Each month, through our partnership with Harvard Business Review, we refresh our resource library with five new HBR articles we believe CIOs and IT leaders will value highly. Check out the curated pieces below, available to readers through the end of the month.

For an agile transformation, choose the right people

A group of software developers created agile methodology in the early 2000’s with the goal of helping project teams achieve objectives quickly in rapidly changing or unpredictable environments. Many large-scale companies are utilizing agile methodology, but implementation doesn’t always lead to success. This HBR article explores where efforts go awry in high-profile strategic initiatives, and shares three of the mistakes often made that can undermine potentially agile teams from the beginning.

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5 questions boards should be asking about digital transformation

“While many board members have told us they know that digital is essential to keeping current business models viable while developing new revenue streams, they struggle to see how they can best add value,” write McKinsey senior partners Celia Huber, Alex Sukharevsky, and Rodney Zemmel in this HBR article. The complexities of digital, plus the speed of change, have heads spinning, and that’s causing a recalibration of focus for many boards. This article outlines five questions that will ensure boards are focused on the most important digital challenges. Anticipating and answering these questions can help CIOs communicate the value and competitive advantage of their digital transformation strategies.

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4 ways to manage your energy more effectively

We’d all like to accomplish more goals with less effort. And it is possible – by working effectively, productively, and within our bounds. According to time management expert Elizabeth Grace Saunders, “almost anyone can muster enough gumption for a short burst of high-energy effort. But what about after that initial burst? The key to success at work and in life isn’t really starting strong, it’s staying strong. And one of the keys to having that staying power is the idea of self-regulation.” In this article, Saunders shares practical steps for creating energy staying power.

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3 ways to help your team recover from disruption

Swarm intelligence – the way in which decentralized self-organized organisms behave – is one of the reasons why humans are successful at recovering from disruption. It’s been more than a year of learning to adapt when things don’t go well through this pandemic. And we’re still not in the clear. With many unknowns on the horizon, IT leaders need techniques to help their teams stay adaptable and prepare for more change to come.

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A CEO’s guide to planning a return to the office

CEOs and business leaders are facing tough questions about when and how to re-open offices. In this HBR article, Dan Ciampa, former CEO and adviser to boards and chief executives, offers some helpful guidance on how to think through these choices. Decisions made over the next few months “will set the tone for how work will be done in the future, impacting the relationships employees have formed and their emotional connection with the company. They should be made carefully,” Ciampa writes. Download this article for his advice. 

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Also read:

IT leadership in the next normal

The next normal has arrived, and CIOs play a central and critical role in whether organizations thrive in this reality. This research from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services identifies four focus areas for CIOs and IT organizations, based on interviews with CIOs and CTOs from Abbott, Adobe, Equifax, Johnson & Johnson, Qualcomm, Raytheon, Toyota Financial Services, and University of Alabama at Birmingham, and other tech executives. Download this report to learn the 10 new leadership rules these executives are embracing.

Download: “IT leadership in the next normal”