Being part of a global organization, I have IT staff located around the world.   I’ve always struggled to connect with this globally scattered organization as it is just too hard to get everywhere and still have a life.   A year and half ago, I started a blog inside the company on our wiki platform.   This communication channel has transformed how I communicate with my organization and others around the world.   Let me give you some examples:

  1. I’ve announced the start of our IT Strategic Planning process and we’ve post drafts for anyone to see and comment on.  All were invited to give us input.
  2. I’ve talked about critical issues like business continuity planning, Green IT coordination, electronic security and many other topics.  I’ve used the channel to share what and why.
  3. Values have been discussed numerous times.   Trust is a big one.
  4. Lots of talk about collaboration and highlighting what that means and where we are getting traction with better collaboration.
  5. Recognize people who have accomplished something important.   Perhaps a new certification, or a patent or a great new result on some project.   It is great to recognize people who’ve done great things!
  6. One of the teams in a partner organization made some great use of tools we provided.  I got to highlight that team and their work.   I’ve been able to connect with lots of folks outside of IT.

To do a blog, you’ve got to 1) have things to write about and 2) find a voice to talk about these topics.   If you are in IT where you might be involved in a security discussion, followed by some network management discussion, followed by mobile computing, followed by a dialog with a vendor, etc. etc. in just a single day, then you have many things you can write about.    Then all you have to do is find a voice.   You find a voice by just starting and finding it.

I think that CIOs need to communicate a lot.