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May 10, 2004 (Computerworld) -- Q&A: Mary Finlay
Title: Deputy CIO
Company: Partners HealthCare System Inc., Boston
What she does: Heads IT for a group of 10 hospitals employing a total of 1,100 IT professionals. A 2001 graduate of the Society for Information Management's Regional Leadership Forum, Finlay is a firm believer in the critical importance of the soft skills the forum focuses on. Since the RLF was launched in 1992, more than 1,200 IT professionals have graduated and many of them are now CIOs at top organizations, including Cigna Corp. and Sharp Electronics Corp.
How do SIM's Regional Leadership Forums work? A forum meets every six weeks for two days, over a period of about eight months. Throughout that time, we read about 35 books focused on a range of topics. Speakers come in to facilitate peer-to-peer discussions. The main purpose of the forum is to take a holistic view of leadership. You spend very little time talking about technology. It's more about the skills you need as an IT leader, which range from thinking about IT governance and measuring value to negotiations and softer skills, such as building relationships with the executive team, communications and professional networking.
Mary Finlay, deputy CIO at Partners HealthCare System Inc.
How about managing people? What an IT person wants from a manager is to know that the manager cares about their success and professional development. At the bare minimum, I have my directors ask all of their reports what they want to do next and how the director can help them get there. That question should be integral to ongoing discussions with direct reports. If a person feels a manager doesn't care about them as a person and a professional, that person will leave the company.
What do you consider the most important nontechnical skills that IT leaders should develop? Relationship skills, including how to build relationships with your functional counterparts and others on the executive team, and communications skills. You need to write well and speak well. One of the things they had us do in the Regional Leadership Forum is prepare and give our "elevator speech." That's the speech you give when the CEO gets in the elevator and you have three minutes to convey what you're doing. Always have that elevator speech in your back pocket.
—Julia King
Worth Noting
People don't leave a company, they leave a manager. The costs for an employee who resigns due to interpersonal relationship problems are extensive; some studies indicate that the costs are up to three times the departing employee's annual salary. In addition, there are other costs involved, such as hiring and training for the replacement position.
Keeping the Peace
Conflict management is a huge issue for all managers but especially for IT managers, since most IT work is performed by teams, says Craig Runde, director of new program development at the Leadership Development Institute at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla. "It's mostly a matter of knowing how to deal with differences," says Runde.
Eckerd researchers surveyed 300 managers, their bosses, peers and direct reports and came up with a "very strong statistical correlation" between qualities associated with leaders and various constructive behaviors in dealing with conflict.
"Things like putting yourself in the other person's shoes and reaching out to people in a conflict [rather than avoiding it] are both constructive behaviors associated with leadership," Runde says. Destructive behaviors include displaying anger, demeaning others and retaliating. "To the extent that you want to build leaders, one area you have to consider seriously is making sure managers have effective conflict management skills," Runde says. In IT, he adds, "it's fair to say that a lot of people are quite strongly task-focused. As a consequence, sometimes the interpersonal effects of their actions may not be their primary focus."
—Julia King
Soft Skills for IT: Online Resources
NUMBERS CRUNCH: Workplace Relationship Issues
50%
Percentage of employees who report missing time from work due to rude workplace behavior directed toward them
42%
Percentage of time the average manager spends dealing with interpersonal conflicts
50%
Percentage by which poorly managed workgroups are less productive
44%
Percentage by which poorly managed workgroups are less profitable
Sources: www.workrelationships.com, www.badbossology.com; 2004
I have been a victim of workplace bullying.
BASE: 418 workers polled online between November 2002 and March 2003
I have observed someone else being bullied in the workplace.
BASE: 417 workers
Source: The Business Research Lab LLC, Houston
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