Getting the IT Focus Right

Five Principles for Maximum Impact for the New IT Director
Curt Swindoll
This article provided by the Engstrom Institute

Welcome aboard! As the new head of IT, I realize you're facing a mountain of emails and an even larger "to do" list. But before you get lost in the demands of your new role, I thought it would be helpful if I shared five thoughts that will greatly contribute to your becoming the most valuable IT professional we've ever had! Interested? Read on …

Know Us

Remember that all of us—your peers, your teammates, those you support with IT services—are professionals just like you. We face deadlines, get stressed and need information to help us make the right decisions. Sure, we also jam printers and forget what you told us in training. But we care about the work we do and those we're trying to help. We're simply hoping you can help us do our job—our ministry—better than we've ever done it before.

So get to know us. Think of us as people, treat us as professionals, and we'll appreciate your professional skills all the more.

Another way you can get to know us involves knowing our information. I realize we've got a ton of it. And yes, we might not ever use 90 percent of what we've saved. But rumor has it, disk space is pretty cheap these days, a lot less expensive than peace of mind, which we have by keeping all those old files around. I'll bet you're unpacking manuals that are three versions old right now! Well, that's what our old files are. Good friends. Reminders of great projects and work well done.

Tell you what. Instead of focusing on our free space, help us become as good at using our information as we are at collecting it! Get to know our data. Graph our facts and figures. Ask us what we need to make better, faster decisions. Want to excel in IT? Appreciate our hearts. Appreciate our challenges. Appreciate our information and how it can help us do more ministry! Focus on "Information" as much as you do on "Technologies," and we'll get along great.

Support Us

Here's a simple little thought I don't ever want you to forget: We asked you to join our team—not to tell us "no," but to tell us "how."

Maybe our idea is too expensive. Maybe it's too hard to pull off. Maybe it just doesn't make sense. But if we can come to those conclusions together, things will run a lot smoother than if you come to those conclusions by yourself. Who knows? In the process, you may be surprised.

Part of leadership is thinking big. "Think different," Apple Computer says. Part of growth is challenging old ways of doing things. The quickest way to stunt our growth—and by the way, to limit your own growth—is to give us reasons an idea won't work instead of how, with your help, it could work.

The best ministries out there (and that's what we want to be) are those that get tough things done well, tackling big things quickly and effectively. Help us execute. Often, behind great ideas are ministry gems. And behind great execution are a lot of people who went the extra mile. So don't stop at "no." Stop at "Decision well made. Job well done."

Protect Us

You know the drill. In fact, most IT people I've run into are well aware of the steps critical to a secure data center. Nightly backups, tested monthly. Weekly, or better yet, offsite storage rotations. Weekly (if not nightly) virus updates. Regular virus scans. Illogical passwords, changed from time to time. Firewalls.

The problem is: many don't even follow through. But in ministry, security is a must, especially with those on your team who hold "administrator" passwords: the digital keys to our data integrity vault. I'm authorizing you to do nothing else—not a bug fix, or a PC configuration for the President of the United States—until you're satisfied and you've confirmed our information and our data center is physically and logically secure.

In fact, don't stop until you've built multiple levels of safety and recovery, including documented data recovery procedures. No back doors. No shortcuts. No exceptions. Not for anyone.

Why? Because ministry is built on trust, especially the trust of those who support us and those to whom we minister. They've taken us into their confidence. They've shared with us some of their most confidential and personal information. Losing it says we don't care about them. Making their information available to hackers violates their confidence in us and risks ruined reputations.

That's a risk we're not going to take. So protect us by protecting those with whom we've partnered in ministry.

And for heaven's sake, turn off the "open relay," so we don't start spamming.

Prepare Us

You've come with dreams and aspirations, skills and experience. In many ways, you're self-sufficient. But don't be! Preparing for the future requires we work and learn together today.

Begin by deepening your own well of information. One of the best ways to do this is to read, and not just tech journals. As important as tech skills are, so are solid leadership abilities, good personal skills, and deep spiritual understanding. Read widely. Study Scripture carefully. Then what you offer will flow from an overflowing well, not a trickling stream.

Next, become as good a teacher as you are a technologist. We all need to be encouraging and developing each other. There's no proprietary knowledge, no empire-building in our organization. To become smarter, wiser, more efficient people, we need great educators, people who willingly and frequently share what they know with others who are ready to learn.

By the way, be scared of things that you alone know. Being an information silo doesn't make you more valuable. It makes you dangerous.

Guard Yourself

Finally, your success at the office will only be as strong as your relationships at home. IT is a 24/7 job. But "ministry" is no excuse for wrong priorities and wrecked families. Fail them and you've failed us. So protect your time with them. We'll ask a lot of you, but tell us when we're asking too much.

Guard yourself as well. IT is often a solitary assignment. With a lot of junk on the Internet—two clicks away— protect yourself. Plan! Use accountability software (we'll pay for it!) and honest, personal relationships to keep your head and heart where they ought to be: on what is "pure, honorable and right," said Paul to the Philippians.

That's it. Five principles to ensure your unique contribution to our ministry, and ultimately to the Lord, is focused on doing the right things for maximum impact.

Ministry is what we're about around here. Helping people. Serving others. Not IT. Not fun hardware and great software. We buy and use those things to minister to more people. To impact more lives, more deeply.

Don't ever forget that!

Curt Swindoll can be reached at cswindoll@energyed.com.