To successfully lead an IT organization, one must excel in three key areas: Technology, Business, and People.
When attempting to implement enterprise initiatives, those leaders who do not excel in people skills will have some serious challenges. For whatever reason, many IT leaders neglect the "people side of change" (listen to my podcast with ZDNet's Michael Krigsman) and do not address a critical need - Organizational Change Management.
I am a huge fan of Harvard's leadership guru, John Kotter. Kotter has a proven 8-step methodology for leading through change. Here are the steps:
1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Pull Together the Guiding Team
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy In
5. Empower Others to Act
6. Produce Short-Term Wins
7. Don’t Let Up
8. Create a New Culture
For more on this topic I recommend his books "Leading Change" , "Our Iceberg is Melting", and also "Change Management: the People Side of Change" by Jeffrey Hiatt and Timothy Creasey.
And remember, now matter how good you do with the technology and business side of the equation, if people resist change your project will more then likely fail.
