Tracy Hockenberry, Salisbury Management, Inc., Director of IT Business Systems and Enterprise PMO
- IT leaders must build a strong relationship with the executive team to be viewed as a true business partner.
- A transparent view of IT’s work can build trust with the executive team, and technology can create the visibility that enables this transparency.
“IT partners with the business to understand and align with business initiatives and goals.”
As Tracy Hockenberry sees it, IT teams tend to make three critical mistakes that affect the business. “The first mistake is a lack of partnership with the business,” she says. “IT partners with the business to understand and align with business initiatives and goals. IT can offer a consultative or supportive role, but the business leaders actually drive the business.” Accordingly, IT’s responsibility is to make sure that its work is aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities and enabling business success.
IT must quickly achieve this alignment in order to help the business succeed in an increasingly competitive landscape, but it sometimes struggles to allocate the right resources to make that happen. “The rapid pace of technology requires highly specialized IT skills. Having the right people with the right skills at the right time is critical for success, whether that be for digital transformation or simply managing ongoing projects and operations,” Hockenberry says.
Lack of IT governance—or project governance, as some industry professionals refer to it—is the third critical mistake that she believes can hinder the business. “To me, successful IT leadership is about execution. Execution is actionable and measurable. One way to execute is to ensure proper project governance. If you cannot execute and implement, then you will fail,” she says.
This is an excerpt from 9 Experts on How to Align IT’s Work to Company Strategy. The eBook was generously sponsored by Workfront.
