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What personal qualities do you look for when hiring an IT Director (CTO)?
Other than technological know-how, which, of course is important, what qualities/traits/personality do you seek for a Director of IT.
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5 Answers
Hi Timothy.
This is really a delicate area to address for most company' that need to hire the right IT manager or CIO. Ideally you want some one that fits into the company culture and can get things done effectively. Its important that a company really knows what it needs from IT specifically and can impower IT to align itself with the company's business strategy. A big problem I have seen with a lot of clients is that the executive team aligns their corporate strategy with thier business goals and then expects IT to define the majic potion that will make that happen. You need someone with a business vision to marry the co.s strategy with what is possible from a technology perspective. So its important to have someone with strong communication and colaboration skills, business vision, technology expertise, project management, and a good feel for finanacial management. The bottom line is can they plan, execute and deliver when they say they can?
Firstly I look for generic business understanding, do they really understand what you are trying to achieve? Because all the IT literacy in the world won't get you to where you want to be, unless they can read the map.
Secondly I look for strong project management and resilience, the demands on IT departments are huge in today's business environment, the ability to generate and stick to a road map for service delivery which balances need and capability is of vital importance to success.
Thirdly it's inter-personal skills, not just the ability to communicate ideas in a non-technical manner, but the capacity to deliver effective working relationships and the ability to be assertive in the right situations.
Get those and you're on your way to getting the person you want.
Thank you gentlemen. Your opinions are valued and appreciated.
I think the ability to listen and communicate well is important as one gets a lot of requirements in such a job. Additionally I would look for the ability to distribute responsibilities in an efficient manner as set limits for what can be achieved. A personal interest for both the business side as well as the technology side is always a plus. What technology they currently work with probably of less importance as that is on the move all the time. An interest for following trends is therefore more important to be able to catch at the right time the new technologies as they evolve. Should not be over aggressive on testing everything new though, as probably learned by many who introduced Vista!!
Hi Timothy,
If we assume that this individual passes on tech knowledge, then I'd be inclined to focus on their communication skills (translating tech speak into words of one syllable or less for their colleagues in other functions), I would also look at their assertiveness.
Most heads of IT come from Tech backgrounds and tend to be specialists by nature rather than managers. Coming from such a background, their greatest requirement is going to be prioritising the services their department provide and the ability to say no to a colleague is going to be critical.
Most of the Heads of IT I have seen fail, fail on this issue. They take on too much work and don't prioritise. The manager who shouts loudest gets their IT problem fixed first, while the IT manager wastes away from working longer hours to cover up.
The ability to be a manager is more important in this role, than their technical skills. Consider his/her staff to be the resource, the head of IT's role is to manage the resource. First of all, that resource is human and people management skills will be critical to managing them.
Within a few weeks he/she should have picked up enough to know the critical tech issues and who among their staff are trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Then you can watch the sparks fly. If you don't see any, consider it a potentially poor hire, or a wonderfully good team.
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