Gareth Morgan

The introduction of IT in to the enterprise has brought about huge progress. But the successful chief information officer (CIO) can learn a lot from the limitations of computing devices, not least of which is when human qualities pay greater dividends than technical wizardry.

For example, some of the best minds in technology have expended tremendous amounts of energy and thought in to building computers that are good at chess. The computers have become pretty sophisticated, capable of making mortals out of the games grandmasters.

But for any given position on a chess board, there are a finite number of possible moves ­ given enough computing power, it’s possible to evaluate the possible moves and work out the best.

For games other than chess ­ Texas hold ‘em poker is a great example ­ human foibles make outcomes much more difficult to predict. Second guessing how a player might react, bet and bluff is about more than knowing the likelihood of holding a good hand.

Similarly, when it comes to dealing with business colleagues, CIOs should not be afraid of letting their human side come to the fore. As this month’s cover story shows, IT savvy is only going to get you so far ­ negotiation skills and the ability to persuade, cajole and engender trust are the keys to career advancement.

Top-level negotiations require some of the skills of a card sharp, such as knowing which battles to fight and when to throw in your hand. And those negotiations will invariably involve a bit of people reading.

So making the effort to understand a colleague’s working methods can pay off. How do their responses differ when faced with compromises? What is their approach to risk?

It also helps to consider your own position as negotiations progress. The successful gambler doesn’t just keep raising the stakes, but is aware of how subtle changes to bets can be interpreted. The truly successful negotiators are similarly aware, not only of when their position needs to be altered, but how those shifts will be construed.

Here is where my poker analogy falls down ­ this is not a game where there is only one winner. It is worth remembering that the point of negotiations is to ensure that the business moves forward. And colleagues won’t want to be taken for mugs. Become too Machiavellian, and nobody will want to sit at the same table.

Again, human instinct is the key. Good negotiators are those that people want to work with again. And building trust is the key here.

Read the Computing Business blog.
Visit: http://business.computing.co.uk

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