At Tuesday's CIO/CTO Roundtable at the IASA conference inWashington,D.C., a pair of speakers made similar comments while looking at an issue through different lenses.
In one session, HR advisor and author Ann Rhoads discussed how businesses should attract and retain young employees, while in a separate session, a group of insurance executives discussed where IT leaders should fit within an insurance carrier's hierarchy.
What interested me is that Rhoads believes the younger workforce wants what many long-term employees are still striving to achieve: to be a part of the decision-making process.
What Andy Scurto, president of solution provider ISCS pointed out in that second session is that IT leaders are too often looking for the same thing.
After seeing a sparse number of hands rise when Scurto asked how many of the CIOs present took part in their companies' decision-making process, he pointed out one of the major issues: Too often, IT leaders wait until the business side comes to them with their problems rather than IT bringing solutions to the business side before the problem is even discussed.
"IT needs to be part of the decision making," he said.
Apparently young people feel more entitled, according to Rhoads.
"Young employees want to participate in the decision making," she says.
True, these are separate viewpoints and the speakers came to the point from different directions, but they point to an issue any executive or even new hire faces: having your voice heard.
This is more than workers feeling needed. Rather, it is about workers wanting to take ownership of their future and the future of their company. It also is about getting the right people involved in those decisions.
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