If you have recently been promoted into an IT management role, congratulations! You clearly have some impressive credentials and have been able to impress the decision makers at your company. But now that you’re a manager instead of a technical professional, your job responsibilities have been turned on their head. And if you’re not ready for the real-world challenge of being a manager, your new role will feel like more of a curse than a blessing. Rely on these four tips to help you achieve more success faster.
Build Alignment
The hardest part of being a manager is dealing with the human element of your teams. It’s also the most important. As the manager, it’s your responsibility to delegate tasks, assign a hierarchy or responsibilities/reporting, set metrics and deadlines, and facilitate collaboration. In short, it’s your job to build teams that work. Don’t assume that this will happen organically. Team building needs to be a regular and ongoing part of your job.
Serve as a Visionary Evangelist
It’s not your responsibility to tread water. You’ve been promoted because your boss has faith that you can get more out of your team than they delivered in the past. In order to accomplish that difficult goal, you need to serve as a visionary evangelist. Show your team where you’re going, how you will get there, and how the unthinkable really is possible. If you state this case convincingly enough, your team will be excited to go above and beyond.
Execute Your Role as Manager
As an IT manager, you have some very specific responsibilities – track and control budgets, set schedules, calibrate goals, create future forecasts, etc. This is time- and labor-intensive work, but it forms the core of your responsibilities. You may be great with your team, but if you can’t effectively keep them on track and align their output with your company’s goals, you’re not really doing your job.
Learn Your Business
You have spent your professional life picking up technical skills. Now it’s time to start picking up business skills. You need to learn about business generally, your industry specifically, and your company expertly. It is only by thinking like a business person rather than an IT pro that you can effectively execute you duties as manager. Many who make the jump to manager take business courses or even pursue an MBA.
Making the leap to manager is just the next step on your career journey. Find out how to make your way to the executive suite by working with The Squires Group.
