Career story: How to excel as a chief information and technology officer

What does a day in your shoes feel like? And what are the key skills that can make or break a career in your field?

We have asked a diverse group of Apolitical members to share their career story with us and the tips they have for junior public servants. In this article, Stephen Lock talks about translating geek-speak, finding your passion as a junior public servant, and the power of networks

What is your role in government and how do you spend your time on a standard workday?

I am the interim chief information and technology officer (CITO) for the UK National Institute of Health Research Clinical Research Network (NIHR CRN). I am also head of business intelligence, which was my substantive role before getting this interim one.

The NIHR CRN provides research infrastructure to the NHS and social care. We do this through fifteen regional networks which, in turn, work with partners like NHS trusts and GP practices. Together we deliver research into new treatments, therapies and approaches to care.

I’m the CITO in the national co-ordinating centre, so I spend my days looking after systems, technologies, information governance, security and similar things. Lots of meetings and lots of processes.

What is your favourite part of your job? What would you change if you could wave a magic wand?

I love that I work in a network. I have a career-long interest in improvement and innovation, which I have studied and practised. Anyone who works in that way knows that making things better is always done through people.

By design our organisation is intended to connect people, to work across organisational boundaries, and to aim for some big goals like “to improve the health and wealth of the nation”.

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At the time I am writing this, our entire organisation has pivoted to deliver COVID-19 research for the whole of the UK (we normally just cover England). We were able to do this in just a few days because we have this flexible, self-managing, human-centred approach. I’m very privileged to be part of such a motivated, national network.

But if I could wave a magic wand, I’d teach everyone outside our organisation about the power of networks and the weakness of hierarchies. I love opening people's eyes to that.

In your opinion, what are the most important skills someone needs in order to excel in your field?

On paper, my role is quite technical and comes with some big responsibilities. For example, I am the senior information risk owner (SIRO) for a national organisation. This means I am accountable for what everyone in our organisation does with our data.

It might surprise people that I am far from the most technically gifted person in my organisation. In fact, my team has to walk me through technical ideas on a daily basis.

Find what motivates you deeply and then try and make a difference in that field. It’ll make all the bumps in the road seem just a little smaller

So, to excel, I focus on different things. I practise the craft of leadership. I work hard on understanding how organisations work. I concentrate on the needs of my teams and what will motivate them. And I always try to remember that everyone has equal value, we just have different gifts.

Oh, and it helps to be a little bit technical and to really appreciate technical people. One of my rare skills is that I can translate geek-speak into things that are meaningful to non-geeks. That's a surprisingly valuable thing to be able to do.

What advice would you give to young public servants who are interested in a career in your field?

I didn’t start in the public sector. Fresh out of university I joined Hewlett-Packard France as a technical author, which was a formative experience for me. HP was a pioneer in what we would now call self-managing teams and it was wonderful to experience the French attitude to work and life. I then spent a few years in a start-up in London during the dot-com boom, which was an amazing ride. So far that’s the only place I have worked that had a champagne fridge in the corner of the office!

What I found in the private sector was that I loved the work, but I didn’t share the motivation. I didn’t care if the stock price doubled or we “killed the competition”. I cared about deeper things.

Now, I know that if I do my job well, I am a small but significant member of a system that is trying to cure cancers, find better ways to care for stroke survivors, or find a vaccine for COVID-19, among many other things. We’re also making real strides in reducing health inequalities through the better use of research data.

So, my advice to any young person starting out in the public sector would be to find what motivates you deeply and then try and make a difference in that field. It’ll make all the bumps in the road seem just a little smaller. And, well, give you something to be proud of. — Stephen Lock

(Picture Credit: Unsplash)

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