CIOs: When your CxO peers need your help/partnership to succeed with their business initiatives that require digital capabilities .... What *actually* motivates you to invest your time and energy? Especially where you know you’ll need to invest significant personal time and energy to support their technology understanding, thinking, and decision making.  Are you motivated by the opportunity to help a colleague and enjoy the experience or do you need more tangible benefits from your investment?

In my view any business initiative that require digital capabilties will have tangible and intangible benefits. CIOs has to balance relationships (by understanding rationally and emotionally peer CxOs aspirations/expectations), and at the same time focus on outcomes (collective/organisational benefits). Therefore, CIO or his team must invest their time and energy, in the initiatives that are aligned to organisational strategy and offers measurable outcomes/benefits. On other hand, many other factors such as organisation structure, culture, autonomy etc., may have a influence which I am sure CIOs will consider those as well, while being a partner to business peer.

Isn't this the actual job? I suppose the question could be interpreted as how to help a peer with digital capability development when the investment is more of a personal capability development prior to the business case management. In that case, I try and always do so because it is an excellent relationship and trust building opportunity, because it establishes a greater critical mass of digitally dexterous executives, and because it helps me learn more about the business.

To me the two are inseparable.  An opportunity to support a colleague and coworker, build a relationship, be part of their and their team's success, support the business and company goals, build my network and work on my other personal development goals in leadership, influence, listening, business skills...etc.  This is the highest praise and largest opportunity you can have in the CIO role.  Along with developing people on your team and watching them succeed, this is the most fulfilling part of the job. I would do this for free (don't tell my boss...).

It really boils down to their business initiatives and how they tie to our strategic plans and desired business outcomes. If the initiatives align with those items, then it is my responsibility and opportunity to help them out. The level of time and energy doesn't really come into play. However, I am honest with them about my perspective and how I may see things progressing. In most cases, there may be a need to pivot or even stop as we learn more. I'm not willing to waste my time and resources, as well as my team's and the organization's, on an initiative that isn't actually going to achieve what was originally hoped for. This requires brutal honesty and ruthless discipline as an organization. I recognize that may not always be the case in other orgs. Just to loop back to what I first stated, spending my time and energy in helping my peer achieve desired business outcomes that are in line with our organization's strategic direction is why I am part of the team. 

This is a curious question since it implies the IT staff can decide what to work on.  In reality, any major organization will establish IT governance to direct and prioritize IT investments.  At the Virginia Dept of Social Services, our IT governance is called the IT Investment Council (ITIC) consisting of the Executive Team. As a Deputy Commissioner for Technology, I have a seat at the table. It is the ITIC that determines what IT will work on. Once a project is approved, we then work jointly with our business partners to identify requirements, develop designs, implement projects, and place the new system into production, to be maintained by our staff or a contractor.  The investment is in time is twofold: 1.Continued enhancements to our enterprise architecture. and 2. Continued development of relationships with business partners so they will trust us with their needs