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by Chris Laping, SVP of business transformation and CIO, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers
In an age when change is rapidly accelerating, companies need to be agile and innovative. They need to think on their feet, to keep up with changes in technology and the hyper-competitive marketplace.
But how can a mature, stable business—such as Red Robin, where I work—compete in this dizzying atmosphere?
Red Robin has a strong business model whose success lies in consistently high-quality food and a fun, engaging guest experience. Anyone who goes to a Red Robin knows exactly what to expect in terms of food, quality and service.
That can be a big advantage, but sometimes people crave something different. These days, people have more dining options than ever, and there’s a trend towards smaller, independent restaurants with locally-grown menu items.
How can we compete? And how do you change the wheels on a high-speed car racing around the track?
There are no easy answers, but I’ve found that my experiences as a CIO help me deal with challenges like this. There’s a good chance that bringing your CIO to the table may help your business deal with change, too—even when you least expect it.
Let Me Explain
To address problems that require change, businesses need a strong framework for transformation. It turns out that most businesses struggle in three key areas:
1. building a unique vision and strategy,
2. executing the strategy, and
3. getting everybody to support it.
These time-tested fundamentals long precede the technology revolution and are still as valid today as they were 40 years ago. The categories remain the same, but within them, you need to apply innovative thinking to produce change that works.
Enter IT
That’s where the CIO can help. Because there’s no department that pushes change and innovation more than IT.
Technologists have been on the firing line of change. They’ve been forced to adapt and re-adapt so much that they’ve developed effective ways of dealing with it.
They’ve not only had to change systems multiple times, they’ve also had to get everyone else on board with those changes. To do that, they’ve had to consider the overarching goals of the business. They’ve had to communicate how innovations fit into it, in a way that creates a unified vision. And they’ve had to execute quickly and effectively, before others lose faith in them.
Does this sound familiar? It should! These functions align perfectly with the classic fundamentals that businesses must address for successful change.
CIO+
I’m certainly not the only person who sees the role of the CIO expanding to support other business functions. Author Peter High first wrote of a movement he calls “CIO-plus” in a Forbes column, noting that increasing numbers of people in this role—among them, me—were taking on additional responsibilities because their IT skills qualify them in unique ways to handle change.
Large, mature, stable businesses like Red Robin are sometimes reluctant to change the systems and operations that made them so successful to begin with. That’s understandable, but we also need to change and grow in order to compete—who doesn’t?
We don’t necessarily need to call in an army of outside consultants to get it done: Companies may be able to borrow project- and change-management practices from IT’s toolbox for non-technical change.
But IT Workers Are Human Too
That said, it’s also important to remember that the IT staff is human.
This point was hammered home to me when we started a big project and did a change-readiness assessment. We gathered information from all the stakeholders, but it turned out the department least capable of absorbing the change was none other than IT!
To be honest, I was shocked.
But when I looked at it from a human perspective, I realized it made sense. Our project involved migrating core technologies to the cloud, and IT people were thinking ahead—to the time when they’d completed the work—and wondering if they’d still have a job.
IT people are people, and have job security concerns just like anyone else. But they’re also people who’ve implemented change, perhaps more than anyone else.
They’re not knights in shining armor, but when it comes to creating new systems and making them fit, they know all too well what doesn’t work, as well as what does.
Though you shouldn’t expect them to solve all your business transformation problems, consulting them may save you from a thousand headaches you never knew you’d have.
The Bottom Line
Even large, successful companies must make changes to stay competitive in today’s fast-moving world.
Managing change means developing a coherent strategy and having great execution and teamwork. The CIO and IT department might be able to help.
They may not have all the answers, but successful negotiation of changes has been their bread and butter for years. There’s a lot you can learn from their mistakes, as well as their triumphs.
How do you adapt to change? Weigh in with a comment below
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• How Can Mature Businesses Adapt To Change? (Hint: Ask Your CIO) ~ @CIOChris
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