Sechs Ratschläge, wie CIOs vor dem Vorstand bestehen

How does a CIO get the attention and time of individual board members? For directors who are executives from her own company, the face time happens in monthly IT Steering Committee meetings they attend. For board members from outside the company, Rucker first watched for their particular interests during board meetings, then established a rapport with them around those topics. She also leveraged third-parties.

David Webb, formerly CIO, now chief operations officer at SVB Financial Group, also feels strongly that engaging the board isn’t just a quarterly, formal interaction. "You need to want more interaction and find ways to do so. If you don’t, you won’tbuild that relationship", he says. Access to board members becomes easier over time. "The first call is always the hardest. If you have difficulty making a cold call, have the CEO clear the path for you", he recommends.

3. Get feedback from your board buddy. Twila Day, CIO at $33 billion food company SYSCO, has developed a sounding board within the board. She pings a couple of select board members prior to her presentations to give them a preview. Day went to meet one-on-one with a new board member that had a strong technology background. When a second member was appointed with similar technology experience, Day asked if she could send both of them her presentations ahead of time for their input. This peer review helps Day make sure her message is getting across in the right way.

4. Get organized. O’Hare’s primary objective in a board presentation is to get across the right message to each board member. He has found that buy-in is usually stronger when members feel that they have actively contributed to developing the solution. "This way I can demonstrate that an objective and thoughtful approach was used in resolving the problem", he explains. "I’ve also found that having different ways to solve a problem is a good way to prepare for the eventual questions."

5. Get to the point. When Webb begins to construct his board presentation, he thinks to himself: "How do I get my point across so board members understand in the first thirty seconds?" Day is not big on PowerPoint presentations and strives to keep her presentations concise. She uses bullet points and makes sure not to get into the weeds on any one topic. O’Hare also abides by the "less is more" sentiment. He uses an executive summary at the beginning to grab the board’s attention.