Board members like Jean Holley can be a CIO’s best friend or their worst nightmare. As a former CIO, Holley always contacts the CIO before board meetings to provide advice on how to handle unavoidable questions. “It’s amazing how often they don’t accept me,” Holley says.
She says these CIOs, especially those in new roles, are often overly technical, unrelated to the business, and worse, lack depth in the job title. At three different boards, directors asked Holly if the company had chosen the right CIO, and her answer was three. Don’t be that CIO.
CIOs are more influential than ever on the board. The CEO and board can steer the ship, but rely on the CIO’s radar to see what will happen. Preparation is key and you can make or break a relationship. Have these questions and a curveball ready.
First, get to know your audience.
Gary Cantrell, former CIO and senior vice president of IT at manufacturing company Jabil, said it was important to research the background of each board member and the other boards they belong to before meeting the board for the first time. quarterly.
“Most board members aren’t IT savvy, but they know what’s important to read the news or learn from other boards they’ve been on,” Cantrell says. “It’s easy enough to answer your questions by following the company in your feed and reading about the incident before you come to the board. Otherwise, you have to go dancing.”
1. ‘Are we vulnerable to today’s cyber threats?’
Cybersecurity remains a top concern for the Board, especially given the Ukraine war and ongoing global unrest. CIOs should always be prepared for this loaded question without seeming overly confident or making doomsday predictions.
Jay Ferro, Clario’s Chief Information and Technology Officer, said, “We have prepared for cyber questions related to risk. Ferro said, “It is very unlikely that Risk X will occur, but the impact can be significant, so what are we doing to mitigate it? “Talk about where you are not safe, but how you are getting better, what your plans are, and how they can hold you accountable for being better.” about it immediately.”
Here, the CIO can help the board identify improvements by reusing and updating performance graphs and charts presented at previous board meetings, so directors can see progress, he adds.
Vulnerabilities aren’t the only cyber questions CIOs need to address. Ferro says the question was put in place several times. “Are we spending enough on cybersecurity?”
“You always want to increase your spending, but you have to be very careful with your answer because the CEO is there,” Ferro says. “You don’t want to throw the CEO under the bus.”
Meanwhile, on the current economic situation, some boards demand the following: “Can you do this cheaper?” Alexander Lowry, host of the podcast “Boardroom Bound”, says: In general, if a company wants to be well defended or needs to retain talent, the answer is no, he says. “Time, cost, and quality form a triangle of balance,” he adds, and CIOs must explain the importance of all three factors.
Directors on multiple boards can also inquire about the organization’s security mandate, Holley says. Because of this, CIOs often “Should the CISO report to the CIO or someone else?”
“About 90% of CIOs say yes, I want it,” says Holley. “But if you are a technology-based company and you are developing technology for a living or developing technology in a secure space. ~ no It should be under the CIO. In this case, she says, the board favors the checks and balances of two different leaders.
2. ‘Are we investing in the right technology for our strategy?’
Boards want to ensure that CIOs have control over technology investments related to corporate strategy. “Don’t understand the connections,” Ferro said. “Show how those investments are connected to the bigger picture and show you as much immediate return as possible.”
Global CIO and CDO Anupam Khare wants to educate the board of directors of manufacturer Oshkosh Corp. in his presentation. “My slide deck is written primarily in the context of a business, so you can see the benefits first and then the skills later. It sparks curiosity about how this technology creates value,” says Khare. “When we say, ‘This project or technology has had such an operating profit impact on the business,’ that’s the hook. Then explain the drivers of that impact so we can better understand how the technology works.”
Board members may make their own proposals for technology proposals they hear from competitors or other board members to which they belong. Therefore, the CIO should also be prepared to answer the following questions: “Should we use the same technology as Company X?”
He avoids the urge to use technical jargon to describe the strengths of Slack as a new cloud platform, customer-facing app, or communication tool, says Holley, “answering the question in a business context, not a technical one.” “[The answer] It depends on how your business is running and where you are competitive. Are you looking to become a leader or fast follower in the digital space?
Holley says it’s also wise to prepare a list of three areas in which to invest if you have the capital. “It’s a key question that should always be answered well in case a business is wasting more cash or someone isn’t spending that much capital,” she says. “For example, if you invest $5 million in this active project today, you can get this ROI in 6 months. It may not have anything to do with IT. If you plan to push for an acquisition in the first quarter of next year, why not take it in the fourth quarter of this year because people have the bandwidth?”
Holley had a similar short list of projects that had to be slowed down or halted if the business shrank or the company had a bad quarter and had to be withdrawn. Her biggest competitor, she said, is projects where the business isn’t attractive enough or the business can’t get the right people to go faster.
3. ‘How are you retaining and attracting tech talent?’
Board members read about the global IT talent shortage and ask CIOs what they are doing to develop their in-house talent and how to retain their staff, Cantrell says. They are also asking about turnover and how to attract new talent. Are you only offering higher salaries or other perks?
4. ‘Should we look to automation to fill the hiring gap?’
Without sufficiently qualified staff, some board members might ask for automation or robotics as an alternative, Lowry says. “The question is, ‘Can we do automation more efficiently because we can’t have enough people to do these things anyway? Will it help make organizations more resilient or cheaper to operate today and in the medium and long term? ?’” CIOs should prepare a list of which parts of the business can or should be automated, says Lowry.
5. ‘How are you nurturing the most diverse, equitable and inclusive technology teams?’
As diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are increasingly emphasized as key workplace goals and productivity drivers, CIOs should be prepared to describe DEI initiatives, including how to source these talents, such as partnerships with organizations. That could help, says Ferro.
He added that these types of corporate responsibility topics could also include sustainability questions. “What are you doing to run a more sustainable technology organization, such as reducing your data center footprint or moving to the cloud?” he says.
6. ‘What should I worry about that isn’t on our radar?’
Your board can rely on your radar to shape your business strategy. You should start with a clear top three list. “This is not an invitation to exaggerate or exaggerate or exaggerate,” Holley said.
“I always used to think of answers in advance, both internally and externally,” says Holley. “I start by saying something like, ‘Externally, you have an opportunity to increase your revenue by x%.’ Or maybe you want to ask, ‘Do you know what our competitors are doing?’ And I’ll expand on that. Or we’ll start by saying, ‘A competitor we don’t see today is probably doing this.’”
Instead of explaining each idea in detail, she followed up with “Would you like to know more?” The board chair or committee chair will usually say yes or want to follow up later.
coping with the unexpected
If a question comes from the field on the left that you are not ready to answer, never make up an answer. Ferro says. “’I’d like to talk about it again, or ‘That’s a great question. It’s usually on our radar. Let’s call them separately.’”
Cantrell says preparation can take a lot of time. “It is always the first impression. Life is much easier if you can get off to a good start from the first three encounters. Otherwise, it becomes a challenge.”