Great IT Leaders Have To Be Made, Execs Say

Computerworld - PALM DESERT, Calif. -- To Kay Palmer, promoting techies into management jobs solely because they have a neat appearance and some people skills isn't the best way to pick the IT leaders of tomorrow. "Often, you lose your best technician and only get a so-so manager," she said last week.

Kay Palmer, CIO at J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. Image Credit: Asa Mathat

Palmer, CIO at J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. in Lowell, Ark., led the development of an IT management training program that has been adopted by the trucking firm's human resources department for use in other parts of the business. "We really did end up with better managers as a result of this," Palmer said at Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference.

But for many companies, the recruitment and development of future IT leaders remains a back-burner concern, according to conference attendees.

"As long as tech organizations can run reasonably effectively, there is no imperative to focus on leadership development," said Jerry Bartlett, CIO at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. in Omaha. But, he added, that's a shortsighted view. "My biggest concern is that by giving short shrift [to IT leadership], there will be a lack of extraordinary leaders in the next generation," said Bartlett, who took part in a panel discussion on grooming future IT leaders.

At TD Ameritrade, Bartlett has paid out of his own budget for an 18-month program that involves a full day of management training each month and pairs trainees with executive mentors. The program requires "quite a commitment" from participants, he said.

Palmer, who spoke at the conference, said she strongly believes in surveys showing that the performance of employees is most directly correlated with the quality of their bosses, not with their salaries or corporate culture.

The program created by Palmer to identify and train future leaders from among J.B. Hunt's 340-person IT team has three parts. First, management aspirants are identified through recommendations and profiled via a battery of evaluations, such as the Myers-Briggs personality test.

Trainees are then assigned an industrial psychologist from outside the company—their "office linebacker coach," in Palmer's words—who works with them on personal development issues and assigns homework. The third phase, which is being piloted now, involves mentoring from executives who work in other parts of the company.

As part of the training, managerial candidates also take classes and engage in role-playing scenarios, often in front of actual managers. "When the senior leadership is watching, there is real risk and pressure," Palmer said.