What if the key moments of your career went un-noticed…?
In our recent study of CIOs and senior IT directors from across UK, France and Germany the answer to that What If question is, ‘They mostly are’…
We had set out to understand how IT professionals viewed risk. We wanted to know how they perceived the risks to their careers relative to risks for their company.
We also wanted to know how they rated the critical moments – the great achievements (or indeed failures) – and the different perceptions of impact on internal (IT unit) projects and wider Enterprise initiatives.
And the answers? We found enough to fill an entire whitepaper but the top (and bottom) line should give cause to IT professionals (and their enterprise leaders) to ponder.
Firstly they should consider why those internal IT projects seemed inherently riskier – much more so than the life chances of the company. Was this because the IT experts weren’t entirely in tune with the bigger business issues?
Secondly (and oddly) the differences between the perceived risks to IT career fortunes seemed less than the wider perils facing the entire company. Was this because the specialists felt safer within their own small world?
But maybe the key moments –‘the moments that matter’ – are, for IT professionals, those heroic times of crisis where they can deploy their gut instincts (rather more so than rational analysis) to save their universe?
From our study it certainly seems that way – and great is the angst when no one from the world outside of the IT silo will take time understand the challenge or acknowledge the triumph – or even pause to say thank you.
Here are the seeds of isolation – nurtured on the professional (almost secret) pride of disasters quietly averted whilst everyone else slept. Here also are the dangers of ‘group think’ – the time-honoured use of old methods to fight new battles – the well-rehearsed responses to challenges no matter how different those challenges may be. And then, there’s that reluctance to celebrate and share those achievements with the rest of the business.
So, before the CEO comes knocking, smarter IT professionals might care to look in the mirror and check out potential responses in our infographic.
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