So what exactly is trust?  Let’s start by thinking of 3 people whom you would trust with your life.  In other words identify some person or entity (think organization, agency, company) that you would trust to make life-altering or even life-ending decisions for you.  Have you thought of three?

My bet, based on having asked this question before, is that most of you have chosen a spouse, child, parent, sibling or other close relatives and possibly a spiritual advisor (minister, rabbi, imam etc.)   Very rarely has anyone selected their boss, a co-worker, subordinate or anyone from their workplace.  Why is that?  Do we not trust the people with and for whom we work?

Let’s ask the corollary question.  Think of three entities (people, organizations, agencies) you do not trust.  Got your three?   Again, based on having asked this question, I find people usually cite government entities (the IRS being a frequent answer), politicians, used car salesmen, sales people of all sorts and a sprinkling of people with whom or for whom they have worked.  At some point they have come to the conclusion that they cannot expect information from these people or entities to be the truth or the promises they make to be kept.

Does there seem to be a pattern here?  People want to work for someone they trust.  And yet there is not a great deal of trust in the workplace.  But to be a good leader you must have trust.  You must somehow gain credibility with your followers.  Having position and power over people is not enough.  Coercion is not a good leadership technique.  And certainly “above and beyond” efforts have to be given, not demanded or forced from a subordinate or team member.

So we are back at “how do I gain trust with someone?”   You gain trust not through speeches or written reports, not through being brilliant in meetings or presentations.  You gain trust through your behavior and the consistency of your actions.  You have to do what you say you will do, every time.  You have to tell the truth, even if it’s not what people want to hear.  You have to explain your goals, why you set your goals and how you plan to reach them.  You have to share a vision of what does not yet exist and how you plan to get there and ask, sincerely, that people trust you and come with you to the destination.  And all of this takes time.  But the good news is that you take trustworthiness with you.  When you start a new job or move to a new department, your reputation comes with you.  All that you have said and done before either reinforces that you are “trust worthy” or tells people that you say one thing and do another.

So what is your reputation? Are you trust-worthy?  If not, it may take you a very long time to correct a history of not doing what you say you will.   But now is always an excellent time to start.

JDResources, Inc. (JDR) is expanding our executive technology talent offerings to the US west coast by offering a new set of Information Technology (IT) leadership services provided by our pool of experienced Chief Information Officers (CIO) and Chief Technology Officers (CTO).  Over the years, JDR has been providing interim CIOs and CTOs for companies that need strategic business leadership combined with strong, hands-on technology experience.

Now, JDR clients will be able to choose specific CIO leadership services.  Such CIO services include Business Transformation, Mergers and Acquisitions, agile Business Intelligence, Security & Compliance, Enterprise Architecture, institution of PMO , IT co-sourcing, IT organizational composition, cloud computing initiatives & delicate SaaS  transitions, and much more.

JDR is pleased to announce that Dean Samuels will be leading the development and operations of these CIO services from San Francisco, CA. Recently as CIO at Genesys Telecommunications, Dean led the IT business transformation and information technology integration with Alcatel-Lucent, and leveraged IT to provide improved value from services to employees, partners, and customers.

There is a unique balance between JDR, our clients and our people.  In all the years of market growth and change, one thing has remained the same – JDR provides dedication and exceptional customer service.   A commitment to high performance and unsurpassed industry knowledge, personal service, confidentiality, and ethical, professional standards is the reason that our clients continually utilize all of our services and refer us to their trusted business associates and colleagues.

Founded in 1987, JDResources provides specialized consulting, permanent staffing, outsourcing, and C-level Executive services for Management, Technology and Supply Chain talent requirements.  Our mission is to understand your business initiatives, and make those initiatives successful by supplying the resources you need in a timely and cost-effective manner.  Over the past twenty-three years, JDR has cultivated an extensive network of diversified professionals that provide a broad array of expertise.  Our firm has a unique blend of European precision and American assertiveness enabling us to provide the very best people for our clients’ important positions.

JDR is providing a variety of CIO and IT leadership services to its customers to increase competitive value to the business and lower IT costs. To learn more about these attractive CIO level services from JDR, please contact Jill Herrin at (901) 753-0500.

When I am hired to do Change Management for an IT Project, clients ask me to create a Communications Plan.  That plan includes key stakeholders and the message or key points we want to communicate to each person or group.

What both of these scenarios show is that we are seeking to “talk” to “transmit” a message, but not to receive.  Where is the listening?

When I teach communications, whether asked to or not, I use a Listening Styles instrument and focus on teaching IT staff to listen.  As a rule of thumb we are supposed to listen twice as much as we speak.  I know of no one (including myself) who reaches this goal on a regular basis.

And in Change Management listening to stakeholders’ concerns, requirements and fears is equally as important as telling them what is coming.

Although listening is a “soft skill,” it can at least be measured, i.e.  you can test someone to see if they heard key information, if they noticed the mood the speaker was in (calm, agitated), if they saw a message in the speaker’s body language (nervous, worried, confident.)  The information they retain and the non-verbal messages they pick up tell you how well they were listening.

But in addition to listening, IT executives need to develop their ability to empathize.  And when I say empathize, I mean the ability to put one’s self in someone else’s place and relate to the way he or she feels.  For example, when IT is bringing massive change to an organization by implementing an ERP, how do the people whose work processes and daily life this will change feel about it?  Put yourself in their place and you may be asking – Will I be able to do my job?  Can I learn the new software?  Will I be able to compete with younger workers?  Will my business skills become obsolete?

Unfortunately, there is no way that I know of to measure empathy.  Either you are empathetic, or you are not.

But why does a discussion of “soft skills” like listening and empathy belong in a Career blog?  Aren’t these entries supposed to be focused on helping you find your next job?  Or at least focused on building your professional credentials?  What do listening and empathy have to do with this?

Actually, they may have a great deal to do with both finding your next job and building your credentials.  In a job interview most candidates are focused on talking about themselves and impressing the potential employer with their knowledge and experience.  Maybe instead you should focus on listening.  What is the employer really looking for?  If you listen, instead of talking, they will usually tell you exactly what they want and need from you.  And if you go one step further and empathize – what is this poor, bedeviled person interviewing you  feeling?  How is he/she coping without a <fill in the open job title.>  Whether the open position is a CIO or a Director of Application Development, they are probably feeling pain because this position is open.  There is work and leadership that are not happening because they are without a key person.

The truly excellent job candidate hears what the potential employer needs and empathizes with what they feel.   The exemplary CIO listens to his staff, to his stakeholders and to his service providers and uses his understanding of what each is looking for to run a better IT organization.

So focus, at least a little bit, on your listening skills and your ability and willingness to empathize.  You may find it makes you not only a better IT executive and job candidate, but a better person.

Making Transformation Happen

Because we are in the business of providing products and services that make incredible service experiences happen, we are in a fortunate position to assist our forward-thinking customers in achieving their CIO-sponsored, IT-powered business and cultural transformations. Likewise, as with our customers, we leverage these same technologies to achieve our own transformational business goals and improve services to our employees, partners, and customers.

Given today’s economy, limiting the CIO to purely an operational function is not an option. Companies must embrace the innovations CIOs are uniquely positioned to deliver and capitalize on the strategic breakthroughs made possible as they truly create the Dynamic Enterprise.

If you’d like to read the full article, you can also find it at

http://cioleadershipcenter.com/images/Alcatel-Lucent_CIO_Business-Transformation.pdf

CIO Strategies Influence Our Business and Our Customers

The Alcatel-Lucent family of companies possesses a unique set of strengths where strategic CIO leadership may contribute to business transformations in multiple ways:

CIO Leadership internally – (AT CLIENT COMPANY) within, and across our greater family of Alcatel-Lucent companies, to lead collaborative transformations enabling creative innovation of better products and services for our employees, partners, and customers.

CIO Leadership externally – (FOR CLIENT CUSTOMERS) as we deliver solutions and services that enable their transformational CIO strategies toward collaboration, communication, and creativity for their business.

From the illustration above, you can see that there is an interesting correlation between CIO strategies within our own company and those of our customers. As with our own company, the stratified forces of transformation also drive initiatives within our most progressive customers. Strategic CIO leadership, when combined with the right tools of collaboration and communication, can incite cross-organizational synergies. Stimulating a culture of transformational change makes relational creativity and collective innovation possible, especially in areas related to designing and delivering hospitality-quality services to customers.

The final part- Part Six- of this blog post to follow…

If you’d like to read the full article, you can also find it at

http://cioleadershipcenter.com/images/Alcatel-Lucent_CIO_Business-Transformation.pdf

Strategic CIO-Sponsored Investments Make Service Transformations Possible

Elevating the new CIO from what has typically been an IT operations management function into a business-enabling role can inspire the creative, collaborative cultures that make incredible service experiences happen. In today’s highly competitive business climate, where all business must compete skillfully for our customers’ attention and loyalty, it’s essential to invest “strategically” in technologies that make better service possible. The new strategic CIO’s unique insight into both business and technology allows, at an executive level, an improved perspective for choosing IT investments that yield the highest impact on achieving the goals of the business. However, in many companies today, the old cost-centered financial model has not yet evolved to fund the strategic IT investments that enable the type of cultural and service transformations needed to compete in this new business era. During budget season, there is usually competition for funds to support strategic growth initiatives. If the business-savvy, technology-aware CIO is not at the table, then timely opportunities for service, innovation, and productivity will be forfeited and the business culture cannot transform.

Part Five of this blog post to follow…

If you’d like to read the full article, you can also find it at

http://cioleadershipcenter.com/images/Alcatel-Lucent_CIO_Business-Transformation.pdf

Productivity + Creativity + Collaboration = Transformation

A CIO who can introduce technology services that enable people to be more creative will be more strategic than one who does not. When it comes to connecting the dots to transformation, many, if not most CIOs spend a great deal of their time looking for opportunities to enhance individual employee productivity and streamline operations. This focus certainly delivers on the promise of achieving results better, cheaper and faster. But it is more akin to updating processes than engaging in meaningful transformation. Some CIOs spend a portion of their time helping employees become more creative. This can be done by ensuring broader access to the information resources they need at the time and place of their choosing – an essential element of the Dynamic Enterprise.

However, a new generation of strategy-oriented CIOs can do all of these functions and more. They invest their time producing platforms that harness technologies which enable teams of people (including employees, partners, suppliers and customers) to creatively collaborate. It is from this level of activity and investments that true and meaningful innovation result in fundamental transformation.

Part Four of this blog post to follow…

If you’d like to read the full article, you can also find it at

http://cioleadershipcenter.com/images/Alcatel-Lucent_CIO_Business-Transformation.pdf

Transforming Business Culture into Creativity, Collaboration, and Innovation

There is an emergence of Boardroom-level recognition of having a technology-grounded, business-savvy CIO leader as a competitive advantage – to facilitate innovation of new products and services that are attractive to customers. To inspire higher levels of innovation in an organization, it is essential to leverage communication and collaboration technologies that enable people to work better together, produce more, and deliver “hospitality-quality” service experiences for customers.

There are several levels at which a CIO can play a critical role in cultural transformation. One traditional way is to listen to colleagues across all business units, then translate their input into a technology strategy that supports their collective needs. However, although valuable, this is still somewhat operationally focused. A more strategic role would involve the CIO, teaming with peer executives, to infuse technology-powered business objectives at conception. In these early, gestational stages of business strategy formation, a strategic CIO can introduce unforeseen opportunities made possible by emerging technology developments – some of which may be only perceived by the CIO – offering recommendations to the executive team, or perhaps even consideration of new business models.

Part Three of this blog post to follow…

If you’d like to read the full article, you can also find it at

http://cioleadershipcenter.com/images/Alcatel-Lucent_CIO_Business-Transformation.pdf

The spectrum of influence that a CIO has on business is evolving. Many CIOs today are “mostly operational” – functioning as top-level managers of day-to-day, cost-centered IT assets as well as overseeing the technical staff that keeps a business running. By contrast, more progressive executive teams recognize opportunities to leverage IT investments as an “enabler of business transformation,” which requires a higher level of influence on business change – a unique role that can only be served by a visionary, “strategic” CIO leader.

CIOs are increasingly being asked to participate in over-the-horizon strategic business transformations, while concurrently managing the IT organization and systems that support ongoing business operations. Certainly, a CIO who is exclusively preoccupied with operational platforms and process improvements might not foresee business-changing opportunities inspired by strategic technology innovations. As the evolving CIO role becomes more strategic, with innovation and transformation taking center stage, we see a new generation of technology executives at the helm.

Part Two of this blog post to follow…

If you’d like to read the full article, you can also find it at

http://cioleadershipcenter.com/images/Alcatel-Lucent_CIO_Business-Transformation.pdf