The importance of selecting and managing the right people

I attended an excellent CIO networking event sponsored by Q-Connect last night. There were two speakers, Monte Gibbs and Joe Manna. Monte is an interim CTO, Web Technical Architect & Online Media Strategist. Monte spoke on the expectation that IT would deliver innovation to the the organization. Joe is CIO of Live Nation and COO of their ticketing operation. He spoke on the spinoff from Clear Channel and the start-up and maturation phases of Live Nation including 5-6 acquisitions, implementation of Oracle financials, and the launch of the ticketing app.

The discussion among the CIO/CTOs focused on the issues of how to address the expectation of innovation while keeping 20 other balls in the air (my interpretation) and how to create an environment that delivers continuous innovation in response to Monte's talk. After Joe's briefing, the discussion focused on how to transition managers from doers to delegators to support sustainable and predictable service levels for the IT organization.

In my mind, the common theme across both discussions was that a core solution to both issues has to do with selecting and managing the right people in the IT organization. With the right people and an environment that fosters innovation it is achievable. Excellent individual contributors cannot necessarily become great managers. If it were possible to prioritize, it is highly advisable that the CIO focus first on people, then enabling process and finally on technology. Most IT personnel are hired first for their technical prowess and it is assumed that they may not have the best people orientation. In selecting individuals for manager roles, we need to ensure that they have the capability to transition to a people focus as a primary orientation if we are to be able to groom these individuals to eventually replace us, the CIOs.