Managing the talent side of IT is a balancing act.
Taking into consideration the strategic plan, current needs, capacity and maintenance of business – matching the right skill sets to meet challenges is no small task. We are constantly trying to, with the same set of resources and evolving responsibilities, move IT forward to meet the future needs of the organization it will become as well as the organization it is.
As projects and goals progress, and new opportunities pose new challenges, we re-prioritize our work to respond to new requirements, re-align roles to meet new needs, and redesign our organization to support our plan for the future.
When any position in OIT becomes available, I ask the SLT member to create a position justification that includes metrics and rationale. We take the time to look closely at the workload and how it may have changed. Keeping everything mentioned earlier in mind, we ask what will happen if we do not replace this position? Are there other needs in the unit that we should consider that are higher priority?
For example, if an SLT member has an open position and has been saying we need a new position for something else, I challenge them to stack those priorities in rank order. The results vary. Sometimes the position is replaced outright. Other times the position is reimagined. There are cases where that position goes away entirely, allowing a new position to open up elsewhere.
When we are making a big shift–for example–building an organization focused on managing the IT investment portfolio for the University or building an integrations-focused team, sometimes we need to add resources to help build out that new capability. For IT stewardship, we need someone who wakes up every morning thinking about not only delivering on project success (i.e., timeline, scope, delivery) but also to thinking about the holistic view of the broader portfolio of IT investments–both human and dollar. Like any other process or new technology, we’ll need to add that focus to be successful at stewardship.
We benefit from collecting perspectives from across IT@ND–so if you see an inefficiency and can picture a better way, speak up! If there’s an opportunity to make our teams stronger, we want to hear your insight.
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Yours in ND,
Jane