DALLAS – According to a recent survey of 300 chief information officers, leadership is the most critical skill lacking among their information technology staffs.
Even though senior management cited “leadership drought” as a primary concern (87 percent), only 51 percent said they have a plan in place to generate leaders within the company. The problem is compounded because most employees don’t actively seek leadership opportunities, says Katie Beavan.
Beavan’s job is helping companies identify and encourage employees to take on leadership projects, typically in support of major corporate change. The management consultant at Robert H. Schaffer & Associates in Stamford, Conn., advises workers to practice leadership within their own jobs as a way to advance.
She has seen some amazing transformations, particularly among smart people who were previously satisfied being specialists in their fields and reluctant to stretch themselves.
However, once they took a risk, possibly made a few mistakes and ultimately delivered a team-driven project, they discovered “their own latent capabilities” as leaders, she said.
Beavan calls making the leap into leadership “changing careers within your existing job” because it opens new avenues for growth.
For Brian Czajkowski, at Perry Equipment Corp. headquarters in Mineral Wells, Texas, it wasn’t so much a leap as a steady march.
Fresh out of college with degrees in drafting and design, he was hired in 1989 as a draftsman to lead the engineering department into the world of computer-aided design. The department had one computer at the time, he recalls.
Czajkowski moved into a series of supervisory positions. When the company decided to forgo its “homegrown” software systems in favor of an upgrade, he was asked to be on the committee to select a software system for accounting and manufacturing.
He later helped with its implementation, working as a liaison between information technology and the engineering department.
“I had familiarity with networking and could talk the PC talk,” Czajkowski said.
At one point, he accepted a lateral move out of management and into network engineering.
But he leveraged that position to become manager of the IT department, then director of management information systems and, last year, vice president of administration and CIO. Quality control, human resources and information systems personnel now report to him.
“I’m just willing to wear a lot of hats,” Czajkowski said. He also admits to being “a little bit of a workaholic,” always willing to make the investment to get a job done. “I let management know what the problem areas are and that I am willing to put in the hours to resolve them.”
His climb to the top sounds meteoric, but it was actually a slow, gradual process, he said.
Czajkowski turned down offers to leave for higher salaries because he recognized the potential for advancement at his company even as it weathered hard times during the Enron debacle and uncertainty in the oil markets.
Perry Equipment Corp., a family-owned business, makes filtration systems primarily for the oil and gas industries.
“I have a genuine interest in the welfare of the company,” Czajkowski said. “People at the top want people (working for them) that they can trust, and you have to rise to the level of that trust.”
Even in much bigger companies, he said, good managers want to surround themselves with capable people, and that presents the opportunity to prove yourself.
In any job, there are occasions to demonstrate leadership potential, and you have to be opportunistic, Beavan said.
Think of it as developing a broader toolkit in the event you hit a plateau one day in your current position, she said.
“Find out what else is going on out there,” she said.
Show initiative and ask to help with recruitment or to sit in on a meeting and then volunteer for an assignment, Beavan suggests. “Ask yourself, “Is there a place where I can take a lead?’ View it as a return on your investment.”
Comments are no longer available on this story