Sharing IT Problems with Executives?

dicey asks: "Later this week all of the IT department at my company (50-80 people) is having a dinner with the company President and VP/CIO. One major reason for this is so that they can get a better understanding of what is going on in IT and how it impacts the company overall. Ideally, with the ideas and sharing, these guys will have a better appreciation for us, adjust our budgets appropriately, and help us in our business. However, many of us are wary to speak about what is going on because it will inevitably reveal problems with the company. We are worried about what we discuss coming back to our directors ultimately to bite us. I am curious what my fellow Slashdot readers have done in similar circumstances, where there is a great chance to let someone high up in your company know of problems so that they can be rectified, but whereby revealing them you may get hurt in the process."

Comments

Above all, be respectful

[sczimme]

You will do no good by ranting and raving when you get the chance to talk to the higher-ups.

You also should refrain from bad-mouthing any particular individuals (unless absolutely and obviously necessary), or you will appear to have an axe to grind.

Phrase concerns in terms of the organization or department.

I went through this several years ago. Over the course of 90 minutes I laid out my concerns and [what I saw as] impediments to the organization and its future. The chief exec at the end of the table listened carefully and seemed to appreciate the candor (e.g. we have ~22 people on staff and 8 of them are designated as the 'managemenet team'; 7 people on staff were actually billable most of the time (supporting the rest), etc.).

Nutshel version: be concise, be respectful, and don't point fingers.

Separate ends of the table

[Sean80]

My company tried this as well, a long time ago. You know what happened? The executives sat at one end of the table and spoke to each other, while the plebians all sat at the other end of the table and spoke to themselves.

So I guess I'd question whether or not the whole event will turn out exactly as you're thinking it might in the first place.

Re:Skipping a level up in Management...

[aheath]

You can skip a level in management if you have done your homework. Any IT person attending the meeting should be very familiar with the reporting structure. More importantly, any IT person attending the meeting should be very familiar with what their management is reporting to upper management.

If front-line IT people see problems, or better yet room for improvement in their daily work, have they communicated these problems and improvement plans to their management? Has IT management communicated problems up the chain of command? In other words, does upper management know about the problems that the front-line IT employees face in their day to day work? Does upper management know about the ideas that front-line employees have to improve the IT infrastructure.

Ideally, the IT team should meet with their immediate managers and the CIO before meeting with the president. Ideally there should be no surprises at the dinner meeting. It's best to avoid embarasssing or suprising management in this type of meeting.

Perhaps the dinner meeting as it is currently structured is premature. There has to be a process in place to make sure that the president is aware of IT's strengths and weaknesses before the dinner meeting. There has to be a process in place where IT staff and management can agree upon the areas that need improvement. There has to be a process in place where the front-line IT staff is fully aware of how the president and the CIO see the role of IT in the company.

If the homework has not been done, and the groundwork has not been laid, then the dinner meeting should be the start of a process, not the end of a process.