Restructuring the IT Team

By Courtney Macavinta

In many sectors of the economy, business is either booming in the new year or the primary goal is to do just that: grow. At the same time, in the wake of mergers and acquisitions, organizations are refocusing and reconfiguring their operations, workforce, and goals. This business environment means having to plan, implement, and manage new enterprise-wide IT projects. For CIOs this growth also means having to retain veteran staff, recruit fresh IT talent and restructure existing teams to deliver on their organization's growth strategy.

Case in point: Of the 1,400 CIOs surveyed for the latest Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, 35% said "business growth" was the reason they plan to make new hires. And the IT sector has experienced a 14% hiring increase, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2001, the specialized staffing firm reports.

"The economy has picked up and that makes retention of staff a huge issue," says Brian Gabrielson, vice president of Robert Half Technology. "There is still an element of catching up from the slower times, such as IT projects that were put on hold being started again."

Experts agree that CIOs need to maximize their most important resource -- people -- as part of their mandate to foster their entire organization's business success versus just keeping watch over IT projects. In other words, in most organizations these days a well-managed and stable IT team is critical to executing key growth strategies. Here's how experts say CIOs can meet their organization's missions while retaining or restructuring their team:

• Take inventory of the company culture Before a CIO can help recruit and retain employees, it's important to assess how current staff is being treated and developed. The work environment should also be assessed as well. In a November 2006 Gartner Inc, report, Here We Go Again: A CIO's Guide to Employee Retention and Engagement, the firm recommends that CIOs "Get a grip on the question 'What is it really like to work here?' Uncover the issues, attitudes and concerns through informal discussions, cross-sectional meetings, and personal conversations with managers, individual contributors, and engagement surveys." For example, Gartner suggests that CIOs talk with lower and middle managers who are often most affected by turnover to get their ideas for how to make improvements.
• Value and invest in what you have Before bringing extra hands on deck to tackle an expanding workload, CIOs should assess whether there are perhaps some opportunities for their existing team. For example, CIOs can ask employees how they want to grow their careers or skill sets. Do they want to go into management? Would they rather stay in research and development? "Find out from your staff what's important to them," Gabrielson says. "We think it's always the all-mighty dollar but it could be more than that." In addition to offering staff more training and professional development opportunities, CIOs can help their teams gain business acumen skills -- knowledge they'll need to climb the ladder in the new IT environment.
• Bring in necessary reinforcements Once the business strategy is set and the subsequent IT needs are clear, it's important for CIOs to focus on recruiting new talent to relieve hard-working staff of the fatigue of tighter financial times and to create room for existing staff to do new things. CIOs also need to know how to best attract people to their organization. "Whether it's a strong economy or not, constantly review where you're at competitively in the market in terms of salaries and benefits," Gabrielson says. "Focus on your strengths and why someone would want to work at your company -- maybe you have some of the brightest people in the industry or maybe you're stable -- promote that when it comes to your recruiting techniques."
• Reconfigure staff wisely Whether a CIO needs to reconfigure the IT team due to a merger, or to tackle new projects, the task at hand can seem overwhelming without best practices in place, according to the Gartner report Workforce Reconfiguration: Eight Steps to Get You Started. For starters, Gartner recommends that CIOs should clarify the purpose of any reconfiguration plan and the changes required. Then CIOs should define milestones, consequences and incentives behind any actions that will be taken. Next, it's essential to identify who will be impacted by the reorganization, take stock of people's skill sets, and assess what skills will be needed as far as five years out to accomplish the company's goals.

Despite the challenges that growth brings, when it comes to retaining and attracting talented IT staff, Gabrielson says overall the good news for CIOs is that "it's a great time to be in IT. We saw a lot of folks get out of the business and a lot of them are now coming back."

Courtney Macavinta is a Silicon Valley-based business and technology writer. Her articles have appeared in CNET News, Business 2.0, Red Herring, Wired News, and The Washington Post. She also is managing editor of  the online program The Online Family.