The Transformational CIO: Leadership and Innovation Strategies for IT Executives in a Rapidly Changing World

Maintaining the Momentum

Since transformational projects tend to play out over long timeframes, you will need to inspire, invigorate, and energize the people around you. “When you're developing a vision, don't forget about the inspirational component. You'll need something that will inspire people to keep going, something they'll understand and internalize. You need to help them make it personal.”

At Kaiser Permanente, part of the inspirational message is built into the company culture, which emphasizes the overarching importance of continuous innovation. “We are a little different in that it's part of our cultural DNA,” Philip explains. “From our inception as a company, we have focused on technology and innovation. In many other companies, IT and the business aren't joined together in a lot of places. In our company, IT and the business are joined together right at the top of the organization and throughout all of our partnership groups and leadership groups. IT is part of the business conversation across the organization.”

That makes it easier for Philip and his team to remain positively connected with the various parts of the enterprise. While that shared sense of purpose doesn't guarantee smooth sailing for every project, it certainly makes it easier to maintain the energy and momentum required to complete a series of critical business transformations.

“Our systems transformation initiative began about six years ago. About a year later, we went to full-scale implementation ...