Kennedy believes that the time to give your implicit power a test drive is shortly after joining an organization, when the honeymoon period is still fresh. He says that at the Office of State Revenue the CEO had taken a personal interest in Kennedy's appointment, and recognized that IT was an important ally in bringing change to the organization. "I had IT staff who were ready for a change but weren't sure if it was good or bad. That environment set me up for good implicit power. In your honeymoon period you've got latitude and you can make the most of that by picking targets, and then that supports your ability to grow your implicit power."
However, he warns that implicit power is more vulnerable than explicit power. "Implicit power is lost far more easily. If you lose credibility you will lose implicit power very quickly. Your explicit power you will start to lose also, but there is a structure and a process around that so the loss is slower." And therein lies an opportunity for the CIO who has lost implicit power: use the lag time to quickly rebuild your power base or, alternatively, start job hunting.
Power Team
Delegation is one of the great props of power.
Suncorp's Kogekar believes his approach to power and governance can be cascaded through his 800- to 900-strong IT team. "When you create a structure there is some legitimate power conferred and expectations of performance. There are decision-making limits within each role."
Once one of his team is bedded into a role and seems to be performing well, Kogekar backs off and lets them run their business. He has also implemented a committee of peers in his team on which he has conferred some decision-making ability. "They check up on each other," he says.
That level of delegation is imperative, according to Kogekar, who stresses that this is not a "single person" job. "This is you and your team," he says. That said, he recognizes that senior roles "cast a long shadow; if you use your power then you can have a significant cultural effect on the organization".
When Issa joined IAG three years ago he found an IT organization that had seven levels of management before you got to someone who actually did any work. "Now there are four layers between me and the programmers or analysts - team managers, development managers, the [seven] people who report to me, then the CIO." And he ensures there is a close link between business and IT. "A lot of people who work for me sit into the business matrix. Some CIOs might feel uncomfortable with that, that they report with a line to the business, and a dotted line report to me."
But with those IT staff apprised of the five-year road map, and the technical road map that supports it, Issa is confident that his team out in the business will make appropriate strategic decisions. "If it's running well the business is taking ownership but at the same time the strategic direction is being followed. That gives me more power because the business is taking more ownership."
CIOs such as Karen Bard at Santos also identify the important intersection of power and leadership. "I look at my success and the way I get my job accomplished and it's more about leadership to get people to join with me. Ultimately I exert power where differences of opinion or where governance is at stake," she says.
Placing her at an advantage is her history in the business. "I came out of the business so people are willing to open up with me because I've been there and done that. I have credibility with them and can turn the IT language to the frank language of our business." This bolsters her power base with the business, she believes.
Bard manages her team through delegation; by setting clear lines of responsibility. "I tell them: 'Here are the lines, and I expect you to take care of everything below this line, and anything above this line I want to be alerted to because of the impact on other areas'. When things are going pear-shaped I wrest back the control."
Most CIOs believe that demonstrating leadership, both in their team and across the business, does prop their power base. Others, who have to navigate more autocratic executive hierarchies and report to executives other than the CEO, believe that their attempts to lead any part of the organization risk being squashed at first base and feel less empowered.
At Centrelink, with a team of around 1600 people in the IT function, Wadeson has to lead - it is physically not possible to micro-manage that number of people. "That's a big group and I don't sit here all day contemplating the big issues in IT. You don't have all these technical guys and then do it yourself."
Wadeson's style is to put the right people in the right roles and let them get on with it. "You need to have a light touch; I don't want to over-manage them." However, he says that there are times when "technology tribes" emerge that want to do something their way - because that is the way they want to do it, not necessarily because it is the best way - and in that situation he does have to take a more hands-on approach and bring the focus back to the best for the business not the best for the team.
The role that Wadeson describes is that of an IT ringmaster - he identifies what is needed, where to find that talent, and then coordinates it.
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