Are you a "Turnaround" CIO?

When I started to think about it all, I realize that everybody knows about a turnaround CEO. There are many successful turnaround CEOs and much is talked about them. It also is widely said and accepted that a turnaround CEO needs to have a clear action plan and goals, a realistic timeline, and support of the company's board and senior management team and all of this needs to be accomplished by financial results in terms of greater market share, larger profits and a higher stock price or perhaps all three. 

But then is there something as a turnaround CIO? If yes, how would you define a turnaround CIO? How is the turnaround CIO different than the traditional CIO? What are the expectations from the turnaround CIO? 

Sometimes in your career, you may have been lucky enough to replace a sitting CIO and given an mandate to fix something that is not right in the IT department or fix a business critical IT application or to fix that business impacting IT project. Now, in this situation the CIO is expected to turnaround and fix what is not right and also accomplish greater customer satisfaction whilst deliver more with less. If you are doing that or are mandated to do that then know for certain that you have now morphs into turnaround CIO. The mandate is simple - Fix It!! 

It is easy said than done, because as a CIO, one is typically used to:

• Running and Managing IT Efficiently and Effectively
• Managing CXO expectations
• Driving Innovation and Growth while managing costs 
• Proving the Strategic Value of IT
• Developing the next line of IT Leaders

As a turnaround CIO, one needs to do things additionally and differently. A turnaround CIO is well qualified and comes to the table with demonstrated skills and accomplishments. It is a clear different mind-set required to a turnaround CIO - a much more then what CIOs are traditionally use to. Additionally, the turnaround CIO needs to also look at what is available on the plate and then... 

• Identify a low-hanging but pain causing fruit and quickly fix it
• Identify what really drives the business and what the business needs are and focus on and align IT solutions to meet them first
• Choose the right, proven and best technologies that meets the business needs, solves an organizational problem quickly
• Concentrate on increasing Internal Customer Satisfaction
• Take a look at the IT Team and promote and keep these who can deliver the quick results, ease out the laggards

A turnaround CIO always needs to remember that then what s/he does not have is - time, because for an organization which is struggling, time is money. There is no room for errors and mistakes for a turnaround CIO and it is safe not to use experimental technologies and systems.  

Right... so you know it all, so what is the big deal? But have you thought about it in this matter... perhaps no, do you think and consider yourselves as turnaround CIO if this is exactly what you have done it before? Like there are CEOs and turnaround CEOs (so called "specialist problem fixers"), why can't here also be CIOs and turnaround CIOs? 

One thing is clear - irrespective to whether you are a traditional CIO or a turnaround CIO, it is  needs to be remembered that that technology impacts most employees and the hence the tolerance for the CIO failure and mistakes is far less than other executive disciplines particularly in bad times and so a CIO has to be always on his toes and alert.