Gaffney adds: “You can tell your influence is slipping when you’re invited late to decisions, when budgets are questioned more sharply than those of other functions, or major projects are scoped without your input. These are signals that colleagues no longer expect you to help shape the direction, only to execute it.”
The cost isn’t just personal, it’s also organizational, Gaffney observes. “Disconnected technology decisions lengthen decision loops, create silos, and leave risk and compliance issues to be discovered after the fact,” he explains. “In today’s environment, where the ability to act in real-time is a competitive advantage, that lag can be costly.”
2. Poor leadership
The CIO should always be at the front end of business decisions, advises Ian Campbell, CEO of industry analysis firm Nucleus Research. “When the CIO is widely viewed in a supportive or tactical role, the entire organization loses the strategic advantage well-deployed technology can provide,” he states. “If the CIO spends more time responding to rather than driving business direction, they’re moving into a supporting role.”
