You’re doing well in your career. You’re dedicated, skilled, technically competent, a recognized leader in your company and a valued employee. Your performance reviews are excellent, and your manager has complete confidence in your abilities. So why would you want (or need) an executive coach?

This is a good question to consider, so I offer some insights here that apply generally and also specifically to IT execs who want to flourish in their careers. First, in a recent article in The New Yorker magazine, a renowned surgeon talked about getting a specialized surgeon’s coach who could give him feedback on how he performed in the surgical suite. Although his outcomes were good, his reputation was impeccable and his interpersonal skills were excellent, he felt he was too comfortable, and wondered how he really did in all aspects of his work life and how he could improve. Knowing that he could not be objective about his own behavior, the surgeon decided that an outside set of eyes and ears would provide a mirror to his actual behavior. He wanted to improve, so he hired a coach.

Also consider this: In their book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler write about how changes in medicine, technology or finance will not work effectively without the appropriate behavioral change in the user. You can give out millions of mosquito nets to prevent malaria, but if people do not use them, they are useless. Vaccines prevent illnesses as long as people get vaccinated. The authors call this phenomenon "bio-social science" and think that in the 21st century, it is key to changing behavior.

How does this related to IT executives? It’s often said that people with technical training put less emphasis on interpersonal skills. But behavioral change requires a change in how we perceive the world and a trusted way to learn the new behaviors. Having a coach to reflect and build on what you do well is part of how extremely successful people stay at that uppermost level. They can assess your skills and work on nuanced behavior may result in better outcomes for you and your business team.

If we become complacent in what we do and stop striving for better outcomes when we are already successful, we also assume that we cannot change the behavior of others—an important trait for high-level managers. Many also think executive coaching is meant for the problematic or dysfunctional individual. But, in fact, all of us could benefit from the outside perspective on our behavior that coaching provides.

As The New Yorker article suggests, just as the best opera singers have singing coaches, the most celebrated athletes continue working with personal trainers — even when they are regarded as the best in their sport — and the top CEOs have coaches to use as sounding boards, shouldn't you have an executive coach as well?

It has long been a principle of information technology that the software and employees use must be strictly limited and controlled by IT. Otherwise, all hell would break loose: Employees would try to connect every imaginable contraption to the enterprise network using all kinds of software and putting at risk vast amounts of sensitive information — indeed, the integrity of the entire system.

As we know, that principle no longer applies. Younger employees now expect their company’s IT department not only to tolerate their smartphones and tablets, but to help support them and give them complete access to the Internet. They want to stay connected with Facebook friends, follow their Twitter feeds, play games, and generally mix business with pleasure over the course of their “working day”—which itself has fewer defined hours than ever before.

These trends will only accelerate, as the cohort born after 1990 joins the ranks of the world’s workers and consumers in growing numbers over the next decade. At Booz & Co., we call them Generation C—the C stands for connected, communicating, computerized, content-centric, community-oriented. Over the course of the next decade, our research indicates, this group will make up close to 50 percent of the worldwide workforce, and up to 40 percent of all consumers in the developed world.

Too many CIOs see nothing but risks associated with the rise of Generation C. From their short-term point of view, the security issues will continue to trump the added flexibility and employee loyalty to be gained through the consumerization of corporate IT — not to mention concerns about lower productivity, reputational risk, compliance and costs. Yet companies that can keep ahead of this trend will ultimately be giving themselves a real advantage in a matter of even greater importance: the race to meet the digital future head on.

Digitization's Impact

“Digitization” — the process by which technology is shaping every aspect of our public, commercial and private lives — is inevitable. Already, pervasive broadband, ubiquitous connectivity, cloud computing, and social networking, are all converging to transform how we work, play, communicate, socialize and do business. No CIO can afford to ignore or discount this process, as it will transform how every enterprise operates, both internally and externally. It will vastly increase the amount of insight businesses can gather about their customers; it will open up major new opportunities to capture value; and it will provide a huge productivity boost. As such, it holds the key to growth for global companies in virtually every industry as well as for government agencies and non-profit organizations for the foreseeable future.

CIOs looking to stay on top of the ongoing digitization of their employees, customers and overall operations need to understand just how well-prepared — or not — they are to meet this trend. On an internal level, they must assess their readiness to handle the needs of the coming wave of Generation C employees. The graphic below shows the tool we use to assess overall readiness to handle more consumer-oriented IT, as well as examples of average readiness in several different industries:

The assessment tool considers a number of criteria that determine readiness for consumer-oriented IT. Based on these factors, we can make the following assumptions:

• Security and privacy requirements: Companies in industries with stringent demands for security and privacy should move to a consumer model more cautiously.

• Maturity of IT support: Companies that already use ITIL or COBIT will be more prepared for the shift.

• Use of Web-based applications: Web-based applications have less dependence on PC-based software to function correctly; hence, they fit a consumer IT model better.

• PC-usage profile: Laptops fit the consumer IT model most strongly.

• Legal and compliance environment: A complex legal and compliance environment makes the use of consumer IT riskier.

• Risk culture:Risk-averse organizations are less likely to accept the risks associated  with consumer IT.

• Employee profile:Tech-savvy employees are more demanding but more comfortable supporting themselves.

• Working culture: A flexible culture requires looser security measures and is more open to the use of personal devices.

• Type of work: Employees who typically work 9-to-5 are less likely to mix work and life.

As part of this assessment, the critical issues to consider are security needs and the nature and culture of employees. An aerospace manufacturer, for instance, will naturally have a greater need for maintaining a high level of security than an advertising agency, for instance. And its employees are, perhaps, less likely to be the young, creative and Web-savvy employees an ad agency would attract.

The internal transformation, however, is only a first step in mounting an offensive strategy in the face of increasing digitization. Every organization must also expect the trend to affect its business model and must determine the capabilities it will need to create value in the future. Digitization, we believe, will affect industries in different ways, depending on three major factors:

1. Industries, such as retail and media and entertainment, where barriers to entry are low will look to digitization early, as a means of gaining a competitive advantage.

2. Industries where information in some form or another is the primary product or a key success factor are ripe for digitization. Here, examples include financial services and, again, media and entertainment.

3. Industries that are the most intensive in their use of capital — whether financial or human — offer big opportunities for digitization to reduce capital intensity and increase return on capital. Healthcare, and the public sector in general, fit both conditions.

As digitization takes hold, it will be the job of the CIO both to manage the transformation and to help prepare for the changes in the business and operating models needed to win in this environment. And that particularly means connecting, communicating and building communities with younger workers who will be leading the charge.

Roman Friedrich is a Booz & Company partner, based in Düsseldorf and Stockholm. He leads the firm’s communications, media and technology practice in Europe, and specializes in the strategic transformation of these industries in the context of digitization.

A hallmark of the highest performing CIOs is the recognition of just how pivotal horizontal relationships — those with peers — are to their business success and even survival. These executives readily make the needed investment of time and energy into these key relationships, knowing it will pay off with handsome returns in due course. As Carol Zierhoffer, CIO of ITT, says in the book I recently co-authored, The CIO Edge (Harvard Business Review Press, 2010), “relationships with peers can either be a tailwind or headwind.”

Using this metaphor, we see that horizontal relationships that are anchored in a personal connection and energized by a sense of common purpose allow CIOs to ride a strong tailwind to collaboratively deliver IT-enabled business value. These executives also benefit from the “relationship capital” that will help them ride out the inevitable storms along the way.

By contrast, a lack of healthy horizontal relationships can be likened to sailing into a strong headwind. Every aspect of the CIO’s role can become more challenging, inhibiting both partnerships and smart decision making. Whether it be prioritizing a project portfolio, striving to deliver business benefits or answering the age- old question — “Why does IT cost so much?” — this headwind saps the energy, enthusiasm and resolve of the CIO and the IT team and leaves them feeling just one gust away from the perfect storm that can sink the ship.

Although they acknowledge the importance of horizontal relationships, too many of the CIOs my co-authors and I observed in our research still invested insufficient time and attention to developing strong bonds with peers. Typically, they were too consumed by daily IT management tasks and consequently found themselves working harder to stay on course or make even limited progress. In extreme cases, they were blown out of a job because they didn’t have the powerful force of collaboration to help them along.

Now is as good a time as any to reflect on your own business-peer relationships. Are they providing you with the necessary energy and wind on your back to propel you toward professional success and delivery of business results from IT? Or are they a powerful headwind, impeding your progress and leaving you feeling as if you are sailing into a prevailing storm? If your key business relationships resemble the latter, you will be well served to reassess your approach. And do not wait; as Carol Zierhoffer points out in The CIO Edge, “By the time you need a relationship, it is too late.”

Graham Waller is Vice President and Executive Partner, Gartner Executive Programs (EXP). He is co-author, along with Karen Rubenstrunk and George Hallenbeck, of The CIO Edge, published last year by Harvard Business Review Press.

Graham is also a member of Smart Enterprise Exchange and can be reached on the community site.

I'm a distance runner, and while I was recently on one of my long training runs I got lost in thought about interpersonal improvements senior managers can make.  Following is the "memo" I compiled in my head and wrote down as soon as I got home.  I've been in IT for 21 years so I intentionally wrote this blog in an old-school format and font.  It's not meant to offend anyone or be a veiled threat but rather a collection of thoughts I've had and feelings colleagues and teammates have expressed to me over the years.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Executives

FROM: The Masses

This is a reminder to all Executives in this Smart Enterprise.  You may be making very intelligent decisions on a daily basis, but here in the trenches is your most valuable asset – your staff.  We may not be on any balance sheet (where most assets would be listed) - just an expense somewhere on an income statement – but we are making your enterprise go. Following are a few tips from those in the engine compartment.

Smarter enterprise
Can you build a smart enterprise without smart staff?  World-class enterprises are a balanced fusion of employees and infrastructure.  But, you say, we budget X number of days for each employee to receive annual training.  What else can I do?  Create connections and build passion.  Build intelligence.  Foster commitment and ownership.

Remember when…
Do you remember when it made your day to just make eye contact with a senior manager?  Now, as the Big Boss, you walk the halls typing on your BlackBerry.  We know you’re busy.  Trust us, you can make a bigger impact on our business by looking up and talking.  Be, dare we say, approachable.  It only takes a second to make an (first) impression.

Red Corvette
Think back long before you owned a vacation home with water views, way back before your first sports car purchase.  That’s where most of us are.  Don’t feel guilty for earning your trappings.  Some of us are working toward the same types of rewards.  Some of us aren’t.  It’s a given that we get compensated.  Appreciate and recognize us.  This economy WILL turn around and you WILL want us to be ready.

How was your day?
Every day ask an employee or three what was the best part of their day.  Also ask them what they’d change about their day.  Be prepared to hear about problems but not solutions.  You may hear that what they’d change about their day is having more of their best part.  If you’ve got time, ask them what their typical day is like.  You may be surprised to hear just who is doing what.

Perfect pairings
Combine passionate people with potentially passionate staff.  Match ambition with the ambitious.  Mentor as many employees as possible.  Connect IT staff with external/internal customers. 

Summary
You’ve heard it before.  Little things can make big differences.  A few little things can make your enterprise - our enterprise - function like a superhero: bigger, stronger, faster.  And we all want this to succeed – our paychecks depend on it!

Thanks!

Darrell Sandefur