In July 2008, the Center for CIO Leadership launched a comprehensive
survey with the goal of determining how CIOs worldwide assess themselves
in four competencies that comprise the core skill set of the strategic
CIO.
The four competencies—leadership, business strategy and process,
innovation and growth, and organization and talent management—are
based on a detailed qualitative study conducted early in 2008. Designed
to uncover the competencies that CIOs need in order to perform as true
strategic partners in their enterprises, the competency model comprised
by these four elements constitutes a core pillar of the Center’s research
program. The results will provide the basis for future education and content
development initiatives, in accord with the Center’s mission of advancing
the CIO profession.
The self-assessments are crucial to an understanding of the roles that CIOs
can and must play as their enterprises confront challenges on a global
scale. Not only are companies of all sizes faced with the effects of globalization
itself, but they must contend with pervasive, Web-based computing,
mass collaboration and the impact of the worldwide financial crisis. These
circumstances present CIOs with exciting and perhaps unprecedented opportunities
to demonstrate their value to their organizations’ future growth
and success.
The results of the 2008 survey present a positive picture of CIOs’ readiness
to help their enterprises succeed, and they shed abundant light on CIOs’
diverse range of capabilities to match their readiness to lead.
Overall, the results suggest that CIOs feel confident to step into strategic
leadership roles. From the survey findings, it is apparent that CIOs see
themselves very clearly as leaders in their companies and believe they are
aligning more closely with key business objectives. In addition, the survey
results show that CIOs are evolving their skills in change management—a
key attribute given the degrees of transformational change that many
CEOs believe necessary for the long-term success of their companies.
Their survey responses also indicate that CIOs are emerging as leaders of
innovation and bringing those ideas to the table, putting their end-to-end
knowledge of the business to use in thinking through new technologybased
opportunities.