March 2019 – A CIO’s relationship with his or her board of directors is crucial. Effective communication with the board is a key capability for any executive, but for CIOs and other IT leaders, it’s more than a key capability—it’s essential.

This checklist is intended to be used for board meetings and presentations as well as for an IT leader’s overall communications relationship with his or her board.

The Checklist

• Plan each communication opportunity
• Establish internal support
• Speak their language, not IT’s
• ABC—always be contextual
• Keep things simple
• Talk about organizational benefits, not technology capabilities
• Present options, but be clear about which one is best and why
• Paint a picture of what the organization looks like after the effort
• Don’t hide the risks
• Recap and ask for support
• Return with progress reports—good, bad, and ugly