4 Ways to Effectively Lead Your IT Team
There are hundreds of articles on how to lead your team. In some cases, IT supervisors may have a more difficult time leading because they deal with a highly educated, intelligent workforce. Today’s IT leaders are challenged to know as much as possible about technology and how to handle their bright, engaged workforce—or risk losing these critical workers. It’s a high-stakes game requiring IT leaders to stay on their toes by staying educated about upcoming trends and managing their human resources. Here are four tips for managing your IT team that may help you stay ahead.
How Can You Lead an IT Team Effectively?
IT Management Tip 1 Find the Right Talent
Start with the hiring process. Ask yourself if you’ve hired the right talent for the proper job. Sometimes you have the right talent, but they’re in the wrong seat. As you look to 2023, consider what you need to do to ensure this baseline hiring goal is properly met. How is the team meshing, and do you need to change up some of the players to improve productivity? Are you providing proper mentorship to the people you’ve hired? Is there something broken in your hiring process? Take stock to improve who you hire and, ultimately, how you lead.
IT Management Tip 2: Better Manage Team Expectations
IT is incredibly complex. If you manage the expectations of stakeholders and your team, you can avoid missing a deployment deadline for the entire organization. Instead, focus on your communication skills next year to better set and manage expectations around deadlines and budgets. Your job is to measure the resources you have with the reality of what the team can do. Then to communicate that to leadership and cross-functional teams. It’s challenging but critical for IT managers to continue to improve in this area.
IT Management Tip 3: Implement Checks and Balances
If your IT team is Agile, there are checks and balances within that framework that can help you better manage the team. But Agile isn’t a cure-all, so good IT managers must have a well-developed production roadmap, profit margins, sprint deadline goals, and more to keep production between the rails. These checks and balances also apply to the individual efforts within your team. What expectations do you set with engineers or other production team members? What kind of accountability metrics are in place?
IT Management Tip 4: Improve Your Communication Skills
The old days of being a grumpy, noncommunicative, tech curmudgeon are over. Today’s IT managers must effectively communicate across the spectrum of individuals and departments touching your work. You must communicate well with the c-suite to manage their expectations. You must also work well with cross-functional teams. Then there are the developers and technical experts within your own department. How are your communication skills in one-on-one settings? Are you comfortable with your presentation skills? Good communication helps you hold your workforce accountable while also nurturing their engagement in the work you do every day. Good communication also protects your staff from overwork with unrealistic deadlines.
Ready to Hire IT Professionals?
Do you feel like you have all these skills, but you’re in a toxic environment where you are not supported in your efforts? The Custom Group of Companies works with IT managers to place them in lucrative new opportunities where they are appreciated, respected, and engaged. Call on us if you’re ready to make a change.
