When IT leaders discuss digital transformation they tend to regale their audience with tales of modernized legacy systems and lessons about change management.
Not Keith Golden, a veteran CIO who says the key to completing successful large-scale technology projects starts with demonstrating a high emotional quotient, also known as EQ.
A high EQ means exercising self-awareness and empathy to navigate complex social situations and manage stress. This, in turn, fosters healthy relationships and loyal employees.
The reason high EQ is critical: Overhauling ERPs and other enterprise-wide implementations are more or less known quantities, says Golden, who recently exited his role as CIO of RGP after steering the professional services firm through a digital transformation.
“The challenge with these initiatives — they’re very big, they’re very labor intensive, they have a lot of different players cross-functionally — is, how do you get everybody through a project like that in one piece?” says Golden.
Ushering in major tech changes at RGP
Such thinking was central to Project Phoenix, which RGP hired Golden to lead in 2022.
RGP, which specializes in embedding consultants in enterprises to execute major technology initiatives, had already embarked on the ambitious modernization effort to become a more digitally focused enterprise.
Naturally, the cloud was a linchpin of the strategy. Armed with a cross-functional team of more than 100 staff from across the company, Golden migrated RGP the company’s ERP from Microsoft Dynamics GP on-premises software to Microsoft Dynamics 365 in the cloud.
Golden also implemented Workday for human capital management, Salesforce for customer service, Avature for application tracking, and Leah (formerly ContractPodAi) for contract lifecycle management.
Golden stitched these applications together with an integration software layer hosted in Microsoft Azure that provided front-door access for the company’s 3,600 staff, which support 90% of Fortune 100 companies RGP counts as customers.
Leading with high EQ during a digital transformation
Golden emphasized the human quotient throughout the three-plus years he led Phoenix.
This entailed helping his IT staff navigate the myriad stressors they experienced as they tackled greater responsibilities.
Although Golden knew he couldn’t control how each team member internalized experiences, he could control how he responded. IT leaders either put the individual or the company first. Golden chose his people, which helped align with the company’s best interests.
“These are people with families and you’re asking them to work 60-plus hours a week,” Golden says. “It’s about more than technology delivery; it’s about keeping the team appreciated and productive.”
Some people may have illnesses or other impactful life events that impact their work obligations. Accounting for this, Golden remained keenly aware of how team members’ workloads might have to be adjusted over time and ensured that his team knew that they were supported and that their work was covered.
“People can’t run at 110% all the time and you adjust to that,” Golden says.
Golden also saw his role as something of a “relief valve.” When his senior executive team expressed displeasure about an aspect of Phoenix, he absorbed their ire so that his team didn’t have to — a fact for which they expressed appreciation and gratitude.
“I was the buffer between my most senior executives and my team,” Golden explains. “My team loved that.” So too did his executive team, many of whom didn’t have the time to deal with issues among the rank-and-file staff while attending to the interests of investors.
Sometimes it can take only one or two people leaving to throw a wrench into the delicate operations that characterize Big Bang projects. Among the details Golden is most proud of is how he was able to keep the team intact during the demanding circumstances Project Phoenix presented. And not just the core team, but the IT organization as a whole — a testament to the loyalty he inspired by leading with empathy and kindness.
This is no trivial feat, Golden notes. “IT people tend to have a stiff upper lip,” he says. “They’ll take a lot of punishment and then they’ll quit without telling you so you’ve got to stay close.”
With Phoenix in flight, here’s what’s next
Now that Phoenix has taken wing, RGP is poised to take advantage of a future increasingly influenced by AI solutions. While RGP began adopting and testing generative AI and agentic AI solutions under Golden, he says the company is already taking steps to extend this work.
For instance, RGP is shifting its data to Microsoft Fabric, a data lakehouse that will provide a solid foundation for the reporting and analytics that will support the company’s future AI efforts.
AI governance will continue to be critical for this implementation, as RGP must be careful custodians of its business data and that of its clients.
More broadly, Golden says that while IT leaders may not be able to predict emergent AI tools and technologies, having their data house in order is critical. That way they don’t have to spend a year getting data cleaned and prepped before rolling out an AI implementation — only to see the market has shifted to something else.
Ultimately, to Golden, tech is still tech and tools are just tools. When it comes to business, people must come first.
“I’ve still got to satisfy the people at the top, but I want to do it in a humane way for my team and in a way that I can look at myself in the mirror,” Golden says.
Golden will share more about his leadership experience during the panel “Real Leaders, Real Challenges: Championing Tech-Enabled Business Transformation,” at the CIO 100 Leadership Live Los Angeles conference on April 16.
Read More from This Article: High EQ drives digital transformation at RGP
Source: News