As the economy gathers pace, it’s time to motivate and keep a good IT team

A spate of headlines in the first two working days of the year suggest the worst of the credit crisis is over and that growth is returning to the manufacturing sector, r etail and housing. Without wishing to be too Daily Mail and instantly negative, there is a down side to this for CIOs – your team may begin to feel a little more confident about their job prospects and believe better opportunities lie elsewhere. Therefore now is the time for CIOs to consider staff retention, team motivation and even a succession plan. As editor of CIO UK online it’s a subject that fascinates me and I know from the CIO interviews I conduct, CIOs are as passionate about people management as they are technology. I’m currently conducting some research in partnership with Harvey Nash for an exclusive white paper that both organisations will jointly publish on the subject.  The survey is live here. We’ve already had some initial response from those dedicated CIOs and IT Directors that were planning ahead over the Christmas break. The early picture forming from the data is interesting. I won’t reveal too much detail because we need to seriously analyse the data when you’ve all had a chance to offer your views, but here are some initial findings. CIOs in manufacturing, financial services and the public sector are already planning, 46 per cent of current respondents have seen their teams decrease in size, 45 per cent feel their IT department is better positioned to support the business now, 49 per cent believe training is important for motivation and retention and 36 per cent are working on increasing the wages of their teams. I’m going to make and early prediction that staff retention and motivation will become one of the key issues of the CIO year as the economy slowly gathers pace. To learn more on this subject listen to the CIO podcast with the IT Director of the Arts Council, Owen Powell. And do please share your views with CIO here.