Tim Goree, Squared 2024 Speaker - Leading Up and Leading Laterally

May 14

Speakers from the 2024 STC Squared conference are featured on our blog. Tim Goree is the Founder and CEO of Baton Pass.

It starts with vision.

I know. Vision is usually thought of as something you develop for the purpose of leading the people subordinate to you. In fact, in the realm of IT, vision is often that thing we inherit from above in the form of a statement we never, ever memorize.

But, when I found myself in dire need of leading peers, in this case 30 school principals in a large school district that I was the CTO of, it was my vision for what we might accomplish together that made leading laterally at scale possible.

There was an adversarial relationship between the principals and IT management. I know this because it seemed like every time they got a chance, they’d use credit cards to buy substandard computers from Best Buy, and even hire the Geek Squad to install them in an effort to sneak it by us. We’d find out only at the point they ran into a critical problem. Then, fireworks.

My first visit to explore how to get the rogue purchasing under control was to my boss, the CBO. I hoped we might programmatically take control of technology purchasing, even for credit cards, on the front end, so when one of these purchases started to take place, I’d be notified and have the opportunity to put a stop to it before the purchase was finalized.

My boss knew better.

She made it clear the most politically powerful group in the organization was the principals - when the majority of them agreed on something. The one thing they’d all agree on if we made this move without getting their permission first was that I was the enemy. Better not.

Would it be possible to get them all to agree to hand over technology purchasing control to me?

Well, I was new, so there was an opportunity to establish a different kind of relationship with them. Maybe that’s where I needed to start. Obviously, I wanted them to stop buying stuff that was difficult to support and didn’t work well in our environment. To make that ask, I realized I needed to offer something of value. Something they really, really wanted.

We made the appointments. 30 meetings with principals individually at their schools in 30 work days. The fact that I did that alone got their attention. It was unusual - a solid investment of time, and they were listening.

Each meeting started with me asking them what their vision was for their school. Specifically, I wanted to know what they hoped would be different about their school in 3 years, and how they thought technology might be utilized to make that happen. I listened intently and took notes, looking for ways I could join their vision to mine.

Next, I launched into my vision for technology in the district, keying on how my vision benefited them and their school vision. I sold it. The goal was to get them nodding in agreement, easily finding what they wanted in what I wanted. I spent a fair amount of time painting a picture of tiny response times, high quality support, and how the realization of my vision would make it so that classroom instruction was never foiled or even interrupted by a technology problem.

I promised 3 things I would consistently do to make sure this vision became a reality.

Then I said, “I’ve just promised I will do 3 things to make sure your school gets phenomenal support moving forward. Now, there is one thing I need from you to guarantee the support I’ve promised - I need you to agree to make all future technology purchases through my department, giving me the option to stop a purchase that won’t be supportable in our environment. If you do agree to this, I promise I’ll never cancel a purchase of yours before I call you personally and discuss what you’re trying to accomplish and find an alternative way to make it happen for you.”

I got about 60% of the principals to agree that first trip around, and that’s all I needed.

Because I absolutely followed through with my promises, those schools who agreed to do things my way did indeed get phenomenal support. It wasn’t long before word got around. The principals who agreed to work with me were singing my praises to the other principals. I became a mover, and a man of my word. Soon, the rest of the principals came over and my social credit score across the organization skyrocketed.

Let’s break it down with a step by step:

Get your vision nailed down (make sure it’s attractive to others, not just you)
Meet individually on their turf
Ask about and listen to their vision
Make connections between their vision and yours
Deliver your vision with their vision embedded - really sell it
Make multiple valuable promises designed to accomplish the vision
Make one ask with another promise embedded in it
Follow up and keep your promises
Let the accolades roll in

Tim Goree, a distinguished figure in the realm of technology leadership, is the Founder and CEO of Baton Pass, an IT leadership company. With experience spanning 30 years in IT, Tim has served in IT support, software development, chief technology officer, chief communications officer and CEO roles. Tim is known for his insightful approach to IT leadership skills development, specializing in the creation of mentorship and coaching programs.