Establishing credibility throughout your IT group is a challenge, but it is a prerequisite to establishing credibility and influence with the top executives. Be prepared to approach credibility-building with "a strong heart and a tough stomach, because your ego is likely going to take a bruising," advises consultant and author Marc J. Schiller.

You do not need your IT organization to love you, but you do need your people to believe in your vision and strategy and be able to articulate them, Schiller writes in a post at CIOInsight. While that may seem like a given, it isn't, according to his research. Out of 150 IT professionals he queried over the past year and a half, 70 percent were unable to articulate the IT strategy and vision. More than half did not think there was an overall IT plan, and more than half said the IT leader was not concentrating on the right issues for the business.

To gain some perspective, Schiller suggests that you think back to your own experience prior to becoming an IT leader. What was your opinion of the CIO's ideas and plans? He said he "can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times when a senior executive (IT or otherwise) really knew how his/her people felt about their ideas."

The good news is that a lack of credibility can be remedied quickly. Often it's a function of poor communication rather than lack of faith. "Most IT leaders simply do not communicate with their people regularly. They don't share with their people the key information necessary to sustain their credibility. Once they do, things turn around really quickly," he writes.

For more:
- see Marc J. Schiller's post at CIOInsight

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