BLUF: How to continue delivering while working with a formalized existing role.
When my manager became CIO of our IT organization, I was recently thrust into the "formal" position of managing day to day application support and enhancement delivery still reporting directly to my current manager.
I say formal, because it was a role that I have been effectively doing and enjoying for the past three years but as part of the business unit, a customer of IT rather than part of IT.
Although there was no compensation increase and potential lower future bonuses factoring in that I would be working in a support rather than a business unit, I still thought that it was the right thing for the organization for me to take on the role.
What I also thought would be a painless transition turned out differently once formal reporting lines were announced. While a core team of specialists now reported to me, quite a large number of peers that I used to work with well were now 4 levels my junior in the org chart.
Same peers that have been supportive in the past are now openly questioning my team's capabilities at every turn causing productivity hits.
I know from experience that most of these peers are capable as well so I want it to work but having a hard time to make a plan while overcoming my frustration.
Appreciate any insights if anyone has had the same experiences or any advice in general.
Thanks again
John
Hmmmm
I'm not sure I understand the situation. It may be because I don't understand the "formal" part. Your boss who is now CIO used to be on the business side, surely, if you were on the business side. [If not, then apparently it's no big deal for business to report to IT].
it also sounds like you got a huge promotion... though that may not be so. [Don't assume all promotions have huge raises with them.]
But is it also possible that you report to the CIO, but just like the CEO's admin reports to him, that doesn't mean the CEO's admin outranks the CEO's line VPs who are skips of his. You may be, in the eyes of senior folks, at the same level as you were before, but you report to someone way higher than you.
Your "former" peers' questions aren't what's causing productivity hits, either.
Can you try to explain more...?
Hi Mark, Thanks for the
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the response and sorry for not providing enough background.
Describing our organization setup earlier may have helped. Our company has five business divisions focusing on distinct consumer product areas.
Each business division in our organization is an independent entity that gets support from corporate services - this includes Finance, HR, Admin and IT. In return for the services, the divisions shares profits with corporate.
We (my boss and myself) used to belong to the largest business division in the company. In this division, we were responsible for IT related projects. My boss focused on strategy and I focused on execution. To be successful, we often relied on corporate to provide the services we need - augmenting our own team with people from corporate.
When my boss became CIO, she formed a new team, directly reporting to her, whose main objective was speed in delivering business needs. I was signed up to lead the new team. My understanding was that my role would not be much different from what I was doing before, just more people reporting to me.
Armed with this understanding, I went about the same way as I normally did before the changes, working with the same set of individuals as I did before but with surprisingly more resistance - or at least perceived resistance by me and my team.
As an example, if in the past we would ask for additional storage, the response would be how much. Nowadays, the response is why do you need additional storage.
I'm sure that I should and can change something from my end but trying to figure out what.
Thanks
John