Corporate or IT vision isn't something you can acquire in a month or even three. It's an ongoing process that drives the business. There are, however, checkpoints you can use to see if you're headed in the right direction as you begin to set the course.
First month: Take stock
Determine whether a corporatewide vision exists. If you even have to wonder, then, at best, it's a vision that's never been implemented, with no vision process in place. If there is one in writing, see if it meets the criteria outlined in this article.
Build your coalition of support among peers for engaging in a vision-development process with the CEO. If you and your peers are already on board, begin applying pressure on the CEO and make the bottom-line case.
Second Month: Get tough and get allies
If you can't get traction on your plans in the first month, then you need to move from manager to friendly guerrilla. Quintessentially, this is what leadership is all about. You need to begin framing out the components of your IT vision to a small group of trusted colleagues who will speak openly about their beliefs and values. Assemble the group and create a sense of urgency from the start.
Find out what the company sees as its core competencies today and what others want them to be in the future. Don't plan on consensus from the people you survey, but use their input as the basis for discussion and understanding the nuances of the politics that matter.
Third month: Sell it, test it
With the bare-boned themes of your draft vision in place, create a simple PowerPoint presentation to clearly give people a sense of what you're trying to lead the company to achieve with technology. It'll serve as an important context for further conversations with both the business and technology people.
As you begin to identify the core elements of your vision, pause. When you have a vision work-in-progress, ask yourself if what you're creating will do the following:
-Motivate you to join the executive team, and continue to challenge and motivate you once you're in.
-Provide a beacon for guiding the kinds of adaptation and change required for continual growth.
-Describe a future that's more attractive than the present.
-Serve as the basis to formulate strategy that can be acted upon.
-Serve as a framework to keep decision making in context.
Test the IT vision with a cross section of your company. Run it by IT people as well as business leaders.
