Strategic Planning for CIOs (Part 2): Aligning IT with Organizational Goals

From Vision to Execution: How to Align Your IT Strategy with Business Priorities and Stakeholder Needs

In part 1 of this series, I discussed the importance of ensuring that as the CIO you are involved in the planning of the overall organization’s strategic plan. To recap, you don’t know what you don’t know and if the rest of leadership is planning organizational goals that require technological change, enhancement, or support then you will be left on your backfoot when time comes to deliver. So, make sure you are involved in the planning process. This is something that I have been steadfastly involved in since joining the National Endowment for the Arts as their Chief Information Officer.

Speak Up and Stay Aligned

Now that you are part of the organization’s strategic planning team, make sure you speak up and share your insights into how the organization could benefit by implementing your technological changes. Assert your voice into the business operations that may require changes or support from your department and make sure that everyone is aware of any dependencies or constraints that may affect the timeline to achieving the organizational goal. You want to bring this forward now so that there is an understanding of resource constraints due to additional projects caused by regular operations and maintenance.

It is during these discussions that I find it best to explain things in non-technical terms (not everyone speaks geek) and take notes for your own IT Strategic Plan. Remember your strategic plan needs to align with the overall organization’s strategic plan or you will run into conflicting priorities.

Reconciling New Goals with Existing Priorities

I take these notes and review them against my own priorities that I have already set for advancing the technical capabilities of the organization. Sometimes they align with what I already have identified, sometimes there are tradeoffs because you know you can’t accomplish both within the allotted time, and sometimes they spawn new projects because there are dependencies that must be developed first in which to build on to accomplish the identified goals in the overall organizational goals.

Where Do These Priorities Come From?

As the CIO, you set the tone for the organization, your department, and the motivation for achieving the outcomes identified in your strategic plan.

In the previous section I noted that I am comparing these overall organizational requirements against the priorities that I have already identified that I want to accomplish within my department for the betterment of the organization. But how did I come up with these priorities?

Most of the time they come from my running list of ideas that I have throughout the year that are inspired by my reading, conference attendance, continuous learning, and conversations with other CIOs. They also come from discussions with my team as I ask them to reflect upon each of their departments to help determine what we should be doing to enhance organizational operations over the next few years. Drafting the IT Strategic Plan is a group effort.

Can you do it alone? If you must (I have done that before), but it is best when you work with your whole team to develop the plan. Your team members are experts in their respective fields (cybersecurity, operations, infrastructure, networks, application development…etc). You (most likely) are not an expert in all domains. By having them involved creates buy-in and ownership of the environment and projects that are being identified. Camaraderie is a strong healthy by-product of strategic planning collaboration.

As the leader, you set the tone for the organization, your department, and the motivation for achieving the outcomes identified in your plan.

Looping in the Other Stakeholders

Not only are you engaging with your team to help identify areas of improvement within the organization and/or items that support the overall organization’s strategic goals, but you are also engaging with the business stakeholders within the organization that can help identify priority areas for advancement. Just like the strategic planning sessions you were involved in to create the organization’s strategic plan, now it is time to hold your own.

I have found it helpful to share your internally identified department priorities with the group so that they understand that there is more going on (usually behind the scenes) than what they have or will identify. That way it is easier to discuss resource constraints when they present themselves. You can’t do everything at once – there is only so much manpower and so much money…only so much bandwidth.

Engaging with the business stakeholders helps to identify areas of advancement that you and your team may not have found otherwise. Another thing I learned in the military and through 20+ years of leading teams – Everyone knows something that you don’t know, game-changing ideas can come from discussions with anyone - from the janitor to the CEO, from the private to the general.

Wrapping Up: Getting Ready for Goal Setting

At this point, you should have a well-rounded view of what needs to get done. You have gathered insights from leadership, your team, and business stakeholders. You’ve compared those inputs against your current roadmap. You’ve aligned. You’ve prioritized.

Now comes the fun part: setting your actual goals. That’s where we’re headed next.

Next week Part 3 – Setting your IT Strategic Plan Goals

Read the How to Develop Your IT Strategic Plan Series from the beginning