12 ways IT leaders can build business buy-in

4. Be in ‘relationship mode’

In a summer 2022 Harvard Business Review article titled “The C-Suite Skills That Matter Most,” the authors presented findings from their research on this topic, writing that while management of financial and operational resources remains a critical skill, companies “instead prioritize one qualification above all others: strong social skills.”

RJ Juliano, senior vice president and chief information & marketing officer at Parkway, has seen the importance of those skills in winning allies among his executive colleagues. As such, he works to build connections with his peers before he needs to seek their support. That way, when he does need that buy-in, he says there’s a well of trust that he can draw on “because that mutual understanding has already been established.”

“Think about your vendor relationships. Do the same [relationship building] with your peers. Find reasons to interact with them in nonstructured time, whether it’s lunch or it’s those times that aren’t strategic planning meetings. Don’t always be in a transactional mode; be in a relationship mode. That goes for the board, too,” he says.

5. Work out issues in advance

Another way to get and keep business buy-in, according to Juliano: Identify and work out issues ahead of time — especially with any skeptics.

“Make yourself go have those conversations one-on-one well in advance of a decision,” he says. Get feedback early. Check in and course correct before finalizing plans.

Juliano says it’s about recognizing with any initiative that the problems and pain points the business units face and IT’s problems “are the same problem.”

Juliano works by this approach, pointing to how he handled discussions about the current ongoing project to replace the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. In addition to conversations about business needs, he has talked with business unit leaders about the organizational maturity of all the teams and the teams’ readiness for upcoming changes before embarking on this project.

Through that advance work, Juliano and one of his peers were able to work together on some organizational issues that if left unaddressed could have limited the company’s ability to get full value out of the ERP replacement and, as a result, could have led to diminishing support for the initiative.

6. Make sure the CEO agrees

Buy-in starts at the top, so it’s essential to cultivate positivity there, too. “It’s really important to ensure that the CEO views the IT team as an equal stakeholder for successful business outcomes. Otherwise, the relationship with business unit heads will not last,” Hoyt says.

He adds: “A CIO’s responsibility is to ensure the CEO can easily articulate what projects are happening and why they are important to the overall strategy.”

7. Embrace the concept of shared pain

Another approach Juliano uses to ensure IT and business are in lockstep as they advance organizational objectives is to identify and highlight shared goals. For him, that means in part articulating IT’s piece of initiatives as well as demonstrating IT’s commitment to co-owning success — and, if things don’t go right, co-owning failure, too.

“Your IT deliverables should be 100% part of the business’ strategic goals,” he says. “But if you’re making plans and you’re not seeing that there’s a clear IT objective, then you’re reducing your chance of successes and I’d question why you’re not part of that execution. So get your name on those goals so you are seen as a co-deliverer. Make sure your name is primary or secondary owner.”

Juliano says that sends a good message to executive peers as well as the teams doing the work: “It’s saying, ‘I’m taking responsibility to say my resources and planning are behind this.’ It’s the shared pain, shared gain. If we succeed, we succeed together or if it’s not going well, we’re in it together.”

He continues: “IT can get disconnected from company goals but with this you can walk back into your team and say, ‘This is where we’re on the hook.’ And that improves your team’s chances of success, because it helps focus the team and they know they’re part of the strategy.”

8. Employ business relationship managers

Dunbar believes the business relationship manager is a crucial role for the IT team as business relationship managers help ensure IT knows and focuses on the initiatives that the business values and, thus, will support.

“Business relationship managers understand the business, the strategy, and what’s going on. They’re going to understand the nuances — that’s a key word — they understand the nuances of what the business wants and can communicate that to the IT team,” she says.

Paying attention to those nuances matter, Dunbar says, as they often mean the difference in big wins versus marginal improvements and, consequently, whether a business unit stays committed to the work with IT or wanes in its enthusiasm.

9. Be upfront about risks

IT typically houses project managers, or at least workers skilled in project management principles, which makes the department well qualified on identifying risks and planning mitigation strategies.

Juliano leans into that, using that information to help shepherd initiatives from start to finish and through any periods of concerns or doubts that come up.

He says it’s easy, and understandable, for executives to focus on the benefits and ROI of any given project. And while conversations about ROI are crucial for getting buy-in from stakeholders, Juliano says focusing on those good points upfront may not be enough to sustain everyone when they hit bumps moving forward.

“So have honest conversations about the risks and what you’re going to do about them as well as what the rewards are,” he says, an approach he says works particularly well for CIOs who have built a record of successful change management which demonstrates to their workers’ ability to mitigate risks.

Juliano says he has found that upfront honesty helps address doubts and questions that stakeholders have, prepares them for any obstacles that arise, and reassures them that there’s a plan to pull everyone through.

Juliano points to one particular initiative, a construction project which had a lot of technology components. He brought up potential stumbling blocks and how to address them. He found that others had been thinking about the same potential obstacles. And by vocalizing concerns about the roadblocks ahead and plans to deal with them, he got everyone together to move forward.

10. Use retrospectives to strengthen partnerships

Dunbar says encouraging introspection and feedback from business teams can yield insights on how they view IT, the work it delivers, and where improvements could create a tighter coupling of interests.

As she explains, “Using retrospectives to gain insight on third-party vendors and IT team performance is very helpful. The beauty of the retrospective is that they can be done midway through the year or at any point during the performance of a contract. We recommend that an independent party lead the sessions and that members of the IT team not participate in the sessions to enable candid feedback from the business teams. This type of activity builds trust between the business and technology teams.”

11. Create cross-functional centers of excellence

Another way to get everyone in the same boat — and keep them rowing together — is by creating cross-functional centers of excellence, with the functional business areas involved in projects contributing key players to work with IT, says Mark Taylor, CEO of the Society for Information Management (SIM).

“You’re capturing the innovative energy happening in pockets of the organization and moving it toward more coordinated efforts within these centers of excellence,” he says. This creates a camaraderie where CoE members are able to show up as contributors, which helps eliminate siloes of work and turf wars while building a sense of team.

It reinforces the idea, he explains, that teamwork “is how we collectively get this done.”

12. Empower the business

Robert McNamara, a partner in business and IT strategy at consultancy Guidehouse, says IT can get and keep business buy-in by empowering business units to make and manage some tech-related decisions and tech-driven initiatives.

“There are some things that makes sense to be managed by a tech unit within a business [function] versus the centralized IT organization, and that line of business can reach out for support to the centralized IT organization if and when needed,” he explains.

McNamara says having business units in charge of some technology programs can reduce costs and risk while also improving alignment and compliance. All that, he says, can help get and keep the business onboard with IT strategy.

CIOs can work with their business unit peers to create guidelines for what tech would be better managed within the business units, establish the governance needed, and articulate the benefits this move brings, “whether it’s to shorten the feedback link between the users and what they need from the technology, accelerate innovation, or improve compliance,” he says.

McNamara adds: “If you focus on that, versus who controls it, it helps demonstrate that IT is looking out for the business needs, so they see it’s not about turf.”