Building Trust between Central and Business Unit IT
November 10th, 2006
If you are a large IT organization, most likely there is a central IT organization and some IT in each business unit. Usually the relationship between the two organizations is somewhat strained. Recently I was on a panel with a CIO from the DC area and he mentioned that one of the best things he had done was to have one of his reports be part of each business unit (have dotted line to the BU head of IT). This increased information flow considerably.
When I think about this problem it is similar to the GM and the Auto workers Union (UAW) settlement. GM was asking for some really tough concessions from the UAW, so they brought a UAW representative inside GM and gave him access to all the financial infromation. He was not allowed to communicate this information, but he could see how serious and real the situation was. This helped GM and UAW engage in meaningful dialog.
Another CIO I met mentioned that if Central IT and the Business Units could see what each other was doing that would go a long way to build trust. If there was some way to have autonomy but visibility that would make the organization really efficient.
Entry Filed under: Change Control
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