IT, HR and the Seat at the Table

Long, long ago, in a company far, far away there was a department that dealt with the details of staffing. We called it “Personnel.” There was a department that took care of the computers. We called it “MIS.”

Today those two departments have morphed into HR and IT, but there’s a significant difference in their relative statures in most organizations. IT is seen as a proven driver of competitive advantage. HR, often, is not.

One reason is that IT had a “sexy” period where every business thought it needed state-of-the-art information services to compete. Another, more substantive, reason is that the business case for information technology can usually be made using financial measures over a short time frame. There’s the stuff of magic about it. HR’s contribution, on the other hand, often doesn’t show up for years or decades and is hard to measure.

There are lots of similarities, though. Both IT and HR are essentially staff functions. Both began life under the Chief Financial Officer. Both get a lot of disrespect. Compare the classic “Why we hate HR” article from Fast Company with the equally classic “IT doesn’t matter” article from the Harvard Business Review.

The fact is that you aren’t considered strategically important simply because you are the part of your organization most concerned with a strategically important asset, be it information or talent. You must make a strategic contribution to be seen as strategically important.

IT has done a better job of that than HR has done, so you can learn something about making the case for HR as a strategic player by reviewing how some IT people have turned the trick. A great place to start your review is an article from Strategy + Business titled “Helping the CIO Lead.” It’s by Charles Feld, former CIO of Frito-Lay, who lays out some specific techniques that worked for him in the IT world and can be adapted to the talent management world.  Here’s the core of the article in one telling quote.

“Companies have tried taking their best technicians and putting them in charge of IT. That has worked, but only in some cases. They’ve also tried taking the best business executives and putting them in charge, and that has been spotty, at best. There is no simple solution. World-class CIOs must excel at the intersection of business and IT. In other words, they must become true renaissance leaders.”

Ready to become a renaissance leader?

Wally Bock

Wally Bock is a coach, a writer and President of Three Star Leadership.