To play a strategic role in any organization, an executive needs time to think, but this can seem like a luxury for CIOs who historically faced schedules filled with fire extinguishing and emergency response. Taking time to think must be written into the executive's schedule and defended, advises consultant Patty Azzarello in a post at CIOUpdate.

You may feel guilty about taking time to think because you've generally been snowed under with activity, but Azzarello points out that "your job as a leader is to build capability underneath you so your team can handle more work and you can apply yourself to solving higher-order problems."

To get off the "act and react" treadmill, you may have to actually hide for a couple hours at a stretch, she says. CIOs need to make sure that their team can take care of deployments, application development and deliverables so they can come up with ways to improve strategies, programs and processes.

"Why not put your IM status for an hour or two as 'working on a deadline' or 'on a call' or 'be back at 2PM'? If you tell people to expect that you will be away from IM working on strategic projects a few times a week, no one will hold it against you," she advises.

If you have established a reputation as a workhorse who is available around the clock, you may get respect but not necessarily a promotion, Azzarello cautions. "If you work tirelessly 24×7 to accomplish a goal or meet a deadline once in awhile that is okay, and sometimes necessary," she writes. "But if you work tireless 24×7 for five years you will be stuck."

For more:
- see Patty Azzarello's post at CIOUpdate

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