Matt Eventoff

Whether you are a CIO or a front line IT professional, if you can not explain to other professionals, either in IT or on the business end of your organization, exactly what you do and what you deliver for the organization, you will have a problem in this economic climate. Period.

As an IT professional, you need to be able to present to your boss, your boss’s boss, the CEO, and investors or shareholders how the loss of you as an individual, or the loss of your team, would impact the business and its bottom line. In these economic times, communication is no longer a “soft skill” or “luxury” for an IT pro. It can mean the difference between maintaining your position or losing it and/or the difference between being able to retain funding for your division or your division shrinking.

So how can an IT leader become more effective at communicating? These six steps will certainly help:

1. Develop relationships within your organization but outside of the IT department- This seems like common sense but this often gets pushed to the side in favor of day-to-day responsibilities that yield immediate results. It is much easier to communicate what you do and why it is important to someone who is used to hearing from you regularly. Make a habit of trying to develop a relationship within a different division of the business at least once a month.

2. Develop a message – How does what you do, or what your team does, further the efforts of the organization? How does it help the business achieve its bottom line objectives? Being able to articulate this is crucial.

3. Be open. Be available.– IT can often breed a solo or small team atmosphere. If you are a leader in your organization, be seen. Nothing is worse than a CIO, CTO, EVP, etc., who stays behind closed doors and remains silent.

4. Treat your top talent as you would your board and investors – If you think you have talked to them enough, go back and talk to them one more time. Trust me, if your top talent is nervous– and they are– and you are not communicating with them, they are looking elsewhere. As times get more challenging, your top talent becomes more valuable to competitors. Replacing superstars in this environment is not easy.

5. Be consistent – Nothing deflates an organization or a team more than perceived inconsistency in communication or communication style. Everything you do sends a message, and communications, or lack thereof, sends a clear message. (Hint – not a positive one)

6. Be open with information – Within an organization, information hoarding is a thing of the past – the reality is that whatever information you have, others will be able to access soon enough. Information hoarding within an organization is poisonous and breeds distrust.

Remember, in tough economic times, leadership is always looking for places to cut. It is your job as an IT leader to be prepared to educate those in the company hierarchy who don’t understand the value of IT as well as those who view IT as a basic commodity rather than an individualized function that improves a company’s bottom line. This could mean the difference between funding increases or decreases, headcount reductions or stabilization, or even the difference between keeping some function in house rather than outsourced.

* This post ran last week on Experts Exchange, which is “…an IT and computer solutions community of more than 50,000 experts dedicated to exchanging knowledge and solving your technical problems. Experts Exchange is the most efficient and reliable IT resource on the Internet as evident by more than 2.6 million tech solutions.”   It is a terrific resource, and I encourage everyone to join.

In Pt. I of this series I went over a number of tips and tactics to deal with the fear of public speaking.  One of the tactics was breathing, which sounds so simple, and is often anything but the night before, or the hour before, you are to give a speech or presentation.

Today will focus 0n a few of my favorite breathing techniques to use prior to presenting or giving a speech:

1. Three Deep Belly Breaths – Sounds like what it is.  Slowly inhale through the nose for a count of 5-15 (15 is optimal). Keep one hand on your diaphragm and feel it enlarge as you inhale.  Hold for 5-10 seconds, and then exhale through your mouth slowly, again for a count of 5-15 seconds (15 is optimal).  Repeat three times.  This is awesome for the few minutes before you are actually going to be speaking.  Immediately relaxing.

2. Ujjaiy Breathing - Also known as Oceanic or Victorious Breathing – it is awesome. It is a yogic breathing technique I first learned from struggling through Vinyasa yoga classes with Nicole, and now practice for 5-10 minutes every day. Similar to deep belly breathing, however this time the mouth stays closed the entire time.  The best way to learn how is to watch demonstrations – here, here and here.

3. Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique (my favorite) – All you need for this is your thumb, your pinkie finger, and your nose (sounds like the start of a bad joke!).  To begin, simply cover your left nostril with your left thumb, and slowly and deeply inhale for 5 seconds to start (10 is optimal).  Then immediately cover your right nostril with your left pinkie finger, while keeping your left nostril pressed closed – at all times your mouth is closed as well, so at this point you are essentially holding your breathe.  Again, hold for 5 seconds (10 is optimal). Then remove your left thumb from your left nostril and slowly exhale for a 10 count.  Wait two seconds and repeat the same technique, inhaling through your left nostril as your right nostril is still closed, etc. I usually do 10-15 rounds of this every day, and the feeling is amazing, and very relaxing.

While not “cures”, these techniques all do a good job of reducing  public speaking anxiety and fear associated with public speaking.  Again, while there are no “cures” (and don’t believe anyone who tells you there are!) there are techniques and strategies to alleviate public speaking fear.  Stay tuned for Pt. III…

What Mr. Toyoda (and any executive in a similar situation) should do now:

1. Develop your Message – Today! – The Prius was a groundbreaking achievement, Lexus is a leader in the luxury class, and Toyota has always been dependable;  A week later, there is no message, which is a message.

2. Speak Publicly Immediately — You are simply taking too much incoming fire at this point; a member of the Toyoda family must speak, now, today, and every day going forward until this crisis is settled

3. Appear Publicly – Again, every day until this situation is calmed.  At this point, there is no such thing as overexposure. None.

4. Show up where your customers are – I would recommend factories, showrooms, individual dealerships, etc. – not events where very, very, very few people have access to you — speaking at Davos and Davos only might have been worse than not speaking at all

5. Demonstrate Emotion – Pronto! – Set up a fund  to assist grieving families that have suffered as a result of the malfunctioning pedals.

6. Get Media Trained – Immediately – Based on the statement Akio made at Davos, media training of all top execs is an immediate priority.  Immediate.  I understand that caution and the prevention of over-reaction were crucial, but that horse has left the barn, you need to address it now.

7. Follow your Crisis Management Plan — A lesson in advance for every other CEO out there — if you don’t have a crisis management plan in place, get one in place this week.

Toyota is learning a lesson that numerous companies have learned the hard way – when a crisis strikes, and the media comes a knockin’, answer the door or suffer the consequences.

Toyota may be an international powerhouse, however at the same time it is a family-based brand, the family being the Toyoda family.  Akio Toyoda is the President, and his father Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, is the Honorary Chairman.

This crisis struck what seems like a lifetime ago in terms of media cycles, and every day, this crisis brings more and more news, none of which is good.

Toyota is doing very little to stem the tide.  Toyota’s head of U.S. Operations, Jim Lentz, tried to address the issues on The Today Show, but the reality is no matter what Mr. Lentz said, it would not have solved the problem.  Why?

The company is not branded as Lentz Motor Sales — in all fairness to Mr. Lentz, customers, the press and the public want to hear from a member of the Toyoda family.  So far, the only comments issued by the family were statements Akio Toyoda made at Davos at the end of last week :

“We’re extremely sorry to have made customers feel uneasy. Right now, we are trying to establish the facts and preparing for giving an explanation so anxiety among customers would be removed as soon as possible.”

Not very convincing or illustrative of any emotion.