• How do I quantify the impact and service IT has on the business?
• How can I reduce noise and focus the organization?
• How can I manage from facts and not anecdotes?
• How can I communicate with my peers in a language that they understand and from their perspective?
• What are the key measures of my organization and how can they be institutionalized?
• How do I predict and proactively address issues?
• Is my organization pursuing the right goals and doing the right things with the right resources to achieve them?
• How do I establish accountability and a performance focus?
• Do I have the right resources and skills to deliver the results that are expected?
• Are my goals and objectives aligned with the strategy and goals of the business?
• How do I measure and communicate risks to the CEO and the board of directors – in business terms?

Objective measurement is the first step and many of the questions above can be answered with a well designed and implemented CIO Scorecard.  Achieving performance excellence may also require coaching, accountability mapping, leadership development, individual performance management systems.