C-Suite Blind Spot – Have Non-Traditional Roles Gained Greater Importance in Enterprise Strategy

Blind Spot

There has been the perception that CIO’s and CHRO’s remain in their personal silos and are oftentimes not included in the process when it involves strategic enterprise strategy development. A 2018 study by Deloitte’s found that only 29% of CEO’s believed that technology leaders within their organizations should be involved in the enterprise business strategy development. Past articles by McKinsey & Company and others have pointed out that many corporations view HR as merely administrative, with little or no strategic impact.

Flash forward to August 2020, COVID19, introduction of the hybrid workforce, widespread global cybersecurity threats, potential skills gap, and the explosion of digital and data importance. Have CIO and CHRO roles gained in strategic importance? Do technology and human capital management deserve, or get, a seat at the enterprise strategy development table? Will they now be included as an integral part of this process?

Illumination

Prior to the pandemic, the 23rd Annual PwC Global CEO Survey conducted in January 2020 ranked cyber security threats and the availability of key skills or a skills gap as the 4th and 6th most serious threats to corporations in 2020. Add in the disruption and deeply impactful nature of the past 150 days; including CIOs and CHROs as an integral part of this discussion, deserves some consideration.

The effect that the current climate has on how companies deal with data management, streamlined and transparent communication, and the global workforce has made it necessary for senior leaders to rethink the positioning of the CIO and CHRO human capital in enterprise strategy development conversation. As the C-Suite emerges from the pandemic to embrace the new short and longer term “new normal” CIO and CHRO will provide valuable partnerships in determining a road map for facing current challenges. Additionally, these partnerships can be core to driving function, growth and evolution of the organization.

CIOs & CHRO’s can help answer the following questions in developing the strategic plan:

· What will the organization look like in 1, 3 or 5 years?

· How are organizational design and change management handled?

· Are the necessary tools and human capital accessible to handle the transformation and evolution?

· How are the extended cybersecurity challenges of a large remote workforce managed?

· How are metrics monitored on remote productivity?

Most of my accomplishments have been win or lose situations. For me, second place was not an option. My key to success was to assemble a diverse team of specialized individuals who were experts in their fields. Together, we were able to develop strategies that helped me to identity, address and eliminate my “blind spots”. Executives may want to approach their blind spots similarly. When winning or losing are the only two choices, build a team and choose to win.