Open the lines of communication. The solution is not sweet talking the C-suite (“Nice tie, Mr. Bigley!”), but more consistent delivery of business value and better communication of that value.
Don’t wait for the business people to invite you to lunch, take them out for a meal. Breaking bread is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, good work doesn’t stand on its own — it needs to be explained and shared with others.
No more geek speak. Transform communications from IT jargon and alphabet soup into the language of business. Quit trying to teach them the language of IT. Instead, become bilingual so you can speak IT and business lingo like balanced scorecards and Six Sigma.
At the very least bone up on your IT-to-plain-English phrase book and talk to them in language they understand.
This is all hard work, but the payoff is well worth it. Bridging the communications gap is how you stop being viewed as a resource ”bottomless pit” and start being seen as a valued strategic player.
Patricia Bramhall, founder of Tydak Consulting Services, is a thought leader in the field of IT Service Management (ITSM). She is Information Technology Implementation Library (ITIL) certified, and has a stellar record of achieving project objectives and deliverables on time and below cost, with budgets of up to $120 million under her management.