Why today’s CIO needs to be “multi-lingual”

CIOs are being hit by requests for everything, across every department. But this deluge mustn’t distract from the business-critical technology initiatives to drive operational excellence and business value. For the CIO, any changes must give teams a way of doing business smarter, and faster.

CIOs must sift through the noise to identify ways to automate processes and transform the way people work. It’s about investing in technology that acts as a force multiplier. Success will require CIOs to wear many hats and communicate in different ways. CIOs need a “multi-lingual” approach to communicate effectively to understand problems, determine the best course of action, and explain proposed solutions at the right level.

Every request, from everyone, all at once

The drive to digitally transform requires every team to pull in the same direction. This will lead to a self-sufficient approach where teams identify problems with their workflows to highlight inefficiencies. 

The task facing CIOs is to use these requests as the means to become the change agent that drives the organization to become a highly automated business. Automation is no longer a nice thing to have, it’s now a requirement. Growth cannot come without change, so CIOs must help every team find ways to slash toil.

CIOs must become fanatical and uncompromising in the pursuit of automation across the enterprise.

However, this pursuit will be uncomfortable for many, so a CIO’s ability to manage change and set expectations will be critical. Teams across the business must be ready to accept new ways of working – be it new processes, tools, or removing old ones. CIOs cannot be tempted to only work with those most likely to get on board with change. The CIO must take the whole business with them.

The ongoing battle of change management will require a “multi-lingual” approach. The CIO needs to issue a rallying call for everyone to work toward a common goal. This will involve finding what motivates and drives each team so they can work more towards this goal. 

The multi-lingual CIO

The modern CIO must be comfortable communicating across all levels of the organization. This means speaking the right language when engaging with different teams. CIOs must be mindful to put how they communicate on the same pedestal as ensuring requests align with business priorities. CIOs should also ensure they spend time communicating the low-impact requests and controlling the narrative over what can and can’t be changed.

A “multi-lingual” CIO builds understanding, trust, and buy-in for a shared vision – all critical components for turning IT into an innovation engine. To work towards this communication holy grail, CIOs should think about how to:

1. Proactively and consistently engage with teams: Have ongoing, open conversations with all departments about digital transformation and how AI or automation can bring positive change to their teams. Don’t just talk to IT – have honest, transparent dialogues across teams to set expectations.
2. Tailor your message depending on your audience: Explain the benefits and challenges in ways that resonate. Reassure teams the goal is to enrich roles by shifting lower-value tasks to machines, allowing people to focus on more meaningful work.
3. Carefully manage organizational change by identifying skill gaps: Provide retraining opportunities and highlight emerging roles at the human-technology intersection. Bring people along the journey to mitigate friction and backlash when rolling out new technologies.

These can help CIOs identify the gap between the hype of what the business expects from new technology and reality—and drive digital transformation to deliver key business impact from the top down.

The communication holy grail

A key challenge for the multi-lingual CIO to overcome will be dispelling the myth that machines will take human jobs. This should be countered by highlighting how machines augment roles and unlock potential. 

When speaking with technical teams, multi-lingual CIOs can have more detailed discussions on capabilities and implementation plans. It’s all about explaining how automation can fundamentally transform IT through greater self-service and reduced toil. 

Multi-lingual CIOs can also temper expectations with the C-Suite around emerging technologies by separating reality from the hype. This comes by clarifying what problem or opportunity is the target state and clarifying what is possible before making sweeping claims and changes with AI and automation.

A “multi-lingual” approach allows CIOs to secure buy-in across the enterprise, drawing a through-line from digital transformation to competitive advantage. This helps to connect the dots on how automation can uplift roles while moving the overall organization forward.

Getting people excited about automation helps with change management and opens up the door to reskilling. Machine intelligence is about empowering employees to do their best work, not replacing them entirely. By speaking the right language and driving cultural change from the top, CIOs can dismantle skepticism around emerging technology. This clears obstacles to roll out automation and AI rapidly across departments.

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