Sue Workman
Name: Sue Workman
Current Job: Vice President University Technology & CIO
Favorite restaurant in town? All of them! There are so many great restaurants in Cleveland and such a great variety of foods. However, my favorites are Pier W and Burntwood Tavern. They have great décor, food, and service.
Favorite thing about Cleveland? Definitely Lake Erie. I am a water lover and very much enjoy the lake in all seasons. I also appreciate all the parks, sports teams, and cultural things to do. I love that all these are available in a city that is still affordable and easy to get around.
Q: Sue, thanks for joining me today. First off, how are you dealing with the quarantine? I am doing well. It took a week or two to adjust to a new normal. I’ve had to have a bit more discipline in my day, as there were hours when I would not even stand up between meetings – just click off on and on to the other. In some instances, and on some days moving directly from one meeting to the next was what was needed, but now as we are all adjusting, I have learned we need to schedule a couple of minutes in between and at least stand up from my desk.
Q: Can you talk about what you do and the unique responsibilities that a CIO has at a university? I am privileged to be the CIO at CWRU – a really great research university. I have responsibility for all things tech – enterprise applications and infrastructure, teaching and learning technologies and institutional online learning, research and high-performance computing, information security, software and hardware purchases and licensing, telephony and AV, and services and support for our faculty, staff and students. One of the unique responsibilities of working at a university is that we are not only supporting the work and research environments, but also learning spaces, athletic facilities, student groups, and residential students at their “homes”. We have been supporting BYOD for decades, and accommodating for gamers, and a multitude of devices our students bring with them on-campus.
Q: Can you share some of the leadership strategies that have helped make you successful as a manager? There are a lot of strategies that I have employed over the years, and frankly, they change a bit as I have gotten more experience (another way of saying getting older), and advancing in my career. Many of them are very simple:
Be reliable - do what you say you are going to do.
Be very intentional – plan your day and work. Time is your most valuable resource. Learn how to manage every moment.
Be empathetic – everyone is dealing with different challenges of the day. How can I help them?
Communicate distinctly - earn how to write and speak clearly and concisely.
Build relationships – know who’s who, their roles, and what is important to them.
Q: Why should people look for a career in higher-education? Higher education is a great place to be. First, you are surrounded by incredible people. People who are very intelligent, and who typically care very deeply about the university and our students. I also very much enjoy the youthful creative energy that our students bring to campus.
Q: IT departments have been busier than ever with Coronavirus. Why is IT crucial to organizations and how can IT investment be a differentiator? Coronavirus has certainly highlighted IT as a strategic partner in the organization. Some of the things we do every day, behind the scenes, became very obvious. I don’t think we should just allocate budget because we are IT, rather because these expenditures will be what is best for the organization. Those who had already invested in IT, before COVID-19, were able to pivot in a matter of hours/days to remote work, and in our case, teaching/learning/research as well. Those who had not invested and prepared took much longer and some are still trying to figure it out. So, strategic leadership in IT and preparing the services and operations is the real differentiator.