Joined-up Enterprise - that's the CEO's job
- Details
- Created on 30 July 2008
- Written by Steve Burrows
In a recent Neil Ward-Dutton reminds us that IT cannot change the nature of the business. Absolutely right. Business Engineers and Enterprise Architects like me can provide the vision, strategy, systems and processes to enable radical change in the way a business operates and functions, but of themselves the systems and the vision they are designed to implement are impotent. In order to change an organisation must desire to change, and this desire mush be created and driven down by the CEO. If the leader does not lead the people along the pathway to enlightenment the people wont get there by themselves. That's what leaders are for, we employ managers to look after the humdrum of daily business, consultants and strategists to shine the light on the pathway to improvement, but ultimately change comes from the top: no leadership = no change.
A small point, but one that is missed by far too many business leaders - investing in all the IT and systems stuff in the world will achieve next to nothing unless the desire to change is inculcated throught the business, and in order for that to happen the CEO must endorse, promote, foster, and drive change, be seen to do it, and lead the people through it. Great CEOs understand this, but far too many seem to think that once they've called in the IT gurus their role is finished, that they don't need to be concerned with the nitty-gritty detail of how the change will affect people and the way they work, and guess what - for these CEOs change doesn't work. Sorry guys - your business isn't declining because of some systems put in by an IT guru - it's failing because of you.
