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Making the jump from IT Director
I have been in IT for almost 20 years now and have worked my way all the way up from the help desk to an IT Director in the Healthcare industry.
I have been lucky enough to have hands on and management experience in cutting edge technology as well as experience in integrating IT services into acute/critical business processes with great success. I am very comfortable with the technology part as well as the managing of those departments and setting course for future direction.
My question is; how would one make the jump from an IT Director to a more senior level position?
I have been told once you get out of the Director chair it is more about "who" you know rather than "what" you know. Having spent most of my career on the "what", I am looking for direction to fine tune my skills in the "who" portion.
Expert's answerThe easiest way to become a CEO is to start your own company. Rising from a director level position to a more senior management or CxO level position otherwise is not something I have a lot of experience with. The people around me in corporate settings who made that move to the next level successfully were invited upstairs so there may be some validity in your statement about who you know versus what you know. The key seemed to be ensuring that senior management knows you well enough to have good knowledge about what you could accomplish beyond meeting the expectations of the current position. I have also seen people move from Director level positions in large enterprises to CxO level positions in small or mid-market enterprises where the companies they moved to were comparable in size and complexity to the department or division they were in before. Perhaps there are readers with more experience than I who can share their wisdom on the subject. |
The Way of the Job Upgrade
People looking to upgrade their job title / function can often do so by downgrading the prestige of their employer. In the case of the executive-in-point here, working for a big company as a director would make one a prime candidate for a "higher up" position at a smaller company. This is also a lot less risky than striking out on your own.
Speaking of risk, today we might expect to hear from management looking to come up to speed on a few more hands-on skills. Unlike the elastic executive market, getting back to the basics is how many continue to put bread on the table during difficult times.
Making the jump - do you have the skills
The first comment I would make the initial response is why those who make the jump are known. Typically it is because they have demonstrated the leadership and management skills that the business is looking for at that level. When the IT director gets that it is about the business, and how IT supports and enables the business, with a record of results, they are noticed, so management knows who they are.
Second, you need to take control of your career. How much do you know about the business you support?. I find it rather sad when IT directors cannot tell me much about thier organziation, e.g., what are the strategic objectives of the organization? How is IT enabling the business to suceeed.
For the IT director that wants move 'up', they need to think more like a business person, less like the IT technologist. Business results are what counts! Demonstrated leadership & management skills also get you there faster.
As for the other comment re: try a smaller company, I agree, you can typically fulfill both roles in a smaller company, however it you decide you want the CXO role, it is more about the business, services that have value, outcomes the business needs, and developing relationshops, i.e., someone others want to work with
If you need a place to start, begin with the concept of IT Service Management (ITIL, CobiT, MOF v4, ISO/IEC 20000) that can provide a framework to begin to understand how to improve existing services, which can bring the credibility to your current organization
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