Go from the "IT guy" to trusted business partner If you're in IT, quite a lot is expected of you and your team: be technologically advanced, business-minded, customer-focused, and financially astute, all at once. In the face of unforgiving competition, rampant globalization, and demanding customers, business leaders are discovering that it's absolutely essential to have a strong, active partner keeping a firm hand on the decisions and strategies surrounding information technology. Unleashing the Power of IT provides tangible, hard-hitting, real-world strategies, techniques, and approaches that will immediately transform your IT workforce and culture, presenting the new mindset, skill set, and tool set necessary for IT leaders to thrive in today's challenging environment. Includes new discussion on social media Offers online access to the IT Skill Builder Competency Assessment Tool Features top ten lists of tips and techniques, proven frameworks, and practical guidance to help you launch and sustain your IT culture change and professional development initiatives Profiling several world-class organizations that have implemented the principles in this book, Unleashing the Power of IT reveals the best practices to get you on the path to implementation.

Table of Contents:
Foreword IX Preface XIII Acknowledgments XVII About The Contributing Authors XIX Chapter 1 Creating Your Twenty-First-Century Workforce and Culture 1 Core Skills for Success 2 Assess Your Core Competencies 3 Who Will Benefit Most? 4 Getting the Most out of This Book 5 Chapter 2 Transforming Your IT Team 7 How to Make This Transition: Learn to Think Differently 10 Five Critical Success Factors That Enable IT Organizational Excellence 14 Conclusion 21 Chapter 3 Driving Change with Intent 23 Defining Terms 24 The Components of Change 25 Achieving Commitment Is Essential for Sustaining Change 25 Change Takes a Community 28 Clarity Precedes Activity 31 Messaging the Change 34 Conclusion 36 Chapter 4 Building a Client-Focused IT Culture 39 What Good Service Looks Like 41 Service Skills for a New Mind-Set 43 Strategies for Developing a Service Mentality 50 Conclusion 53 Chapter 5 Evolving into the Role of Consultant 55 What Is the Consultant’s Role? 57 Why Do I Need to Become More Consultative? 59 Learning to Change Hats: The Four Roles of IT 60 How Do I Become a Consultant? 61 How Difficult Can This Be? 67 Conclusion 68 Chapter 6 Negotiating: Getting What You Want without Damaging the Relationship 71 Position versus Interest Negotiations 72 Three Steps and Three Key Factors 74 Applying the Key Factors to the Second Step: Information Exchange 80 The Final Step: Now Comes the Bargaining 81 Conclusion 82 Chapter 7 Sharpening Your Political Savvy 85 Picturing Yourself as a Political Player 86 IT and Politics: Historically Strange Bedfellows 87 A Five-Step Process for Developing Political Awareness 89 Developing Political Skills 92 Conclusion 96 Chapter 8 Managing Projects: The Science and the Art 99 The Building Blocks of Project Management 101 Structuring Projects for Success 104 Developing Plans That Work 105 Managing to Successful Completion 107 The Four Tenets of the Project Manager’s Mind-Set 110 Conclusion 114 Chapter 9 Changing Your Requirements-Gathering Mind-Set 117 The What, Not the How 119 The Importance of the Interview 121 Communicating through Pictures 124 Writing a Solid Requirements Document 126 Conclusion 127 Chapter 10 Managing the Vendor Relationship 129 Both Sides of the Coin 130 Preparing for a New Role 131 Getting a Fresh Start 133 The Seven Phases of Managing Vendor Partnerships 135 Conclusion 145 Chapter 11 Marketing IT’s Value 147 Market to the IT Department 149 Build Partnerships 151 Differentiate Yourself 152 Establish Credibility 153 Create Product and Service Awareness 154 Develop a Formal Plan 155 Determine Your Success 156 Conclusion 157 Chapter 12 Creating the Social Organization 159 The Social Business Framework 161 Conclusion 170 Chapter 13 O&A Clients in Action: Stories from the Trenches 173 St. Luke’s Health System: Transformation through a Newly Consultative IT Function 174 Marriott: Success Enhanced through a Transformed IT-Business Relationship 178 Bowdoin College: Trust in IT Creates a Culture of Change 182 Conclusion 186 Chapter 14 Moving IT up the Maturity Curve: IT Talent Management 187 Gaining a Core Competency Mind-Set 188 Moving up the IT Maturity Curve 189 Talent Management 2.0 191 A Look at the Best of the Best 193 Conclusion 195 Access Your Free Trial of It Skill Builder 197 Bibliography 199 Index 203