CIOs must learn how to share good news, bad news

The key to improving communications between IT groups and the rest of the business is building trust through transparency, according to IT executives at a CIO Executive Council (CEC) virtual meeting about effective IT communications.

Transparent communications includes news about IT’s accomplishments — and troubles. “It’s also important to be transparent if things are going wrong. When something has happened that negatively impacts me, you better tell me all about it, and tell me in complete detail, so I can have some confidence it’s not going to happen again,” said Robert Galvin, CTO at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

“One of the key elements around building trust is transparency and not trying to, in any way, filter or hide what’s happening in IT from the business,” said Andy Santacroce, former vice president of global IT at BDP International.

The CEC’s online meeting examined the “communications roadblocks that exist between IT and business and provides some suggestions on how to better communicate within organizations and across departmental boundaries,” according to a CEC report on the highlights of the meeting. Participants included Galvin, Santacroce, Doug Blackwell, CIO at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and Gerry McCartney, CIO at Purdue University.

The IT execs also discuss: Essential elements of effective IT communication,tailoring messages to the needs of different audiences,building a brand for IT, creating a successful IT communications structure and holding an annual IT Expo to show employees new tech capabilities