand the fine points involved in delivering on plans sold to a naive peer group.


It's the Audience - Dummy!
Having come into technology through the back door (I was a businessman before I was a technician) I learned, early on, the value of communication at all levels. One of the precepts to excellent communication is knowing your audience. Always make the assumption, when you are communicating with others (unless you can guarantee otherwise), that your audience knows less about the topic than you do, and that your audience is less technically conversant than you are.

Not to make your peers seem like morons, because they aren't, but you have to dumb down the technoese a little bit. Ease them into it, define your terms along the way into easily digestible bites. Remember, if you were in a room of actuaries you would probably come away feeling as ignorant of their lingo as they would be of yours.

Play it again Sam
Another key communication tool is to repeat what you just said. I actually refer to this as a reiterative tool. You don't need to become redundant in your conversation, but after you make several key points it is a good idea to put forward a quick summary of what you just said. In many presentations I actually paint high value targets 3 times so that at the end of my communcation everyone at least knows the main points.

Another reiterative tool is the follow up. If I am trying to get a plan or initiative put forward I find ways of tying it into other communications. Having stressed my points before, I subtely drop them into future emails, presentations, proposals and discussions.

In this way you will find that people pick up on the importance of a topic without feeling beaten with it. Remember, subtlety is key!

Killing the Messenger
If you have not heard this expression then you need to be aware that there are times that you will be communicating with hostile audiences. In ancient times when kings were sent messages that included unpleasant news they would often kill the messenger out of rage - thus the term "Don't Kill the Messenger" was coined. Such situations are unavoidable at times and you need to prepare for them.

Now - there are shades of gray here. In some cases the people in your audience are just simply not interested in what you have to say. In such cases you have to lighten the conversation, make it personal for them, and give them a sense of fellowship in your cause. An example of this would be going in front of your board of directors with a proposal requiring a bunch of treasure to expand your infrastructure. You should expect or anticipate a bit of ambivalence. The way you bring them to your point of view is to actually know them a bit - what are their key priorities for the company, what are the key initiatives they are discussing and how can your proposal help to accomplish them?

For the truly enraged audience there is little you can do but make your points and try to escape with your career. It seems blunt and a bit cynical, but sometimes you cannot calm people down. A case on point - giving a speech to a bunch of employees and telling them that this is their last day on the job and that you are closing the plant. If you expect cheers and hooray's then you must be heavily medicated. Sometimes there is just no good spin on things. Do you think that telling them "we are sending you on a very long unpaid holiday" will really make a difference?

Follow Through
Your communication is built on history. By that I mean when you have a dialogue your effectiveness is based on whether you have a history of delivering on what you have discussed and whether or not you appear knowledgeable in your prior communications history. People will remember the most amazing things - many of which are not what you wanted them to remember. So, keep in mind that everything you say will, at some point, come back to you - even if you change companies.

Once you become known as a person that paints a tainted picture you lose credibility. In this game we call life credibility is really one of the few things we have to offer. So, prepare yourself and be knowledgeable. You will require information from individuals and there are times you will have to trust that information, but due diligence is never to be abandoned for the sake of a quick response. It is better to delay what you want to say than to rush something into production that has a questionable amount of truth to it.

The old adage "it is better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt" has a great deal of truth to it. So, be clear, be concise, review what you want to get across, be truthful, be effective, be sincere, review what you want to get across, summarize, emphasize, and you should review what you want to get across!!

Also Published on THE CTO FORUM