CIO

CIO / IT Director Boston, Massachusetts, United States

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Summary

Honestly, I really enjoy helping people and the tech comes after. A stakeholder in my last org is what was known as a "frequent ticketer." They contacted us frequently, almost every day with tickets. Instead of avoiding this stakeholder, that was across the country in a different time zone, I scheduled time with them an hour a day, twice or three times a week, after hours for me, but the end of the day for them, to train them and fill their gaps.

I know at my core I'm a great agilist. I had this person ask me how to do anything they had questions about in a shared screen and I walked them through what to do. I also showed them a screen recording extension in Chrome that IT used, that they had no idea existed, so they knew what to do on their own terms and muscle memory, with my assistance.

I was proud that I was able to help. I trained them so well, they stopped putting in tickets for a few weeks and I reached out to them to ask if everything was ok? They excitedly told me their spouse asked THEM how to do something techie now. Essentially, this person went from the least technical person, to the person everyone in the office went to for help because they knew so much. I was really happy for them.

Throughout my career, I pride myself on knowing that my stakeholders know I'm there to support them. Any technology can be learned, but trust has to be gained.

Expectations

I want to go somewhere that I can make an impact, yes, but the company culture is made up of people you WANT to be with potentially after hours for team bonding or just individual relationships.

I'm used to being very hands on in my roles, so I get to know stakeholders of all levels VERY well.

Yes, I am at the C-Suite level, but in my next IT leadership role, I don't want to just be in meetings all day. I want to be able to retain how to book Zoom meetings myself. I want to be a technical liaison between C-Suite and our stakeholders as either C-Suite or another tech leader. People WANT to work with me. Not because I coerce them, but because I listen, observe and assist, every time.