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EDUCAUSE 2000

This session explores strategies for getting started in a new senior-level IT position, including making friends with key stakeholders, meeting with constituents, reorganizing staff, and working with the governance structure. It also covers tips for learning the institutional culture, building a relationship with your boss, and managing budgets and expectations.

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EDUCAUSE 2000

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  1. EDUCAUSE 2000 Wednesday, October 11, 2000 10:30:00 AM to 11:15:00 AM Pearl

  2. New Beginnings II The Realities of A New Senior-Level IT Position

  3. Getting Started: Making Friends

  4. Befriend Special Administrative, Faculty, & Student Leaders • Start early, even before you arrive • Look beyond the obvious • Identify and seek out complainers • What to do • Listen, listen, listen • Share preliminary thoughts • Follow up on some suggestions • Visit informally, frequently

  5. Getting Started: Meet with Constituents

  6. Meet with Constituents • Focus on customer, not IT • Focus on partnerships • within the university • external to the university • What to do • LISTEN to complaints/expectations • share some of your thoughts/plans • encourage communication/collaboration • follow up with action/communication • Prepare: have a “stump speech”

  7. Getting Started: Interview/Reorganize Staff

  8. Interview/Reorganize Staff • Decide what is practical (given other priorities and size of staff) • Start with the obvious: your direct reports • If practical, schedule time with everyone in first 6 few months • Get to know some personal things, as information is offered • Learn some history of organizational structure & behavior, but don't get hung up on it • Unless there are very special and/or serious problems, go slow with re-organization

  9. Working with the Governance Structure The Board of Trustees: Friend or Foe?

  10. The Board of Trustees: Friend or Foe? • What is the purpose of the BOT IT committee? • How does the BOT IT committee function? • How can the CIO work with the BOT IT committee most effectively?

  11. Working with the Governance Structure The Ubiquitous and Dangerous “Computer Committee”

  12. The Ubiquitous and Dangerous “Computer Committee” • What is the history of the Computer Committee? • What is the purpose of the Computer Committee? • How can the CIO work with the Computer Committee most effectively?

  13. Working with the Governance Structure Students: The Neglected Majority

  14. Students:The Neglected Majority • Is there any “official” student interest in IT issues? • What are the options for representing student interests? • How can the CIO work effectively with the the student governance structure?

  15. Preparing for Success Learn Your New Institutional Culture

  16. Learn Your New Institutional Culture • Participate in ceremonies, receptions • Look for prototype cases to work through “the system” to understand how decisions are made • Solicit several perspectives on relevant issues • Ask: Who decided that or How was that decided? Observe nuances in responses • Believe in Heisenberg (you will be lobbied)

  17. Preparing for Success Build a Relationship with Your “Boss”

  18. Build a Relationship with Your “Boss” • Research and discover just who your boss really is (there may be confusion) • Interview your boss very early in your tenure; ask lots of questions • Develop a "stump" speech; try it on your boss • See what flies, what flops • Become clear about what and how much communication your boss wants from you • precisely determine (as much as possible) your level of autonomy • remain loyal at all times

  19. Preparing for Success Learn Unit and College Budgets

  20. Learn Unit & College Budget • Get to know (interview) institutional budget, accounting, and payroll officers • Investigate financial ethos of the institution • Immediately explore and discover unit's financial strengths and weaknesses • If practical, interview other units' budget managers for their experiences & results

  21. Preparing for Success Setting and Managing Expectations

  22. Setting and Managing Expectations • Minimize one-on-one meetings • Delegate effectively • Set expectations early, by example, about how you will do business

  23. Setting Your Agenda Identify Difficult Issues and Problems

  24. Identify Difficult Issues/Problems • Hint: they aren't the technical ones • Listen to key groups, individuals & IT staff • Determine priorities • Communicate problem list (or parts of it) to key constituencies • Follow up with action plans for key issues and "quick wins"

  25. Setting Your Agenda Your Role as Change Agent

  26. Your Role as Change Agent • IT as Change Agent is a given • What elements of campus culture inhibit change • Establish exemplary procedures • Work with staff to implement • Anticipate some change in staff • Be prepared to take arrows,  & 

  27. Summary • Pragmatic problem solving approaches • Different approaches for different places • Relationship Management (external and internal) • Budget Management • Expectation Management

  28. Questions?

  29. Order

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